The latest project will bring another 300,000 sf to 350,000 sf of retail space in a joint venture between Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors and 35/45 La Frontera LP. The announcement comes about five months after the grand opening of the 800,000-sf La Frontera Village, a retail project of Developers Diversified Realty, based in Cleveland.
The Weingarten-La Frontera project will be the highest end possible in a bid to lure the nation's premier retailers to the master-planned project, Bill Smalling, co-manager for 35/45 La Frontera, told Globe St.com. Hodges & Associates of Dallas, project architect, is hard at work with the development team, which already has brought 17 development versions to the discussion table, he says.
A ground-breaking for what is being dubbed a "lifestyle" shopping center is about a year away. "We want to find the right tenant mix," he explains. And that, says Smalling, is Weingarten's strong point.
The Weingarten-La Frontera project will be positioned on 39 acres in a pedestrian-friendly urban design along the mixed-use development's western perimeter. In a prepared statement, Patty Bender, Weingarten's vice president of leasing, has classified the undertaking as "one of our company's most exciting new developments in recent years" due to the existing market conditions in Austin and Round Rock.
Bender says Weingarten will look to its prior urban-style centers for direction: The Village Arcade in Houston and River Oaks Center, believed by some to be the nation's second-oldest shopping center.
It's what the new project will do for La Frontera that really has the developers' attention. "This should take all the retail that we'll do. We feel like we're about two years ahead of our schedule and we're pleased with that," Smalling says. La Frontera, located off Interstate 35, broke ground in 1998 and projected that full build-out would take five to seven years. La Frontera, located off Interstate 35, currently has more than two million sf completed or under construction. The built-out project will deliver an estimated five million sf in office buildings, campuses, urban-style apartments, a 295-room Marriott Conference Hotel, retail development and freestanding restaurants.
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