Major corporate users want happy, healthy employees and the way to get them is through the live/work/play environment, says Van Trust Real Estate EVP Ran Holman. Ran (left, with event moderator, Schmidt & Stacy Consulting Engineers president David Schmidt) tells us the trick is to have a master plan. Van Trust is in design now with a spec 350k SF 14-story office building in the 242-acre Frisco Station in partnership with Hillwood and Rudman Partnership. Ran says walkable amenities are big for office projects and Millennials are driving the demand. A huge consideration when designing these projects is that jobs chase people now instead of people chasing jobs, he says.

Granite Properties president and CEO Michael Dardick (left, with Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr’s Rick Kopf and Cushman & Wakefield’s Tom Salanty) says density is important to tenants. At Granite Park, a hotel and retail/restaurants have already been added to deliver that live/work/play atmosphere and another restaurant cluster called the Boardwalk is in process. Because of the traffic congestion that accompanies growth, Michael believes development will occur in distinct nodes of business. They may not be walkable, but will take only two to three minutes to reach a multitude of choices. There’s also a war for talent and companies want to be where the labor is and that's around the best schools and rooftops like West Plano and Frisco, he says.