Junior Anchors Close Off 77,786 SF in $20M Project

FLOWER MOUND, TX-With 700,000 sf up or on the way at a key crossroads, a Dallas-based developer's Highlands Ranch Shopping Center has fielded a triple hit from junior anchors eyeing grand openings before this year's holiday season begins. The 77,786-sf round closes out all junior anchor slots.

Direct Development LP has snagged Best Buy, PetsMart and Office Max for its $20-million Highlands Ranch, a 250,000-sf development at the southeast corner of FM 2499 and 407 and right across the street from its inroad into the suburb, the 450,000-sf Highlands of Flower Mound. "That center on the southwest corner is doing well," says David Watson, principal in Direct Development, "so all these guys really wanted to get open fast." He says all will be open in for the holiday shopping season.

Watson tells GlobeSt.com that the leases have minimum 10-year terms. Best Buy Stores LP took 30,406 sf; PetsMart, 27,074 sf; and Office Max, 20,306 sf. Steve Greenberg with the Retail Connection in Dallas represented Direct Development while Susan Ridley with Ridley Property Co. in Dallas negotiated Best Buy's deal, Warren Creason with Creason Commercial Realty, also a local firm, steered talks for PetsMart and Terry Syler with the Retail Connection bargained Office Max's terms.

Watson says the team's preleasing 50,000 sf of inline space and negotiating ground leases for four remaining pad sites in the 35-acre development, anchored by a 175,000-sf Lowe's Home Improvement Store that opened about four months ago. To date, pad sites have been sold to Ebby Halliday Realtors for a 9,000-sf office, Wendy's and Chase Bank. Watson says the other four pad deals will be signed within 90 days. Excluding the pad sites, inline space is quoted at $25 per sf to $30 per sf.