Lone Star Café, which had been in The Woodlands since 1983, had moved out of its pad site less than a week ago and on to its own freestanding building, just off the property of Lakeline Mall. The restaurant chain's strategy now is to own properties. Less than a week later, broker Harry Scott of Trammell Crow reports a lease already is out on the 7,500-sf pad site for an established Mexican restaurant.

"With all the construction, the natural assumption would be that businesses would go down and doors would shut until they finish out here," Scott tells GlobeSt.com. "That's just not the case. My retailers facing Anderson Mill Road are telling me they haven't seen business this good in a long time. As soon as a lease is open, people are all over it."

The 102,000-sf north Austin shopping center is actually two shopping plazas, both being marketed by Trammell Crow. One 62,000-sf plaza is owned by Albertsons grocery store chain. The other 40,000-sf plaza, which is anchored in part by Half-Price Books, is owned by an investment group out of Dallas.