Cityplace – C. King Laughlin was involved with 7-Eleven, Inc. for over 10 years during the inception and execution of Cityplace. The project, at completion, involved the acquisition of 160 acres of land, involving over 1000 individual transactions at a cash cost of over $330,000,000. In the midst of the land acquisition, C. King Laughlin was asked to find an architect for the project who would first land plan the massive land holdings prior to beginning design on the 7-11 Headquarters Building. The architectural selection process involved dozens of interviews in various cities in the US; finally selecting four (4) architects to meet with in Dallas, one of those four was selected.
Cityplace was created with a real team of professionals that worked together for years to create the visionary project that became Cityplace.
In addition to the early project planning and land acquisition, C. King Laughlin managed over 500 homes, thousands of apartments, a half million square feet of office space and numerous retail properties. All this activity was handled to comply with SEC reporting rules required by 7-11.
As part of the Cityplace land acquisition it was necessary to construct a new building for both the Dallas School for the Blind and the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. These two projects were built at a cost in excess of $14 million dollars. C. King Laughlin managed the development and construction of these projects.
Cathedral Plaza – C. King Laughlin conceived a project in downtown Dallas at Pearl and Flora Street that required a 100 year ground lease be signed by the Catholic Church. C. King Laughlin in association with a Dallas Bank planned a 20 story office building over a 450 car underground parking garage. The Morton Meyerson Symphony Center was under construction at the time and the Cathedral property bordered the Symphony Center site on two sides. The proximity created a very difficult construction schedule and a lot of cooperation with the other entities involved. Upon completion of the ground lease, C. King Laughlin worked extensively with the building architect and the garage architect to create a project that was “right” for the site and which took proper notice of the historic Guadalupe Catholic Cathedral adjacent to the property.
The parking garage required a 90 foot excavation and a design that was fully integrated with the Meyerson Parking garage so patrons could easily move between both garages. The Cathedral Plaza garage was built at a cost of approximately $10,000,000. C. King Laughlin acted as construction manager for the project attending weekly meetings for over 18 months to coordinate all aspects of the construction. Following completion
C. King Laughlin managed the garage for over five years.
Wells Branch Self Storage – C. King Laughlin conceived a self storage project in Austin, Texas which was fully built and operates to this day. The project consists of 90,000 square feet of rental space plus an office and apartment. C. King Laughlin selected the architect, selected the contractor and construction managed the project thru to CO, thereafter managing the facility. The total cost of this project was approximately $4,000,000.
McCullough Middle School – Highland Park School District (HPISD)
C. King Laughlin was retained by the HPISD to acquire 35 properties that became the location for the new McCullough Middle School. HPISD has the power of eminent domain, but wanted to avoid condemnation whenever possible. In the end five owners opted for legal action in an attempt to extract more money for their property. None were successful in achieving more than a 10% increase as the cases played out at the County Court level. During the process C. King Laughlin spent considerable time with the condemnation attorneys at the Dallas law firm representing the school district.
Highland Park Presbyterian Church Youth Center—C. King Laughlin functioned as construction manager for the $3,000,000 renovation of the basement area at HPPC. Managing the project required a great deal of coordination with the architect and the contractor. The Youth Center, now called the Bell Center, is an important addition to the youth programs at the Church.
