Belk's, Cheddar's Join 300-Acre Project

FORT WORTH-Local joint venture partners Trademark Property Co. and Hillwood have added two more Tarrant County newcomers to the lineup in the under-construction, 300-acre Alliance Town Center. The latest round of dealmaking closes off another 103,800 sf of prime retail space.

Dallas-based Cheddar’s Casual Cafe has grabbed a front row seat with a 2.5-acre pad site to be part of the 600,000-sf first wave for the two-million-sf development along Interstate 35W, Heritage Trace and North Tarrant parkways in North Tarrant County. The development’s opening act will be a 7,800-sf Cheddar’s and 103,000-sf J.C. Penney’s store. The larger catch of the just-signed deals is Charlotte, NC-based Belk Inc., which has inked a long-term lease for a 96,000-sf anchor spot that’s viewed as “the transition piece to the town center,” according to Darrell Lake, senior vice president of Hillwood Properties. Belk’s is part of a fall 2007 delivery that includes Sam Moon Trading Co., a Dallas-based importer of luggage, purses, fashion accessories and home decor who bought 20 acres for his first Tarrant County center.

Lake tells GlobeSt.com that the Cheddar’s deal has been under negotiation nearly two years and Belk’s lease has taken about six months to seal. The deal marks Belk’s 10th location in Texas and Cheddar’s’ 23rd.