Star Community Feature:
Deric Salser – Husband, father, businessman, philanthropist – and a tortilla-throwing Texas Tech fan

Editor’s Note: Deric Salser has been one of the most prominent businessmen, real estate developers, and philanthropists in Sunnyvale for almost three decades. Salser and his wife of 33 years, Lynne, built one of the first custom homes in the Homestead subdivision, where they raised two daughters, Claire and Alexandra who both attended Sunnyvale ISD from kindergarten through graduation.  Salser has offered his leadership on the Chamber of Commerce, the Sunnyvale Education Foundation, the SISD band booster club, SISD advisory committees, the SISD school bond campaigns, including the high school bond election, and his church board.   Recently, he launched the first phase of Gateway Park, Sunnyvale’s largest grocery, retail, dining, sports, and family entertainment project. The Sunnyvale Star sat down with Salser to discuss his business ventures, life as a new grandfather, and his passion for Texas Tech football.

Tell us about Gateway Park and what businesses and restaurants will be part of the finished project?
Gateway Park is the ambitious 60-acre development project at the corner of Belt Line Road and Town East Blvd.  Gateway Park is still in the process of signing up businesses, retailers, and restaurants for the development.  I can speak to the first building, which faces Town East Blvd, next to the Tom Thumb.  That building will have a UPS store, two sit-down restaurants (one being E-Bar Tex Mex), a medical clinic, a Little Gym for kids, and an upscale Dorado nail bar.  The fully developed plan for Gateway Park will feature a 30-acre youth sports complex called The Athletic Club, with soccer, flag football, lacrosse, futsal, pickleball, and sand volleyball.  An indoor/outdoor restaurant/concession building will serve all of these sports fields.  Additional retail, restaurants, and office buildings are in the works by other developers, which we will announce over the coming months. 

Why did you pick Sunnyvale for such an ambitious project?
I’ve lived just down the street from the corner of Belt Line Road and Town East Boulevard for the past 25 years, and not a day went by that I didn’t wonder what should be built at that corner.  Since the pandemic, it’s become clear to me that many of Sunnyvale's large landowners want to sell their properties.  You can’t blame them for wanting to realize the appreciation of their land value.   As long as that’s the case, and somebody is going to inevitably develop the town, why not keep the developments with a Sunnyvale resident who’s trying to build things our town and families want?

In 2020 when the Belt Line corner land was being actively marketed for sale, I called the owner’s broker, and she said he wanted to build houses or industrial projects on that corner.  Of course, those uses were unlikely to be approved, and because he was frustrated at not getting anything approved, he had decided to sell the corner to a national convenience store.  When I heard that, I said, “Stop, I’ll buy it all.” In my opinion, that corner is too important not to be master planned as a “gateway” to the town.

Gateway Park has enormous potential. What do you expect will be the tax collection impact for the Town of Sunnyvale and the future capital projects our growing community needs to fund?
When the entire development is complete, we estimate the property tax valuation to be in the $60M range, and the businesses on the property should generate over $40M in taxable revenue annually. 

You had an accomplished architectural career and are now a real estate developer in North Texas. What drives you to succeed in these competitive fields?
In the architecture and development world, it’s hard to measure success because there are so many varying opinions.  Maybe what drives me to succeed is the feeling I get when I watch one of my developments or buildings being enjoyed and used by people in the ways we envisioned and hoped.  Maybe even used in unexpected ways.  Architecture and development both require a creative process, and that’s fun for me. 

I’ve said many times that I’m a spender and I love beautiful, well-designed things. Still, our projects must make money, so surrounding myself with wise, fiscally responsible businesspeople is how I stay in business. 

Is there a particular architect or architectural style that has influenced you in your 30-plus-year career?
For style that influences me, I lean toward community-driven destination projects - the places you go when you’re not at work or at home – often called “third spaces”.  Every town has a different personality and figuring that out and baking it into a development is quite a challenge. 

On a national scale, I like the work of Gensler, HKS, Lake Flato, and SWA, to name a few.  For our local projects, I hire the Killian Design Studio whenever possible.  I went to architecture school at Texas Tech with Ken Killian, so we have some great history.

Now that the Tom Thumb is open, do you ever go up there to see how the community reacts to and uses the store?
I actually do.  Rarely would I ever run into my neighbors at the other grocery stores I used to shop at in the area.  Now, at Tom Thumb, I see multiple friends and neighbors literally every time I go in.  Mission accomplished for the neighborhood destination.

