GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Sister Spec Retail Projects Planned

PLANO, TX-Simultaneous spec retail projects at two high-traffic intersections will break ground in late January or early February in Dallas-based Henry S. Miller Commercial’s ongoing development of Crystal Creek Village in Plano. The retail double play of 30,000 sf is carrying a price tag of about $5 million.

One 15,000-sf center, all retail, will rise at the northeast corner of Hedgcoxe and Ohio while a similar-size retail-office combo will go up at the junction of Ohio and Rasor. Henry S. Miller Commercial will act as developer and leasing agent for the centers.

Sam Kartalis, Henry S. Miller Commercial president, tells GlobeSt.com that the projects will be built “out of pocket” with 1031 Exchange proceeds gleaned from a high-rise sale “east of the Mississippi” by the foreign investors who are backing the Plano projects. There’s also a margin of comfort in the fact that these are the only two commercial tracts left at the intersections in the growing neighborhood.

The all-retail center will go up on 10 acres fronting Hedgcoxe while the combo center will be built on 15 acres fronting Ohio. Kartalis is betting future development of Rasor will catapult the crossroads into a heavily traveled shortcut to Texas 121. “It’s going to become a very major intersection in the next five years,” he says.

Both single-story, brick-facade projects are ticketed for midyear openings. And both will cater to mid-level retailers. “We’re going to try to make sure the rents are attractive,” Kartalis emphasizes. There’s also the upside that tenants will have a choice between the nearby centers, an option that makes for a clear advantage in the leasing pushes. He’s optimistic that one, maybe both, could be fully leased by the ribbon-cutting.

The development follows the golden rule of retail following rooftops. Crystal Creek Village is a 100-acre, single-family neighborhood developed by a joint venture partnership of Miami-based Copacabana Inc. and Henry S. Miller Commercial. The single-family development got under way about two years ago.