Why Building The Star's Tower with Cowboys Icon Roger Staubach Was Important to Jerry Jones' Family

The following story was originally published by Steve Brown on DallasNews.com.

Two former Dallas Cowboys are hitting the trail to build Frisco's first high-rise residential building.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach are teaming up to develop a 17-story luxury apartment tower in the Cowboys' Star mixed-use project on the Dallas North Tollway.

The Frisco City Council has given preliminary approval for the construction of the luxury high-rise residential building.

Jones, Staubach and developer Robert Shaw, a former Cowboys center, are finishing plans for the project.

"We are old Cowboys — we are both excited about this," Staubach said. "The Jones family is all involved in this and it will be first-class.

"We believe there is a great market out there," he said. "We are excited to be a part of The Star."

The planned tower would be the first residential building in the 100-acre development at the northwest corner of the tollway and Warren Parkway. It also would be the first such high-rise in Frisco.

The project also marks the first time Staubach and Jones have done a high-profile real estate deal together.

"The fact we are doing this with Roger is important," said Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones. "He is Mr. Cowboy.

"What a great fit for him to be involved — and Robert Shaw, too," Jones said. "They bring an expertise we don't have and such credibility. It's a great strategic alliance."

Along with the Cowboys' headquarters and practice facility, the $1.5 billion Star development includes the 12,000-seat Ford Center athletic and event venue, a multi-tenant office building, a high-rise Omni Hotel, a sports medical center, shops and restaurants.

Jones said that adding the residential tower will round out the development.

"It's the final component to finish the full 360 of what we want to have in this development," he said. "We will have people live there, work there and entertain — the full mixed use. "

Shaw talked about the project at this week's Frisco council meeting.

"The average unit size will be 1,200 square feet — these will be very large," he said. "We are trying to get started in January, right after football season."

Shaw said the 150 to 160 residential units also will be aimed at empty nesters and "probably a few sponsors, a few players, a few coaches."

"Roger and Jerry will each have a unit on the top floor. We are basically building a place for Jerry and Roger to hang out," Shaw joked to the council.

Stephen Jones said he expects Cowboys team members and associates will be attracted to the building.

"You will see some of our younger players who don't have families live there, some of our coaches and employees," he said. "It will be a great opportunity for them to live right there in The Star."

The Star tower would be one of several high-rise residential buildings in the pipeline along the tollway in Plano and Frisco. Two apartment towers are going up in Plano.

The 29-story LVL 29 tower is being built in Legacy West. On the other side of the tollway near Legacy Drive, High Street Residential is building the 25-floor Residences at Legacy apartment project.

Next door to The Star, developers of the Frisco Station mixed-use development also have filed preliminary plans for a 25-story residential tower.

Shaw is one of North Texas' most experienced multifamily housing developers, building apartments from Uptown to McKinney. His Columbus Realty is building more than 1,000 apartments in the $3 billion Legacy West development in Plano.

He's partnered with Staubach on many of his deals, including a 350-unit apartment project in West Dallas' Trinity Groves project on Singleton Boulevard.

"Robert and I have been doing deals together for 30 years," Staubach said. "No one knows this business better than he does."

More than a dozen high-rise residential buildings are under construction in the Dallas area.