Is the grocery store a third space?
I think any type of marketplace is a third space.  Grocery stores build community and provide places to socialize.  Most cities in the world grew because of a market, trade route, or other factors that enabled commerce.
Who are some of the local and national developers that you admire the most?
Developers who infuse community and local character into their projects get my attention.  Around DFW, I’m a fan of Mike Ablon with PegasusAblon.  Mike and I were architectural interns in the same building way back in the late 80s.  He worked for Bruce Bernbaum, and I worked for David Dillard.  Also love what Jack Matthews at Matthews Development does.  We model our development business similarly to those two companies – very relationship-driven - offering real estate development, project management, investment/finance strategy, construction management, and we help facilitate public-private partnerships. 

What other development projects have you been part of in Sunnyvale, or are you currently planning for the future?
Sunnyvale Park Square is probably my favorite Sunnyvale project.  It turned out to be such a wonderful neighborhood hangout, with over 20 businesses now based there.  We’ve had our share of bumps in the road, literally and figuratively, but we’ve fought through a pandemic, road construction, and runaway inflation.   At Park Square, I’m a proud business partner in the Hope Coffee Shop and the Assembly House restaurant.  Both of those restaurants have been well received.  Hope Coffee is a great example of a fast-food establishment with a drive-thru, done right.  Without that drive thru, Hope Coffee would not exist.

The Tullos family hired us to help them develop their State Farm office building on Highway 80, which led to all of us being partners with Angie Navarro at The Story wedding venue.  The Story is a gem of an event space, if you haven’t toured it. It’s premier, just like the website says.

Daniel Steel hired us to help them expand their rebar fabrication shop last year, which was quite a privilege to be trusted by them, as they have been based in Sunnyvale for over 50 years. 

Ryan Curtis hired us to master plan his Pecan Ridge property on Highway 80, and several new buildings are in the works for his Precision family of companies.  The renovations and upgrades completed on the property have already made a big difference.

I’ve designed 4 custom homes, including my own, in Sunnyvale, and am currently working on several renovations.  My architecture phone still rings, and houses are an outlet that I still enjoy working on.

The highest tech, best looking upscale car wash in the region is under construction on Belt Line Road.  The owners of that project reached out to me to help them navigate the zoning and development processes.  If you’ve spent any time around me, you’ll hear me say that no matter if you’re building a car wash, fast-food restaurant, grocery store, gas station, or rebar shop, make it the best in class, so that other cities come to Sunnyvale and say that’s what they want. 

One project that’s pretty far along in the planning stage is Town Center Village, across the street from Hope Coffee.  Phase One is proposed to be a 4-building, historic-themed downtown environment, on 5 acres.   Mixed use for sure, with some design inspiration taken from historic downtowns across Texas.   Call it a cousin of Sunnyvale Park Square.

You have some great people on your team, including Ben Penfold and others. Talk about the key players driving your ventures.
I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without my partner Ben Penfold.  He’s the financial strategist of our firm.  His professional background is in finance and commercial banking.  I call him “ice man” because he pours cold water on all my ideas.  I would say 1 out of 5 projects make it past him into the reality pipeline.  Ben and I have a company called Sunny Legacy that develops, invests in, and owns projects, and we have 50 investor partners scattered across the area, country, and world. 

Tell us about your passion for baseball and efforts to bring a minor league baseball team to North Texas.
It’s actually a professional baseball league called the American Association of Professional Baseball.  It’s a 12-team league that’s been around for a long time.  It’s an MLB partner league, where new rules, like the pitch clock, are tested before they become MLB rules.  It’s a high level of play, and the owners are the kind of people we want to be associated with.   I love small stadiums and multipurpose venues.  The Cleburn Railroaders are in this league, and the Texas Rangers own that team.  All that to say we have been granted an AAPB franchise, if we can find an eastern DFW city to partner with us on a multipurpose ballpark.  Building a mixed-use sports village around a ballpark, with restaurants, entertainment, a convention hotel, and retail is the goal.

