Hobby Lobby Leases 60,000 SF at Cypress Mill

HOUSTON-Another retail site has been taken in the under-construction Cypress Mill Plaza in Harris County's unincorporated far northwest corner, adding to the rush among retailers to grab a spot in a fast-growing area.

Hobby Lobby Creative Centers will put a 60,000-sf store in the shopping center, taking a slot between Wal-Mart and Home Depot. The store will be the company's second location directly along US Highway 290, with the other closer to the city. Hobby Lobby "is just now pouring the slab" for the new building, says Scott Shillings, vice president in Houston for the Dallas-based Staubach Retail Group. The Hobby Lobby is scheduled to open in January 2005.

Shillings represented Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby in the transaction. Cypress Mill's owner, Crosswell & Greenwood Commercial, a locally based shopping center developer, represented itself. Shillings wouldn't disclose the lease's value, but did say that rents in centers like Cypress Mill are going for $7 per sf to $12 per sf on a long-term, triple-net basis. Hobby Lobby signed a lease of "10 or 15 years," he says.

The 450,000-sf Cypress Mill center, less than one year old, is being developed in phases, but is now "pretty full" and close to 90% occupied, Shillings tells GlobeSt.com. The center sits on a busy corner that, within the past year, has become home to a 125,000-sf Target and Kroger-anchored shopping center as well. "It's exploded up there," Shillings says. "Hobby Lobby took the opportunity to expand to a fast-growing area."

Property Commerce, another local developer, is building Cypress Town Center, a shopping center at the same corner in partnership with Kimco Realty Corp. That center is slated to open doors in October. Nearby, the Rouse Co. is laying out an 8,000-acre residential community for 17,000 single-family homes. "Everyone just landed at this intersection," Shillings says.

Hobby Lobby, an arts-and-crafts and home furnishings retailer, has more than 15 locations in the greater Houston area and "continues to look at the high-growth suburbs" in the region, Shillings says. The retailer operates 335 stores in 27 states.