Developer, Wal-Mart Seal 36-Acre Anchor Deal for $50M-Plus Plan

FORT WORTH-Allegiance Commercial Development LLC has sold 36 of 65 acres to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., shoring up a double anchor for a 540,000-sf retail development. The developer's also holding a contract for another 40 neighboring acres to build a mixed-use town center in West Fort Worth.

A 203,000-sf Wal-Mart Supercenter and 155,000-sf Sam's Club will anchor the estimated $50-million Hawk's Creek, the retail component for a 450-acre redevelopment of land once within the bounds of the now-realigned Carswell Air Force Base off Interstate 30. John Zikos with Venture Commercial LLC in Dallas says the first wave of construction will break ground within two weeks.

Zikos says Hawk Creek's start hinged on securing revenue-sharing agreements with White Settlement and Westworth Village and landing the store relocation of the Bentonville, AR-based kingpin. "A lot of people didn't think the relocation would happen. It was rumored for awhile," he says. "But, Wal-Mart needed to upgrade and ours was the best site." Still, it wasn't an easy win because "the revenue-sharing agreement was very complicated," he explains.

With the municipal contracts in hand, Allegiance bought the land in the past week from the Westworth Redevelopment Authority and flipped acreage to Wal-Mart while holding onto enough for a 20,000-sf shopping center at the big boxes' front gate, Zikos tells GlobeSt.com. Hawk's Creek includes five pad sites, expected to add 40,000 sf to the plan, and land for 120,000 sf of junior anchors representing electronics, arts and crafts and apparel nationals. The quoted rates range from $25 per sf to $30 per sf.

Zikos and Venture teammate Ken Reimer already are holding contracts for three pad sites and are locked in final talks for a pair of ground leases. Zikos says the first deals for the six acres of pad sites will close in the coming weeks to kick off construction so the space can start to deliver by year's end.

Zikos says the junior anchors could be identified by the end of May. The plan calls for Wal-Mart and Sam's to open doors in March 2006 and the junior anchors to follow in the fall. To date, talks have produced preleasing pacts from Starbucks, Verizon and Sally Beauty Co. for the shopping center space.

Allegiance started taking down the land about six months ago after nearly two years of planning. The first tract went to multifamily development. The second purchase lined up the retail land. Zikos says the third takedown will be 40 acres earmarked for a 200,000-sf mixed-use town center with more retail and office space.

O'Brien & Associates of Dallas designed Hawk's Creek, which will rise across the interstate from Ridgmar Mall and neighbor a 125,000-sf Lowe's Home Improvement Store and 20,000-sf Office Max. The developer has yet to select the general contractor for Hawk's Creek.