Castle Hills, single family until now, is rolling out a mixed-use design that teams condos with retail in a Main Street setting. The $5.5-million first phase to the "Village Center" will have eight condos, 15,000 sf of inline space and 11,000 sf of restaurant space--all in one structure. Site work has just wrapped up on the initial phase, with the 25% pre-leased building ready to rise, Scott Morris, Castle Hills Development Corp.'s operations director, tells GlobeSt.com. Ultimately, 14 condos and 150,000 sf of retail space will be positioned on a 15-acre tract at the community's epicenter along King Arthur Boulevard, with views of Lake Avalon.

The Castle Hills Village Center was designed by Selzer Associates of Dallas. Resource Commercial Inc., also from Dallas, is the general contractor. Michelle Caplan and Scott Rose of Dallas-based Weitzman Group are handling the retail leasing for the boutique-type center, which has a September delivery for the first phase.

So far, a nail salon, flower shop and dry cleaners are on board. Morris believes some national high-end names will join in as more buildings deliver in a village center designed with 3,500-sf condos and private elevators.

With the Village Center under way, Castle Hills is starting to court developers for the 650 acres, which has 4 1/2 miles of frontage along Texas 121 and its bypass. Morris says it will be 2004 before that development really kicks off but, he promises, "that's going to be a hotbed of activity in the next 12 to 24 months." The acreage is earmarked for big boxes and its followers.

Castle Hills Development Corp. is a division of Bright & Co., part of the H.R. "Bum" Bright family for nearly 50 years. Since 1998, 1,200 of the 2,400 lots have been developed in the community, which has a championship golf course and 500 acres of parks and lakes as focal pieces.