To date, 150,000 sf has been pre-leased and another 2,900 sf are under negotiation for Watauga Pavilion, a 200,000-sf project that broke ground in October 2002 with in-house capital, James Hankins, senior vice president of development for the ASG Real Estate Co., the Carrollton, TX-based subsidiary of Kuwait's Alshall Group, tells GlobeSt.com. First American Bank in Dallas has bundled standard construction financing for a development that will deliver its first stores in September and October.

The leases went to the lender just last week after cornering a final signature for a 33,000-sf Oshman's sporting goods store. Terry Syler of the Dallas-based Weitzman Group negotiated the 10-year lease with Hankins sitting across the bargaining table. Soon to come will be final signings by Office Depot and Half Price Books, Hankins confides, both of which are considered done deals and part of the 150,000 sf of pre-leased space.

The power center is taking up 19 of 24 acres 7600 Denton Highway in Watauga, where the developer has secured a highway-fronting site in a northeast Tarrant County suburb that totals just 4.5 square miles. The balance of the land most likely will be built out with garden-office buildings, according to Hankins.

"We are riding on the shirttails of a SuperTarget that was completed a year ago," Hankins says. "But, it's a neat little pocket." That's pretty much the way the national retailers are viewing the development at the crossroads of US Highway 377 and Rufe Snow Drive as well, with signings already in hand from Pier I, Ross Dress for Less, Bed, Bath & Beyond, CostPlus, World Market, PetsMart, Party City and Mattress Giant.

ASG paid to bring the tilt-wall out on seven buildings while its brokerage team worked to get the rest of the needed signatures for the lender. The project was to break ground in August 2001, but the Sept. 11 attacks changed the plan. Since then, it's been slow going forward. The latest news means Watauga Pavilion's grand opening for all stores is now penciled in for February 2004.