Members of Hope Fellowship joined Good Shepherd Lutheran for a Homeless Outreach Prayer Event. (H.O.P.E.) on Dec. 8.

Members of both churches requested contributions of winter weather clothing items from their congregations for this event, plus toiletries, especially jackets and blankets to distribute for the homeless of the Irving community.

The response from members was tremendous. Besides blankets and jackets donations included socks, underwear and shoes.

The event was held at Good Shepherd Lutheran’s Fellowship hall where approximately 100 needy persons were fed hot dogs, chips and cookies provided coffee, lemonade or bottled water and then allowed to pick out the items they needed from the generous selection of clothing, shoes and packs of toothbrushes, tooth paste, mouthwash, hand soap and shampoo.

Source: Hope Fellowship, Good Shepherd Lutheran

By Jess Paniszczyn

Hundreds of people arrived at the Coppell Nature Park ready to run on Dec. 1. The Deck the Trails an Off Road Challenge offered young and old alike the opportunity of competing in a three mile trail race while raising funds.

“We are raising money for the Friends of Coppell Nature Park (FCNP) to build an environmental education center,” said Bill Sundermann, President of FCNP. “All the proceeds from our sponsors today are going towards building an environmental education center at the Nature Park. It will be used by the school district and the City for environmental education and nature study.

“The event also raises awareness about the park while people are having fun. We have 700 registered runners. With volunteers and spectators, we are expecting 800 people today. We would like people to come out and enjoy the park.”

Mr. and Mrs. Claus were not the only celebrities who attended the event in support of the runners. Coppell Mayor Karen Hunt also showed her support.

“This event highlights the nature park and the trails,” Hunt said. “It is gorgeous back there. People need to see it. They should walk back there and enjoy it.

“This event is also a fundraiser for future projects. The planned nature center will have classrooms as well as meeting rooms, and it will highlight the entrance of the nature park. It is a joint effort between the City, the school district and the Friends of the Nature Park. The City donated the land, and the school district donated some money. The Friends of the Nature Park are doing a lot of the development work and are working with the architects and are raising additional money to make it come to fruition. It is all very cool.”

A runner for 16 years, Eddie Castillo, welcomed the challenge of a trail run.

“We came out to have fun at a Christmas race,” Castillo said. “This one is a bit different, because it is a trail race. It is a lot harder to gage your distance when you are running trails. I am going to do the best that I can. I may not win, but I will have a good time.”

The Irving ISD has hired its first in-house attorney to represent the Superintendent, designated staff and the Board of Trustees. Until now the district has been using out of district legal counsel. The Board was recently introduced to Bertha Bailey Whatley, the lone finalist for the position. 

Ms. Bailey is currently the Chief Legal Counsel for Fort Worth ISD. Her anticipated start date with Irving ISD is Jan. 7 and the agreed annual salary for the position of Attorney will be $141,000. Ms. Bailey accepted this position as an at-will employee which means the Board of Trustees does not have to formally vote to approve the hire.

Source: Irving ISD

TDI announced Dec. 7 that it has purchased 6.65 acres of prime real estate in Las Colinas for a $50 million residential development. The new development will have 386 apartments in multi-story buildings and will be the closest in walking distance to the recently opened DART Orange line station just across Northwest Highway from the Irving Convention Center. Construction is expected to begin in March 2013.

"This high profile location, which will include a landmark 6 story tower at Northwest Highway and Las Colinas Boulevard, is the ideal setting to create the next generation of multi-family product," said Brad Taylor, Executive Vice President and Investment Partner for TDI. "These homes will have extraordinary highway access as well as the available DART light rail system that provides easy access to Plano, Richardson and Downtown Dallas, and will reach D/FW airport by 2014."

The design will feature urban connectivity between the streetscape and community. The clubhouse spills out onto a retail-style urban patio area that interacts with the streets. Brownstone walkup style apartments at street level will interconnect the streets with the community in a seamless manner.

"This design created a community," said Taylor. "Offering residents access to five serene landscaped courtyards as well as an active courtyard with a resort style pool. The interiors of the apartment homes will include 10 foot ceilings, separate showers in select units and islands in every kitchen."

"The Las Colinas residential submarket has a 96 percent occupancy rate," said Taylor. "We will be offering the newest and one of the most unique products in that submarket. More than 100,000 people work in Las Colinas, which is home to the global corporate headquarters of five Fortune 500 companies and regional headquarters for 100 other corporations."

TDI currently has 1,406 units under construction in Texas, California and Arizona and has asset management responsibilities over 4,900 units nationwide. In addition, TDI has plans to develop an additional 2,320 units over the next 12 months that are in various stages of planning and predevelopment and is currently raising capital to complement their venture platforms in order to fund their expansion and business plan. 

Source: TDI