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SANGER, Texas — The Sanger Mansion has sat empty and unfinished for more than 30 years.

Now, it has new owners and new life.

Isabel Ramey is the owner of Bella Mansions and, with the help of her parents, hopes to turn it into a wedding venue.

"I just had so many thoughts going through my head of what we could actually do with all this space,” Isabel Ramey said.

After years of searching for the perfect wedding venue spot, they did what thousands have done for decades: they just drove by on Interstate 35.

"We always wondered, 'What the heck is that?'” Isabel's father Kenneth Ramey said of the mansion.

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It’s created many myths. Kenneth says his favorites are the ones that involve a drug dealer who got busted.

The reality is a family of three planned to build it as their 25,000 square foot dream home, but after a divorce and then bankruptcy in the mid-'90s, it was never completed.

The second owners hoped to turn it into a mall that never materialized.

"I see it as almost an iconic structure,” Kenneth Ramey said.

The exterior has been tarnished by time, but the steel and concrete foundation has withstood decades of water and wind. The highlight is a three-story floating staircase in the middle of the home.

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"A lot of people are happy to see this place finally get brought into something,” Isabel said. "It's a sad house that had so much potential that was wasted away over the decades."

The Rameys purchased the home for $795,000 and plan to put more than $2 million into it for renovations. If everything stays on schedule, they could be ready to open it up by early 2021.

"We are ecstatic to be able to finish it,” Isabel Ramey said.

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May was a busy month for new projects being announced, as six developments with more than 1 million square feet of space were revealed.

As is the case with most months, a majority of these projects are warehouse and logistics developments. However, May also saw a $1 billion mixed-use project in Frisco revealed, including up to 2.5 million square feet of office space. Since the Business Journal's "In the plans" series only includes the five largest projects of the month, we are not including Hillwood's largest speculative warehouse to date, which will measure 1.24 million square feet and would be located in AllianceTexas.

This ongoing monthly series spotlights some of the largest new projects in North Texas that have either been announced recently, reported by the Business Journal for the first time or were filed through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Projects that appear on TDLR are typically in the early stages and, while they include estimated groundbreaking and completion dates, could be months away from actually happening. Still, most of these projects do eventually come to fruition:

274-acre industrial park in Sanger

A partnership between Jerry Jones' Blue Star Land Co. and Crossland Development bought 274 acres east of Interstate 35 in Sanger in May. The site will eventually be the home of a future industrial park, including about 4 million square feet of space, says Joe Hickman, general manager of Blue Star Land. It is not clear when the project will break ground.

The Link

On 240 acres just east of the PGA Frisco development, Dallas-based Stillwater Capital is planning a $1 billion mixed-use project called The Link. The project could include as much as 2.5 million square feet of office space; 400,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space; more than 2,000 residential units including both apartments and condos; and a boutique hotel. Among the planned office space will be room for a 1 million-square-foot campus, Stillwater says.

Infrastructure work will begin this fall on the new development, with phased vertical construction coming later. Omniplan has designed The Link's master plan while Stream Realty Partners is preleasing the office space.

Alcott Logistics Station

In Mesquite, Dallas-based Urban Logistics Realty has plans for a 2.3 million-square-foot industrial park, including six warehouses. At a projected cost of $130 million, the project could create 1,625 new jobs, according to the city of Mesquite. It is not clear when the project will break ground.

Westpark

Towards the end of May, Pennsylvania-based Exeter Property Group revealed two new speculative warehouses in Denton. They would include a 1.12 million-square-foot warehouse and a 324,470-square-foot warehouse located off W. Oak Street near Interstate 35. At a total cost of nearly $58 million, the project could break ground in June and deliver by next summer. Alliance Architects has designed the project.

Northlake Logistics Crossing

Also, in Denton County, Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties has proposed two spec warehouses northeast of Texas Motor Speedway. The warehouses would measure 985,800 square feet and 406,000 square feet. At a combined cost of nearly $50 million, the buildings could break ground in July and deliver next year. Powers Brown Architecture has designed each warehouse.

Ranked by # of Local Registered Architects

SANGER, Texas - A high school in Texas has opened a student-run grocery store, providing food and other necessities to students, staff and their families in need amid the coronavirus pandemic — while providing kids with essential job skills.

The grocery store at Linda Tutt High School doesn’t accept cash. It operates on a point system, where students can earn points for positive office referrals, cleaning around the school building and other good deeds.

“It’s not something that you see every day in a school building,” said school principal Anthony Love. “I think a big part of it is about empowering our students, because many of them come from low socioeconomic families that need just a little extra support with food.”

The store is the result of combined efforts from the local nonprofit First Refuge Ministries, Albertsons grocery store, and Texas Health Resources. Love said he was approached by Paul Juarez, executive director of First Refuge Ministries, and Dr. Ann Hughes, the director of student intervention for Sanger Independent School District.

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“They approached me about a grant that they wanted to apply for through Texas Health Resources, about possibly putting a grocery store inside a school,” Love explained.

