Archon Plans $120M Power Center

Dirt work will begin in the fourth quarter so Alamo Ranch Marketplace can go vertical in spring 2007. Acting on behalf of the New York City-based Whitehall Street Global Real Estate LP, Archon bought the site at Loop 1604, Texas 151 and Culebra Road from a group of land speculators from Dallas. "They had no intent to develop it. It was bought to hold and sell when the time was right because they knew that the growth was coming their way," says Lance Taylor, development manager for the Irving, TX-based Archon, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Taylor tells GlobeSt.com that Archon intends to merchant build Alamo Ranch Marketplace, the gateway to a development where homebuilders are just now getting their models in place. Archon's Brad Kempson, leasing director, and Robin Smith, leasing manager, are negotiating with three anchors and junior anchors, but talks also have begun to hire a Texas brokerage house to assist with on-the-ground leasing for shop space and pad sites. "Interest has exceeded our expectations," Taylor says. If talks stay on track, he says the trio of anchor commitments will be in hand by summer's end.

Archon is shooting for a near simultaneous delivery of the entire project in March 2008. "With 1.5 years to get there, we're confident that a significant portion will open at the same time," Taylor says. "And, we're confident it's going to be a success given the location, tenant interest and number of homes being built."

This summer, work begins on widening Culebra Road from two to four lanes, with a fifth one turning into the development. Taylor says the road project will take 18 to 24 months to complete, just in time for Alamo Ranch Marketplace's delivery. The four-way intersection, with one quadrant still untapped for development, already holds a Home Depot and H-E-B grocery-anchored center and Wal-Mart Supercenter. The crossroads is close to the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and Sea World.

"Archon Group's retail division is excited to secure this high-profile property, located at the crossroads of the highest concentration of residential growth in the San Antonio market," Dan Watson, director of retail investments in the Southwest, says in a press release. Alamo Ranch Marketplace, designed by MDN Architects of San Antonio, is being mapped out as a destination location for retail, restaurants and entertainment-based nationals.

The Dallas division of Chattanooga-based EMJ Corp. is handling predevelopment services. Pape-Dawson Engineers Inc. of San Antonio is the civil engineer and Coleman & Associates of Austin is the landscape architect.