PLANO, TX-After a five-year hiatus, Weitzman Group and affiliate Cencor Realty Services are partnering with the Haggard family to push forward on West Plano Village, a 15-acre, mixed-use project. Site work has already begun on the $75 million development, and upon build out, the project could support upwards of 500,000 square feet of residential, restaurant, office and retail space.

Cencor and Weitzman Group CEO and chairman Herb Weitzman shares three reasons why the partners felt it was a good time to move forward on the project: an active leasing market, low interest rates and, as he puts it, a "fabulous location." The main demand is coming from restaurateurs, he goes on to say. Dallas-area's gourmet food take-out retailer eatZi's Market and Bakery will take space in the development, as will Princi Italia, which already has a restaurant location at Preston Road and Royal Lane further south in Dallas. The entire  project, at the corner of Parker Road and the North Dallas Tollway, is being anchored by an existing Cinemark Tinseltown movie theater.

According to area media reports, a preliminary site plan has been approved, but anything differing from the original 2007 plan will need planning and zoning approval.  Weitzman acknowledges that the plan has undergone some changes, especially as market and demand has changed.

"We reduced the size and shape of it, changed the amount of office space, the amount of retail space and the number of apartment units," Weitzman tells GlobeSt.com. "At one time, we were going to have a hotel on the site, but didn't end up with it." The development calls for 90,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space, approximately 60,000 square feet of office space and space for 245 multifamily units.

Even with the on-site office space and AMLI Residential tapped to develop the multifamily component, Weitzman says West Plano Village will be more of a destination place for entertainment. "We're envisioning this as a user destination for people to come to dinner and go to the theater," he adds. "The restaurants and shopping in place will be complementary to the theater."