America's Country Store is an upscale feed store with an inventory with such specialties as wild bird feed and birdhouses. McMinn Inc., the franchisee from Caddo Mills, TX bought the tract from Murphy/McCreary Ltd., a joint venture led by Warner Stone of Dallas.

Clyde McKinney of Grubb & Ellis Co. in Dallas represented the buyer, who searched the region for at least six months to find the right site. Bill Rose of W.R. Rose Investments Inc. of Dallas brokered the JV's side of the transaction. Land in that area of the metroplex goes from a low of $5 per sf to $15 per sf, give or take.

McKinney tells GlobeSt.com that the proposed site was carved from eight acres, all retail zoned and destined for a shopping center development. The acreage fronts FM 544, which is being widened to six lanes between Plano and Murphy to keep pace with growth.

America's Country Store caters to the horse crowd, but offers a wide array of lawn, garden and farm products and gifts. That kind of inventory, says McKinney, makes Murphy a natural location for McMinn's first location. Ground is to break in December, with delivery planned for mid-2003. The site will contain an 8,000-sf retail store and 5,000-sf warehouse with drive-through lanes.