ALLEN, Texas — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
A 60-acre mixed-use development anchored by an H-E-B and planned for offices, restaurants, shops and hundreds of apartments is slated to start construction later this year at the southeast corner of Custer Road and State Highway 121 in Allen.
The development will consist of a large park and potentially a hotel in addition to the office, retail, apartments, townhomes and the popular grocer that's expanding rapidly in North Texas, according to Daniel Bowman, executive director and CEO at Allen Economic Development Corp.
"From an economic development perspective, the things that are most exciting and interesting to us would of course be the H-E-B grocery store — great amenity," Bowman said. "There's a really significant park in the middle of this that they plan to build with a very interesting design ... and [with] kind of multiple tiers of green space, really sizable."
A listing from Standridge Cos., an Addison-based investment, development and property management firm, indicates the H-E-B grocery store is part of the plans. Mabrie Jackson, managing director for public affairs for H-E-B and Central Market, confirmed that an H-E-B store is expected to built there, but said no construction timeline has been set.
"We look forward to serving the neighbors in that area, but we just don't have a timeline," she said.
Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. is the developer behind the overall project.
For an idea of the project's scale, the 60-acre development will be roughly two-thirds the size of The Star in Frisco, the 91-acre project along the Dallas North Tollway anchored by the Dallas Cowboys headquarters.
One piece of the project in Allen will include a 102-unit townhomes-for-rent community totaling 256,000 square feet planned to be built at a cost of about $35 million, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Construction of 434 apartment units totaling 464,000 square feet and a five-level parking garage are also planned for the development, according to a separate TDLR filing. That will cost an estimated $83 million, the filing states. While information in TDLR filings is often preliminary and subject to change, they offer an early glimpse at new construction projects.
The multifamily and townhome rentals make up phase 1 of the project, a spokesperson for Trammell Crow Co. said. TCC declined to comment further on the development since it has not yet been officially announced by the developer.
The total number of apartments units for the development are capped at 1,200 and the multifamily element is required to be built in phases, hinging on the development of office, retail and grocery uses, according to a July 18, 2022, development regulation update from the City of Allen.
Construction on the apartments and townhomes is expected to begin in November this year and wrap up in December 2026, according to the TDLR filings.
ESG Architects of Minneapolis has been tapped to design both residential projects.
Kevin Hickman, a senior vice president for Trammell Crow Co. within the firm's Dallas-Fort Worth office, is listed on both TDLR filings as the contact for the owner. Hickman declined to comment on the project. Hickman's role at Tramell Crow Co. involves sourcing and executing new multifamily projects throughout DFW under High Street Residential, TCC’s wholly owned subsidiary specializing in multifamily development.
Plans for a project at the southeast corner of Custer Road and SH 121 have been in the works for several years, with the 60 acres now being divided between three different owners: Trammell Crow Co., H-E-B and the Allen Economic Development Corp.
The Allen EDC owns about 5 acres on the northeastern corner of the development planned for an office building and potentially a hotel, Bowman said. Allen EDC purchased the 5 acres from TC Custer 121 Owner LP, a Trammell Crow entity, in August 2023, according to the Collin Central Appraisal District.
"We bought a piece because, again, our mission and our focus as economic development is on high-end hospitality, and really on corporate office," Bowman said. "So we bought that site so we could really reserve and maintain a space in this really exciting, compelling, mixed-use development for the office building."
Bowman added that despite notions of the office market slumping, Allen is seeing a slow re-emergence of it, especially for 60,000- to 80,000-square-foot spaces.
H-E-B LP owns nearly 19 acres on the west side of the development facing Custer Road. The land was also purchased from TC Custer 121 Owner LP in August 2023.
In a March 7, 2017 Allen City Council meeting agenda packet, a rendering showed the area encompassing the southeast corner was to be dubbed Cornerstone Village @ Allen. At the time, the land had not yet been purchased by TC Custer 121 Owner LP.
However, a new name for the upcoming development was not disclosed.
H-E-B has expanded rapidly into North Texas lately. This map, updated in May, shows current, under construction, and upcoming H-E-B locations.
This location would be the company's second in Allen, and would be 6 miles away from H-E-B's first location in the city. H-E-B also has two stores in Frisco.
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