Quiz03
03-14-2003, 01:00 AM
Cedar Hill becoming a shopping destination
A high point for retail
03/14/2003
By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News
Cedar Hill is quickly emerging as the center of shopping in southern Dallas County, an area historically underserved by retail.
A 70-acre development under construction will be anchored by a rare, free-standing J.C. Penney store and connect Cedar Hill's historic Main Street with a new shopping district at U.S. Highway 67 and FM1382.
The 92,000-square-foot, one-level Penney store is one of three that Plano-based J.C. Penney Co. has planned that are not inside a mall. The two others are in suburban Minneapolis and Indianapolis. The store will be located between an Ultimate Electronics and a Wal-Mart Supercenter, two big-box retailers that opened last fall.
"We're trying to create a campuslike place where people can walk from City Hall or their office to retail and connect the old downtown to it," said Frank Mihalopoulos, developer of Cedar Hill Village. "It's not a pedestrian-exclusive project because that's not the way people live. They have to drive to get here, and the development will be conducive to that."
Cedar Hill residents will be asked in September to approve a bond package to pay for a new City Hall, said City Manager Alan Sims. The proposed site is next door to the Penney store. The development includes a Bank One branch and space for additional office buildings and retail.
Steve Phillips, chairman of the Cedar Hill Main Street Committee, said there's an effort to have the new developments preserve the flavor of the city, which overlooks Joe Pool Lake and calls itself "the Hill Country of the Metroplex."
All roads, landscaping and building plans must be reviewed by the committee before they move on to planning and zoning officials.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. last year opened a Supercenter that is a good example of the demands the committee is making, Mr. Phillips said. "Wal-Mart traditionally builds blue and red exteriors. This one is tan and green."
Austin-stonelike facade requirements are evident across the highway at the 320,000-square-foot Plaza at Cedar Hill, which opened in late 2000 with a Barnes & Noble, Linens 'N Things, Old Navy, OfficeMax and Hobby Lobby, among others.
That project also was developed by Mr. Mihalopoulos, who said, "Activity breeds activity, and we're hoping we can bring other retail and maybe a movie theater here."
Cedar Hill Crossing, a development on the southeast corner, includes Kohl's, Home Depot, Staples and Petco, and a Starbucks with a drive-through window.
Together, Cedar Hill Village, the Plaza at Cedar Hill and Cedar Hill Crossing, plus the older Market at Cedar Hill, equal the space in a regional shopping mall.
'Retail destination'
The four corners on which they sit are becoming power retail destinations, much like Preston Road and Park Boulevard in Plano and MacArthur Boulevard and LBJ Freeway in Irving.
Mr. Sims said Target Corp. is about to announce a SuperTarget that will anchor another development at Highway 67 and Pleasant Run. "We fully intend to be the retail destination for southwest Dallas County," he said.
The city's sales tax collections are up 15 percent in the first quarter compared with the same three months last year. Last year, Cedar Hill's sales tax revenue was double the amount received in 1999 before most of the new stores and restaurants had opened.
Two years ago, Penney closed its store at Southwest Center Mall in southern Dallas. Last month, lenders foreclosed on the mall, which has been struggling since the early 1990s to attract shoppers and retailers. Some of the mall's former tenants, including Old Navy and Lane Bryant, are in the Plaza at Cedar Hill.
The Old Navy store "is meeting our expectations. We're pleased," said Richard Golden, Gap Inc.'s vice president for store development. "It's a vibrant area, with lots of families and new homes. We thought that about Southwest Center also, but it didn't work out that way."
Following the shoppers
Wisconsin-based Kohl's Corp., as it expanded outside its Midwest roots in the late 1990s, showed department store operators that people were interested in shopping outside regional malls.
Allen Questrom, chairman and chief executive of Penney, spoke last fall at a regional meeting of the International Council of Shopping Centers and told the audience of mall developers and operators that the retailer was not restricting itself to regional malls and would follow shoppers to other retail developments.
Sears Roebuck and Co. plans to open a free-standing pilot store in suburban Salt Lake City later this year. Another one is planned for suburban Chicago, a spokeswoman said. Federated Department Stores Inc. has also opened free-standing smaller locations.
The Penney store is about one-third smaller than the retailer's traditional regional mall stores. It will include traditional departments, except furniture. Plans are for a November opening, Penney spokesman Tim Lyons said.