The store, which aims to address food insecurities for students and others in the community during the ongoing pandemic, is open Monday through Wednesday for students and staff within the school district.

On Tuesday evenings, the public can utilize the grocery store via curbside pickup with the help of volunteers. The amount of family members in the household determines the amount of points they receive to shop the store, which individuals can then use to get groceries or supplies for home.

The school also partners on Fridays with the BackPack Program, a program in cities across the country providing food for children on the weekends. “Partnering with them, we’re able to provide additional food and supplies that the families may need,” Love explained.

Students entirely run the store, doing everything from keeping shelves stocked, to keeping tracking of inventory to managing the point system.

“I think the most exciting part of it is just teaching our kids job skills that they can carry with them as they graduate high school and move on into the world,” Love added. “Students are really the key piece to it.”

This is Love’s second year as principal at the school, located about 60 miles northwest of Dallas. The school gives students the option of either in-person or virtual instruction this year due to the pandemic, though Love estimated that roughly 90% are currently in-person.

This story was reported from Cincinnati.

Sanger head football coach Rocky Smart will not return for another year after four seasons leading the program, he confirmed to the Denton Record-Chronicle on Thursday morning.

Smart has not yet resigned or been reassigned by the school district, but he does not plan to return for another season. He told the Record-Chronicle he does plan on staying in education and pursuing other coaching jobs, adding that “it was just best for me to explore other opportunities.”

“It’s been a special time in my life,” Smart said. “I had planned on retiring in Sanger at one time in my life, working there another 10 years or so, but not everything happens the way we plan it sometimes. I’m excited for the next adventure, whatever that might be.”

The news of Smart’s departure was first reported by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football’s Matt Stepp via Twitter.

Smart compiled a 21-21 overall record in four years at the helm. During that span, he helped the program improve from a winless 2018 season to a 1-9 record his first year and three straight seasons of five wins or more from 2020-22.

“I’m super proud of my time at Sanger,” Smart said. “I’ve enjoyed and loved being a part of the community and coaching the kids here. Everybody’s been really good to me and my family.

“My first year here, we had a lot of struggles. I’m really proud that the kids worked as hard as they did. We’ve grown as a program every year, I feel, and made the playoffs every year. That’s what you want in any business is to get better, so I’m really proud.”

Smart’s winningest season at Sanger came in 2020, when the team went 8-2. That squad was quarterbacked by Smart’s son, Rylan, who threw for 2,075 yards and 17 touchdowns while adding 313 rushing yards for nine scores.

Rocky Smart led the Indians to a 7-4 record and third consecutive playoff appearance this past fall before they suffered an opening-round playoff defeat to No. 1-seed Caddo Mills.

The loss ended the careers pf several seniors who were eighth graders when Smart was hired in February 2019, making for an emotional night for all involved.

“It’s been really special to me, and I hope they had a great time, because I know the coaches have,” Smart told the Record-Chronicle after the defeat.

This latest season brings Smart’s career record to 110-62, including stints as head coach at Clyde, Seymour and Nazareth. He has 24 years of coaching experience and was the offensive coordinator at North Forney before taking over at Sanger.

Now, Smart will be in the market for a new gig while the Indians search for their next head football coach.

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Sanger Mansion Finally Finds New Life

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After driving up I-35 and noticing an abandoned old mansion for decades, a Flower Mound-native has purchased the 9 and a half acre Sanger, Texas property. Sanger Mansion will soon be transformed into a new showcase wedding venue.

For 30 years, the 25,000 square foot mansion that sits just west of Interstate 35 has sat idle and empty. Owner of Bella Mansions, Isabel Ramey, and her parents, Lina and Kenneth Ramey, purchased the property as soon as they saw a “For Sale” sign in front of the landmark mansion after all those drive-bys on I-35.

“We got the call at the end of December,” Isabel Ramey tells PaperCity. “I had been looking for a property for a couple of years.” Specifically for a wedding venue.

“I realized how little venues there were for what I was looking for for my own wedding,” Isabel says. “This mansion was exactly what I was looking for for myself.”

The mansion currently has a ways to go, as windows have been broken out and graffiti vandalizes the interior walls, but Ramey notes that the bones are strong.

In the 1980s, the original owners built the Sanger Mansion as their home and a property to breed horses.

SHOP

“They did the foundation and three levels, but hadn’t put the stone out yet,” Isabel says. “The second owners did the stone, veneer, roof, doors and windows.” It was supposed to be a mini mall that eventually fell through.

“The steel and concrete will remain,” Isabel says. There’s also an incredible spiral staircase that appears as if it’s floating. “It’ll be beautiful for a bride to walk down.”

Isabel says that the plan is currently focused on the three floors. The first will be the reception hall and space for an indoor wedding. Then the second floor will be like a hotel, where married couples can stay the night after events. On the third floor, there will be space for bridal party and groomsmen suites.

Also, to accommodate indoor and outdoor weddings, glass windows leading outside will have the ability to open and close depending on weather.

“We really want this to make the community happy because it’s been abandoned for so long,” Isabel says.

Plans call for an early 2021 opening date.