Alliance Town Center.

Dallas-based Cheddar's Casual Cafe has grabbed a front row seatwith a 2.5-acre pad site to be part of the 600,000-sf first wavefor the two-million-sf development along Interstate 35W, HeritageTrace and North Tarrant parkways in North Tarrant County. Thedevelopment's opening act will be a 7,800-sf Cheddar's and103,000-sf J.C. Penney's store. The larger catch of the just-signeddeals is Charlotte, NC-based Belk Inc., which has inked a long-termlease for a 96,000-sf anchor spot that's viewed as "the transitionpiece to the town center," according to Darrell Lake, senior vicepresident of Hillwood Properties. Belk's is part of a fall 2007delivery that includes Sam Moon Trading Co., a Dallas-basedimporter of luggage, purses, fashion accessories and home decor whobought 20 acres for his first Tarrant County center.

Lake tells GlobeSt.com that the Cheddar's deal has been undernegotiation nearly two years and Belk's lease has taken about sixmonths to seal. The deal marks Belk's 10th location in Texas andCheddar's' 23rd.