Suburban Hot Pocket Sparks 56,125-SF Retail Plan

Mark Smith of Urban Investments Ltd. has hired Lynn Dowdle of Dallas-based Staubach Co. to pre-lease the project, so new that a name has yet to be picked for the US Highway 78 and Kreymer Lane development. Ground-breaking hinges on pre-leasing. She says the 39,000-sf center and four pad sites will come to market with rents of $18 per sf or $4.50 per sf triple net. The hard corner pad site has been tagged at $17 per sf. The project will cost at least $6.7 million to raise based on the low-end price tag of $120 per sf for the region's development costs.

Across the street is an under-construction, 188,000-sf Wal-Mart Supercenter, set to open in the summer. Staubach's Stephen Summers, who represented the Dallas land sellers, Myran Corp. and CT "Sparkey" Beckham, says his phone's been ringing off the hook since Wal-Mart broke ground in November. "It's definitely piqued interest in the area," he tells GlobeSt.com about land bought in the early 1980s and banked until the metroplex's development ring pushed a path into the far northeastern sector. Beckham and Myran also sold Wal-Mart its land.

In a five-mile radius, there are 27,000 residents with an average annual income of $67,000. But equally key to the decision to build is that the future Spring Creek Parkway will match up to the intersection, which is two miles northeast of Wylie's primary crossroads, FM 544 and Highway 78.

The developing intersection's layout has Wal-Mart on the northwestern corner; Urban Investments on the southwestern side; 13 acres owned by Beckham to the northeast; and the southeast held by a private owner. As the retail corner starts to take shape, Cypress Equities, a Staubach affiliate, is holding a contract from a retail developer for 4.1 acres.Summers says Urban Investments placed a contract with a 120-day look and 30-day closes. Mark Newman, also with Staubach, represented the buyer.