OFF 5th Signs 28,000-SF BTS Lease for $1B Rim

Ward A. Kampf, president of retail leasing for the Rim's developer Thomas Enterprises Inc., says the OFF 5th store will break ground within one week. The store will be located next to Nordstrom Rack, which is slated to open this fall. Located at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Interstate 10, the Rim now has 1.3 million sf, with 288 of its 1,000 acres built out. The tenant list includes Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Target, Santikos Palladium Theatre, Best Buy and JCPenney. Future plans call for a hotel and upscale condo.

Kampf says the Rim's next wave of development will be the Village, a 300,000-sf pedestrian-friendly retail center with dining, shopping and entertainment tenants. "We're in active negotiations with tenants and about 75% of that space is already committed," he tells GlobeSt.com, adding construction will begin in late fall. "This will be pedestrian-friendly, with storefront parking and heavy on the food and entertainment areas." Completion is pegged for 2010.

The Newnan, GA-based Thomas Enterprises broke ground on the Rim in 2006. The goal is to create a hybrid center mixing box tenants like Target and Best Buy with higher-end shops like Nordstrom Rack and OFF 5th. Kampf says the concept has worked out very well, partly because of the center's location in a growing area of San Antonio and partly because the concept is a great driver of shopping traffic.

"The lines are a little less gray on the retail side today," Kampf explains. "There's a lot of crossover of these product types, particularly on the higher end." This is why at the Rim it's not unusual to see a Saks in the same place as a Lifetime Fitness Center. "The tenants say they're performing very well there," Kampf says.

In addition, the Rim is being developed in an underserved market. "There is still a tremendous amount of upside in that area, with some great fundamentals coming into play in the market," Kampf says. "It's been paying off to have an 'A' site in an 'A' market."