They come, we build

Dallas-Fort Worth dethrones NYC as the nation's No. 1 spot for new apartments

LVL 29 in Plano is one of the many new apartment options in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Rendering courtesy of LVL 29

It’s not all in your head. Those new apartments you spotted on your way to work probably did just pop up — and it’s happening in big numbers in DFW and around the state, according to a new study.

RentCafe estimates 22,196 new apartments will be built in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area by the end of 2019 — by far the highest number in the country. Seattle makes for a distant second with 13,682 new units, followed by New York City, which was No. 1 in 2018, with 13,418 units planned for this year.

And these aren’t vanity projects. With more than 80,000 new residents calling the Metroplex home for the fifth year in a row, we need all the apartments we can get.

Fort Worth slightly leads the metro in terms of projected new apartment units at 3,875, compared to Dallas’ 3,859. Estimates are based on market data from Yardi Matrix, a software company that tracks multifamily properties in 133 U.S. markets.

Here are the biggest shares of new apartments expected in DFW:

Fort Worth – 3,875 units
Dallas – 3,859 units
Frisco – 2,548 units
Farmers Branch – 1,537 units
Richardson – 1,423 units
Euless – 838 units
Grapevine – 821 units
McKinney – 564 units
Plano – 483 units
Irving – 377 units
Waxahachie – 325 units

Most of Texas is booming, too. At No. 5 on RentCafe’s list is Austin, with 10,783 new units expected by the end of the year. No. 10 Houston is expected to bring 7,143 new units to the region, with about half rising just within the city of Houston. Meanwhile, 3,510 new units will be built in San Antonio, a steep decline of 41 percent from the 5,993 units built there in 2018.

Unlike the Lone Star State, the nation as a whole is seeing a slump in apartment construction. The 299,442 new apartments expected in 2019 represent an 8.2 percent drop from 2018’s 326,240 new units, which also were weaker numbers than in 2017, when 331,765 new apartments were built.

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Real Estate News

Dallas real estate developer pleads guilty to bribing 2 city officials

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Dallas developer Sherman Roberts

Dallas real estate developer Sherman Roberts pleaded guilty on November 12 to conspiracy to commit bribery, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Roberts, 70, who previously helmed City Wide Community Development Corporation, was indicted in December 2020. According to court documents, Sherman bribed two city council members — Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and City Council member Carolyn Davis — to support loans and low-income housing tax credits for his apartment projects.

In return for several thousand dollars in cash – plus the promise of future payments after her city council tenure ended – Davis lobbied for Roberts' real estate projects, including Serenity Place, Runyon Springs, and Patriot’s Crossing.

She promoted Serenity Place to the City Housing Committee, demanded other developers also seeking real estate funding withdraw their applications in order to increase Roberts' chances of success, recommended Serenity Place receive a 9 percent low income housing tax credit, and voted to approve a $1.9 million loan from the city of Dallas.

“Right now you and me are making money,” Roberts texted Davis shortly after the vote.

Later, she repeatedly reached out to ask for more money — "just a few dollars" — and he agreed.

Davis and Roberts then met with Caraway to address a problem with the Patriot's Crossing project. In return for several hundred dollars cash and a $2,000 monthly stipend, Caraway agreed to stop the city from issuing a request for proposal (RFP) for the Patriots Crossing project and to deliver the project for Roberts.

“How much is the project worth?” Mayor Pro Tem Caraway asked. “Once you’re successful with this project, don’t forget about me.”

“I won’t forget about you,” Mr. Roberts responded. “That’s where the money is… the money has never been an issue.”

Roberts now faces up to five years in federal prison. He is slated to be sentenced on March 12, 2025.

Caraway pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and tax evasion and was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison.

Davis pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit bribery concerning an agent of a local government receiving federal benefits, but passed away in a car crash before she could be sentenced.

Roberts was one of three real estate developers charged in connection with the bribery scandal. Devin Hall, the developer behind the Grand Park Place apartment project, pleaded guilty in August 2020. Ruel Hamilton, the AmeriSouth Realty Group executive who backed the Royal Crest housing project, is awaiting retrial on conspiracy and bribery charges.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation with the assistance of IRS – Criminal Investigation’s Dallas Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcus Busch is prosecuting the case with the help of Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Max.