Best Buy Gets Front-Row Seat in $800M Plan

FORT WORTH-After six months of negotiations, Best Buy Co. Inc. has signed for an anchor spot in the 600,000-sf-plus power center of the $800-million Alliance Town Center in Northeast Tarrant County. The 30,000-sf electronics store will be part of the spring 2008 deliveries.

The South Richfield, MN-based Best Buy is the fourth anchor for the power center, where national retailers are jockeying for position in a development with a half-mile of frontage along Interstate 35W. The staged roll-out has already marked openings for a 103,000-sf J.C. Penney’s and 7,800-sf Cheddar’s. A 60,000-sf Hobby Lobby opens its doors in the fall. And anchor Belk Inc.’s 96,000-sf store will come on line at the same time as Best Buy and 240,000 sf that’s in hand as signed letters of intent or committee-approved deals from shop tenants and junior anchors.

“We have so much leasing momentum in letters of intent or committee approved that we’re moving now. Because we have Penney’s and Belk’s and all the infrastructure in place, we’re getting the tenants,” Terry Montesi, president and CEO of Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co., tells GlobeSt.com. “Best Buy looked at the competitions’ sites across the freeway. The critical mass is on our side.” And Best Buy, he adds, gets a ground-leased pad site right along I-35W.