(Ian Ritter is national online editor for GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

MUNSTER, IN-Urban Retail Properties is teaming with developer/owner Simborg Commercial Real Estate to build Munster Town Center, a mixed-use project that will feature 600,000 sf of retail and 50,000 sf of office space. The companies plan to complete the project, which Simborg will own, in late 2008.

Currently on the Munster Town Center site is the Lake Business Center, a 72-acre industrial and office park with existing buildings that need to be removed. "I would say we'll see some things happening on the site later this year," Steven Warsaw, the president of Urban's leasing division, tells GlobeSt.com.

The project's retail component will have a town-center atmosphere, and the developers are considering a theater, department stores and service retailers as anchors, Warsaw says. Residents in the area are currently traveling to Oakbrook or Orland Park, IL to do their shopping, he says. The 50,000-sf office space is being considered for medical office leasing.