COLLEYVILLE, TX-Anyone driving through this town of 22,550 would believe this it little more than a bedroom community in northeast Tarrant County, approximately 12 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. But the economic development department wants to make it more.

Marty Wieder, director, economic development for the city, tells GlobeSt.com that less than two years ago, the city began surveying its citizens to get their impression of government and what it was they wanted. “The bottom line was that, while the citizens are pleased with the quality of life in this community, they’d like to see us do more when it comes to retaining the restaurants and retail we have,” Wieder says. The end result has been a plan encompassing economic development, marketing  and diversification of revenue sources.

But none of this would be possible without the planned widening of State Highway 26 – a plan that was long in coming. “When I first came on board (in 2009), I had lunch with my predecessor,” Wieder explains. “He told me that highway 26 was hanging over the city because no one was certain when it would be widened. That’s not a good thing for property owners and prospects.” The good news, for Colleyville, is that the first phase has been funded, with actual construction to start around the first of the year. Wieder says the widening will take approximately 18 months to two years to complete.

The plan is to expand Highway 26 from a four-lane, undivided road to a six-lane, divided highway and at least one commercial real estate executive is happy about that. “The main commercial core is highway 26, and there’s always been uncertainty from commercial real estate investors, developers and users over what the future of that highway would be,” says Jimmy Archie, managing director of Dallas-based Realty Capital. “One minute, they’d hear it was being expanded, the next minute not.”

Archie’s company is developing a variety of projects in Colleyville, including Meadows Creek Plaza, which includes approximately 25,000 square feet of office space. He tells GlobeSt.com that another Colleyville thoroughfare -- Precinct Line Road – has been improved to where it connects to State Highway 183, relieving a great deal of congestion in the area. SH 183, incidentally, is a main thoroughfare linking Dallas and Fort Worth.

The Precinct Line Road improvement has been beneficial to Automotive Service Association (ASA), which recently leased close to 7,500 square feet in Meadows Creek Plaza for its headquarters. Archie says Realty Capital is currently under contract for a memory care/Alzheimer’s assisted living facility on that location as well.

“We bought (the 10 acres) in early 2007 because Precint Line Road was improved along the frontage of our property,” Archie says. Furthermore, with the planned buildout of SH 26 and potential growth moving west, “we thought it would make a good office, and potentially a retail, location,” he adds.

Archie and Wieder acknowledge that Colleyville isn’t an area with an abundance of land for development. Rather, opportunities rest with redevelopment. Archie mentions that Realty Capital bought an old dentist office and sports bar on SH 26 he describes as “kind of an eyesore in the city,” tore it down and redeveloped it into a mixed-use project consisting of 30 condo units over 12,000 square feet of retail space.

Wieder suggests that as construction begins on SH 26, there will be more opportunities for redevelopment along what he dubs “the commercial spine of the city.” The city would like to see more medical-related developments in the city and attract more physicians along with more retail. With the main road finally set to get bigger, Wieder is optimistic about where Colleyville might end up.

“We’re starting to get some traction,” he comments. “We’re starting to get that recognition that yes, Colleyville is a good location.”