Dale Wamstad is the founder of the renowned Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse and III Forks Steakhouse. Wamstad  built  Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse and III Forks from the ground up. III Forks is a massive 24,000 square foot restaurant with a dome covered in 24-karat gold right smack on the Dallas North Tollway. The gold dome glitters in the sun and has become a Dallas landmark.

Currently, Wamstad's attention is focused on The Shire, an 82,000 square foot retail and office center in Richardson at the southwest quadrant of State Highway 190 – the George Bush Turnpike – and Jupiter Road. The project is located just east of North Central Expressway.

Wamstad is upping his bet that The Shire, with a "town village" design, will fill a need for a mixed-use project in Richardson. He recently purchased an adjacent 10 acres, where he's already planning a 144,000 square foot second phase.

The project's first phase is 88% leased and costs $12 million. Whether Wamstad's investment pays off remains to be seen.

Some industry experts consider the project – one of only a few retail projects under construction in Richardson – a bold move considering its unproven location. The area east of North Central Expressway in Richardson is largely undeveloped, and retail competition in neighboring Plano is fierce.

"I refuse to believe people won't pay for quality," Wamstad said. "If it's accessible and is good quality, the people will come to it. The consumer is the one who makes the decision."
Wamstad, who had been planning a real estate project for some time, looked at several sites before settling on Richardson.

"It was just the location," he said, explaining the project's attraction. "It is right on George Bush Turnpike and has access to the north on Central and east and west to [Dallas/Fort Worth International] airport."

The project is also close to Cisco Systems Inc. and the new Texas Instruments semiconductor plant. The TI plant, which is under construction, is expected to eventually employ up to 1,000 people. Residential projects have also sprouted up in the area surrounding George Bush Turnpike.

The Shire's retail portion competes with Collin Creek Mall, two miles north in Plano, and a new outdoor mall, Firewheel Town Center located six miles to the east in Garland.

The original founder of Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, Wamstad made jaws drop when he closed two Del Frisco steakhouses – on Lemmon Avenue and in Addison – to open one on the North Dallas Tollway at Spring Valley Road in Far North Dallas. Booming residential growth in the northern suburbs has made that move a success.

The Shire offers 41,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and a second level with 36,000 square feet of office space.

Second Phase
The 10 acre site is now under construction. Ebby Halliday Realty has purchased a 1.03 acre site from the Wamstad family and is in the process of constructing a 10,150 square foot office for its agents. Also under construction just to the west of the Ebby office, Wamstad is building a 14,250 square foot retail center and an 8,500 square foot restaurant named The Four Sisters Café. Wamstad says, “if [he] can hopefully fill the parking lot with customers [he] will begin construction on a 160-room boutique hotel called ‘Poverty Hill’”.