Full Lease-Up Looms for $10M Pepper Square Expansion

"There is tremendous interest," Miller tells GlobeSt.com. Now, the decision will be to weed the retailers asking for a spot as the leasing team looks for just the right credit-worthy tenants to round out the mix.

Henry S. Miller Commercial bought the first phase to Pepper Square in 1994, nearly 20 years after its developer, the McCutchin family, hired the firm to lease up the then-unfolding project. Immediately after the buy was sealed, a renovation was undertaken as minds started shifting to an abutting 8 1/2 acres, also owned by the well-known old Dallas oil family. "It was always intended to be part of the development," Miller says. The result has been to develop a full block of retail, with access to Preston Road, Beltline Road and Alexis Drive. For Henry S. Miller Commercial, the dual projects boosted its Preston Road retail holdings–all intended to be held long term–to nearly 750,000 sf.

The original center now has SteinMart and Old Navy as anchors. The $10-million expansion, says Miller, got its jumpstart with a 55,000-sf Hobby Lobby lease and then a 25,000-sf signing for a Bally Total Fitness Center. Now, there's 22,000 sf of shop space, half of which is leased and anchored by a 5,294-sf MedCare Now.

The eight-year project, says Miller, faced "a host of challenges." He and Dan Shoevlin are tasked with leasing the well-positioned property in the high-income North Dallas submarket.