Developer Robert Shaw, the former CEO of Columbus

Developer Robert Shaw, the former CEO of Columbus Realty Trust who was instrumental in the Uptown District renaissance in Dallas, now plans to build 800 units in Frisco Square in Frisco, Texas. Frisco Square is a 140-acre new urban town center initiated by the city in partnership with private developers. Frisco Square includes civic buildings and a substantial retail component. It was planned by David M. Schwartz/Architectural Services. A pioneer in infill urbanism, Shaw has worked mostly on building walkable urban centers in the Dallas suburbs in the last decade. Shaw and his team launched Addison Circle in Addison prior to Post Properties buying Columbus Realty. Then Shaw founded Amicus Partners and built transit-oriented housing in Plano, a small suburban downtown. Most recently he built more than 1,000 units in Legacy Town Center, also in Plano, according to DallasNews.com. Shaw, a former Dallas Cowboys lineman, told New Urban News in an interview in the 1990s that he was inspired to develop urban places after reading Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language.