Entertainment Anchors are Now Sought After

FORT WORTH—Experiential retail continues its juggernaut and entertainment anchors have now become the sought-after anchors for ground-up development, which was not the case even as recently as three years ago. The latest development is in the southern part of the city with nearby mixed-use components as a familiar equation.

Urban Air Adventure Park is breaking ground on a 31,000-square-foot facility at Summer Creek Station, a 26-acre retail development at the southeast corner of Sycamore School Road and Chisholm Trail Parkway/Highway 121. The indoor park will be an entertainment anchor for Summer Creek Station and serve as prototype for the company’s future expansion across the country.

“Urban Air picked this location because of its regional draw, highway visibility and the flexibility offered by building, and designing the facility from the ground up to create a model we can use to elevate our brand to the next level,” said Michael Browning Jr., founder of Urban Air. “Urban Air is thrilled to continue to expand in Dallas-Fort Worth and bring next-level entertainment to guests in this area of dynamic new residential growth.”

Catherine Gibbons and Brad Struck of esrp represented Urban Air in the transaction. Transwestern retail managing director Steve Williamson and senior vice presidents Larry Jordan and Mason Bishop represented the developer, Wilson & Stonaker LLC.

“With the shift to experiential retail in the last two to three years, entertainment venues have become highly sought-after retail anchors because their product is resistant to e-commerce competitors like Amazon,” said Bishop.

Colleyville, TX-based Urban Air opened its first location in Southlake in 2011 and has since expanded to 131 locations nationwide. When Urban Air’s south Fort Worth venue opens in fourth quarter 2018, it will bring approximately 50 new jobs to the area.

“At recent shopping center trade conferences, there were long lines of landlord brokers/developers seeking Urban Air to become the entertainment anchor of their project,” Bishop tells GlobeSt.com. “Urban Air drives family shopping traffic, which creates residual value for an overall development with restaurants and retail serving those customers.”

Urban Air South Fort Worth will include trampoline park attractions and an arcade, along with the newest attractions such as an indoor obstacle course, urban warrior course, indoor ropes course, indoor climbing walls, trampoline pit, indoor coaster and café.

An existing Walmart Neighborhood Market anchors Summer Creek Station, with opportunities on several outparcel pad sites for additional anchor tenants, retail, and restaurants, such as quick-serve, Italian, Asian Fusion, Mexican, sports bar, burger and barbecue venues. The site is shovel ready, with all utilities, cross-access drives and detention recently completed by the developer, which will shorten the time necessary for users to open for business.

The Summer Creek Station trade area is experiencing significant growth spurred by the completion of the Chisholm Trail Parkway, evidenced by Walton Homes purchasing 2,000 acres for 5,000 planned single-family homes. The 426-acre Pate tract, located to the northwest of Summer Creek and west of the Parkway, is underway to become a master-planned community.

In addition, a Realty Capital entity is constructing The Dylan, an 800-unit multifamily community directly across Sycamore School Road from Summer Creek. Tarleton State will break ground at the end of February on the first building in its new 80-acre Fort Worth campus to the south of Summer Creek, with an estimated 2,500 students expected for classes in 2019 and an ultimate enrollment of 5,000 students.