Speaking of sports, you’re a 1993 cum laude salutatorian graduate of Texas Tech University’s prestigious College of Architecture. You have to be feeling good about the state of the football program, especially since the Red Raiders made the college football playoffs.
It’s a great year to be a Texas Tech alum and a Red Raider football fan. The tortilla throwing ban was sad, but what can we do.   After so many years of heartbreak, this year has been enjoyable.  The heartbreak happened a lot later in the year this time.  My daughter Alex is a fourth-generation Red Raider.  I love Texas Tech and the architecture education I received there.  And let’s not forget, most importantly, I met my wife there, and she put up with my architecture habit for many years.   

You have been involved in many non-profits and community organizations in Sunnyvale. What drives you to do so much for our Town?
My family loves this town, and we want to give back to it.  I think my family’s story is similar to many others who have moved here.  We were drawn here by the “countrypolitan” rural environment, friendly people, and an A+ school district.  Sunnyvale pretty much checked every box for my family.  Even though our population continues to grow, I still think Sunnyvale is the best-kept secret in DFW. 

Who are a few Sunnyvale leaders you admire the most and why?
This may be the hardest question you’ve asked, because there are so many.  Most people know that my younger daughter, Alex, has a rare metabolic disease.  The above-and-beyond accommodation that the SISD teachers, staff, and administrators made for her during her 13 years in the district was incredible, and Doug Williams was the man leading the charge for Alex.  Can’t thank Doug enough for all he’s done for my family and me.

Before I lived in Sunnyvale, I went to church with K Paul Cash.  One Sunday back in 1999, he came up to Lynne and me at church and asked me to move to Sunnyvale to help him build a high school.  That’s exactly what I did, and the full-circle moment was standing next to K Paul the day we had the groundbreaking ceremony for the high school.

Over the years, my friendship with Shaji and Shiney Daniel has grown.  The way they live out their faith with their businesses, time, talent and treasure is such a wonderful thing to watch and attempt to emulate.  Their quadruplet daughters and my daughter Alex are close friends, and they all went to SISD together and are still great friends as adults now.

And lastly, I attended the PTA kindergarten round-up, way back in the early 2000s, in the old school cafeteria.  There was a guy there who introduced himself to me as “Jimmy Phaup”.  His first words were “welcome to Sunnyvale.”  Jim has been such a great mentor and sounding board for my ideas over the years, and most importantly, a friend.  

Speaking of former Mayor Phaup, do you have any political aspirations?
Maybe "political" isn’t the right word, but I would consider serving on a town or school district board or commission or even running for town council or mayor one day.  At the moment, I’m not considering seeking any elected or appointed position.

My office is next door to town hall, at Sunnyvale Park Square, and my door is always open to any citizen to come talk about what my business is up to, get my opinion on their property, a P&Z or Council agenda item, or discuss the future of the town.  Sunnyvale is one of my favorite topics, and I like going to public meetings to learn about what’s going on in the Town. 

Any other big projects on the horizon?
We are actively planning other projects in Kaufman, Hunt, and Collin counties. Still, my dream project for Sunnyvale is an upscale, country-club-style residential community with all the amenities you want in that kind of development.  My vision for a development like that is a little different than what the comprehensive plan and UDO probably allow, so we’ll see how far we get with it.  I like the idea of upscale homes in a village environment, on smaller lots (like a Highland Park/University Park kind of density), surrounded by large natural prairie and rural feeling land, as opposed to 100 homes spread out on 1 acre lots. Ironically, I think grouping homes together preserves more open space and natural countryside, but that’s just my opinion, and I’m aware it’s not necessarily a popular opinion.

Creating a really cool pickleball-centered, family-eater-tainment project is something I personally want to develop in Sunnyvale.  I think we live in an area that’s a pickleball desert.  Let’s do something about that.  Who’s in?   

One final question – you recently became a grandfather when your oldest daughter and her husband had a son, and your youngest daughter recently announced her engagement. How are you and Lynne enjoying the growing family?
Definitely a new chapter in life.  Being a girl dad, having a grandson this year is a welcome new experience that Lynne and I are having a lot of fun with.  My oldest daughter, Claire, is married to a mechanical engineer who works for a defense contractor, and they live in Centerville, Utah.  My youngest, Alex, is indeed getting married in May, at The Story, which is probably no surprise.  Her fiancée, who is from Alaska, is a US Marine veteran who works in Dallas for a defense contractor.   I’ve learned weddings and grandchildren are expensive, so I need to keep working.