Look What's Happening just minutes from fairview, lucas, and parker, Texas

 

 

Allen: Shopping's next center

As city grows, retailers set sites
 

11:36 PM CST on Thursday, December 9, 2004

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

 

ALLEN – At the southwest corner of Bethany Road and U.S. Highway 75, the hay crop recently harvested will probably be the last.  By next year, the 500 acres Amy Monier's family has farmed for generations will be a construction site for a shopping center and hundreds of homes will be in the works.

"The shopping center will have close to 500,000 square feet, and they are talking to specialty stores, restaurants and a grocer," said Ms. Monier, whose family acquired the Montgomery Farms property in the 1940s. "So much is finally happening in the area, and it's overdue."

Improvements to State Highway 121 and burgeoning growth farther north in Collin and Grayson counties have put Allen in the crosshairs for more retail development.  Mall developer General Growth Properties announced plans last week for a major shopping center, and several other big retail developments are about to come off the drawing boards.

Although there has been a flurry of recent announcements, they reflect years of effort by the city of Allen and major landowners, said Charisse Canfield, executive director of the Allen Economic Development Corp.   "What they are talking about is what we envisioned years ago," Ms. Canfield said.

"There is a lot of retail that we missed out on and has gone to other areas.  "Now it's our turn," she said. Ms. Canfield points to Allen's growing population and demographics to argue that the city can support even more retail. 

• Allen's population has grown from 22,728 in 1992 to more than 67,000.

• The Dallas suburb has a median income of $86,828.

• Retail sales have surged from $78.4 million in 1992 to almost $530 million last year. And in 2004 sales tax revenue is running about 5 percent ahead.

• The taxable property base in the city has increased from $729 million in 1992 to almost $5 billion last year, according to the Allen Economic Development Corp.

"Most of the existing retail we have stays pretty full," Ms. Canfield said.  Plus, Allen's existing shopping centers draw from nearby residential districts in Plano, McKinney, Fairview and other communities.

David Palmer of Cencor Realty said Allen is becoming a regional retail center just like Frisco, Cedar Hill and other suburban communities.   "This was an area that hadn't fully developed, so it was a natural," Mr. Palmer said. "And with the widening of State Highway 121 becoming a reality, the timing is good."

Cencor was one of the first retail developers to size up the potential, building its Twin Creeks Village shopping center at U.S. 75 and McDermott in 1998.  More than 750,000 square feet of retail space is now located at that intersection.   The other big retail draw is the Allen Premium Outlets shopping center, which opened in 2000 at Stacy Road and U.S. 75.  The 344,000 square-foot shopping center owned by Chelsea Properties Inc. still has room for a large expansion.

Along with the 500,000 square-foot Montgomery Farms retail project, Blue Star Investments is about to start work on a 529-acre retail and residential project called Star Creek on Highway 121 at Chelsea Boulevard just west of U.S. 75.   The project will have about 900 single-family homes and will include a large retail and entertainment district on the south side of Highway 121.

"I have 75 acres of frontage on Highway 121 that shoppers will have to drive by to get to General Growth's new project," said Blue Star general manager Joe Hickman. "We are getting ready to break ground."   General Growth's development at the southwest corner of Highway 121 and U.S. 75 will be called Allentowne.

It will have 250 acres of shops, restaurants, commercial space and residential in a "park-like, pedestrian-friendly village."   General Growth is already one of the biggest shopping center owners in North Texas, with projects including Stonebriar Center mall, Vista Ridge mall and Town East Mall.   While not an enclosed shopping center, its Allen project is likely to be one of the largest so-called lifestyle centers in Collin County, with a combination of home, apparel and specialty tenants.

Broker Terry Syler with the Retail Connection said that intersection of Highway 121 and U.S. 75 intersection was "the next logical hub for retail development."  "There are rooftops and income up there, and all the retail that's already been built in the area has been very successful," Mr. Syler said.   "Allen has always been strong because the density is mature.   "The retail coming back to Allen is fill-in after what has already built in that market," he said.