Cencor Pushes Pad Site Plan in McKinney

For now, the plan of Dallas-based Cencor Realty Services is to ground lease pad sites or contract a build-to-suit, perhaps even sell a tract or two on acreage at the northeast corner of Custer Road and Virginia Parkway. David Palmer, Cencor's executive vice president and Dallas development partner, tells GlobeSt.com that a strip center is another option. but the market will be the determining factor as to the final lay of the land.

Still, there's just 3.5 acres left to hawk, thanks to Chase Bank penning a ground lease for a 46,000-sf pad. Ground will break soon on the bank's gateway positioning to an under-construction Home Depot. The home improvements retailer will open before the year ends and Chase Bank is eyeing a spring 2004 launch.

Brian Glaser with Dallas-based Weitzman Group brokered the land acquisition from a partnership led by land speculator, Pat Patterson of Dallas. The real estate investor has been holding the land for the last nine years while values increased and rooftops grew, according to Palmer. The buyer of record is a Dallas-based partnership, NEC Custer/Virginia Ltd., which acquired the land in sync with Home Depot's 14-acre purchase from Patterson.

Palmer, who's directing the development, has put Weitzman's Michelle Caplan in as the leasing agent, going forward. The target market is the fast-food industry unless the build-out plan leans toward a strip center, an idea that most likely hinges on development of the other three corners. One hard corner already is destined for a small shopping center while plans for the other two have yet to be disclosed.

McKinney has been growing 25% to 30% annually in housing and traffic, according to Palmer, who added that Cencor and Weitzman have had their eyes on the land for several years. The purchase price is more aligned with demand than ever before and more so since the fronting thoroughfare, Custer Road, is due for a widening--a meeting of forces that logically ended the wait, Palmer explains.