E-mail mhalkias@dallasnews.com
A high point for retail
03/14/2003
By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News
Cedar Hill is quickly emerging as the center of shopping in southern Dallas County, an area historically underserved by retail.
A 70-acre development under construction will be anchored by a rare, free-standing J.C. Penney store and connect Cedar Hill's historic Main Street with a new shopping district at U.S. Highway 67 and FM1382.
The 92,000-square-foot, one-level Penney store is one of three that Plano-based J.C. Penney Co. has planned that are not inside a mall. The two others are in suburban Minneapolis and Indianapolis. The store will be located between an Ultimate Electronics and a Wal-Mart Supercenter, two big-box retailers that opened last fall.
"We're trying to create a campuslike place where people can walk from City Hall or their office to retail and connect the old downtown to it," said Frank Mihalopoulos, developer of Cedar Hill Village. "It's not a pedestrian-exclusive project because that's not the way people live. They have to drive to get here, and the development will be conducive to that."
Cedar Hill residents will be asked in September to approve a bond package to pay for a new City Hall, said City Manager Alan Sims. The proposed site is next door to the Penney store. The development includes a Bank One branch and space for additional office buildings and retail.
Steve Phillips, chairman of the Cedar Hill Main Street Committee, said there's an effort to have the new developments preserve the flavor of the city, which overlooks Joe Pool Lake and calls itself "the Hill Country of the Metroplex."
All roads, landscaping and building plans must be reviewed by the committee before they move on to planning and zoning officials.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. last year opened a Supercenter that is a good example of the demands the committee is making, Mr. Phillips said. "Wal-Mart traditionally builds blue and red exteriors. This one is tan and green."
Austin-stonelike facade requirements are evident across the highway at the 320,000-square-foot Plaza at Cedar Hill, which opened in late 2000 with a Barnes & Noble, Linens 'N Things, Old Navy, OfficeMax and Hobby Lobby, among others.
That project also was developed by Mr. Mihalopoulos, who said, "Activity breeds activity, and we're hoping we can bring other retail and maybe a movie theater here."
Cedar Hill Crossing, a development on the southeast corner, includes Kohl's, Home Depot, Staples and Petco, and a Starbucks with a drive-through window.
Together, Cedar Hill Village, the Plaza at Cedar Hill and Cedar Hill Crossing, plus the older Market at Cedar Hill, equal the space in a regional shopping mall.
'Retail destination'
The four corners on which they sit are becoming power retail destinations, much like Preston Road and Park Boulevard in Plano and MacArthur Boulevard and LBJ Freeway in Irving.
Mr. Sims said Target Corp. is about to announce a SuperTarget that will anchor another development at Highway 67 and Pleasant Run. "We fully intend to be the retail destination for southwest Dallas County," he said.
The city's sales tax collections are up 15 percent in the first quarter compared with the same three months last year. Last year, Cedar Hill's sales tax revenue was double the amount received in 1999 before most of the new stores and restaurants had opened.
Two years ago, Penney closed its store at Southwest Center Mall in southern Dallas. Last month, lenders foreclosed on the mall, which has been struggling since the early 1990s to attract shoppers and retailers. Some of the mall's former tenants, including Old Navy and Lane Bryant, are in the Plaza at Cedar Hill.
The Old Navy store "is meeting our expectations. We're pleased," said Richard Golden, Gap Inc.'s vice president for store development. "It's a vibrant area, with lots of families and new homes. We thought that about Southwest Center also, but it didn't work out that way."
Following the shoppers
Wisconsin-based Kohl's Corp., as it expanded outside its Midwest roots in the late 1990s, showed department store operators that people were interested in shopping outside regional malls.
Allen Questrom, chairman and chief executive of Penney, spoke last fall at a regional meeting of the International Council of Shopping Centers and told the audience of mall developers and operators that the retailer was not restricting itself to regional malls and would follow shoppers to other retail developments.
Sears Roebuck and Co. plans to open a free-standing pilot store in suburban Salt Lake City later this year. Another one is planned for suburban Chicago, a spokeswoman said. Federated Department Stores Inc. has also opened free-standing smaller locations.
The Penney store is about one-third smaller than the retailer's traditional regional mall stores. It will include traditional departments, except furniture. Plans are for a November opening, Penney spokesman Tim Lyons said.
E-mail mhalkias@dallasnews.com