(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

AUSTIN, TX-Site work is under way for the Shops at Arbor Trails, a 400,000-sf retail development on 78 acres here that will be anchored by Costco. The site plan includes a wet pond and hiking and biking trails on 40 acres of open, green spaces. The developer is Cardinal Paragon of Dallas. The development site is located at the southwest corner of William Cannon Drive and the Mopac Expressway, in north Austin. The first phase of Arbor Trails, scheduled to open in late spring 2006, will include the Costco, several pad users and approximately 35,000 sf of smaller shop space. Ultimately, the project will include several junior anchors, additional small shop space and several restaurants.The site will become the second Austin location for Costco, which has a store in north Austin that has been open since 2001 and has been looking for a south Austin site for some time. Cardinal Paragon VP William Chaffe says that due to Costco's involvement and the strategic location of the development, the project is getting attention from a variety of retailers. To help land some of those tenants, the company has tapped Staubach Retail brokers Todd Wallace and Robert O'Farrell to handle leasing. "We handled the Costco negotiations and some of the pre-leasing in-house but wanted local representation once we broke ground," says Chaffe. Wallace, an SVP with Staubach and head of the Austin retail office, was not immediately available for comment Thursday morning. In a prepared statement, he says that Coscto chose to locate at Arbor Trails for a reason, and he expects others will do the same. "Based on the surrounding demographics, traffic, visibility and access, I think Costco recognized that this is one of the best retail sites in south Austin," he says. "We see a great opportunity to not only attract tenants like Costco, who may have a location up north and are looking for a another location in the south, but also to attract tenants new to the market."