Although Colleyville Downs and Colleyville Stampede, Colleyville’s first multitenant retail centers to be built in the city in nearly a decade, are not yet complete, they are already serving as a catalyst to bring in more business.

City officials said Colleyville Downs, a 201,000-square-foot center on Colleyville Boulevard that contains restaurants and retail, began bringing in new businesses in February 2013 when Whole Foods Market was announced as the center’s anchor.

Prior to the announcement the center had a vacant space once occupied by Albertsons and needed renovations.

In an effort to revive the property and replace the Albertsons, the city and Centennial Real Estate Co. of Dallas partnered for an $18 million redevelopment of the property.

Centennial redeveloped the center from 2013-14 and is in the process of constructing an outparcel building that will complete the center. The building is expected to be complete in August.

With the opening of northeast Tarrant County’s first Whole Foods in Colleyville Downs in July 2014, Colleyville Economic Development Director Marty Wieder said one-of-a-kind restaurants and other businesses have since flocked to the area.

“Bringing in Whole Foods to fill in that vacancy was a game-changer for us,” Wieder said. “[Aside from two months], we have seen an increase in sales tax revenue [every month] since they opened. It has also changed the impression of the city in the eyes of brokers. They are now seriously taking a look at Colleyville where previously they wouldn’t.”

New ownership

In April, Kite Realty Group of Indianapolis acquired Colleyville Downs.

“The Colleyville Downs acquisition is another example of our ability to source off-market opportunities and acquire first-class real estate in our core markets,” said KRG Chairman and CEO John Kite in a news release. “Many of the existing leases predate the new Whole Foods Market and further support our ability to create additional value through lease-up and below-market rent opportunities.”

Wieder said KRG is satisfied with the overall look and feel of the center and will not make any major changes.

“I think it says a lot that [Kite Realty Group] saw the value of all the improvements that are taking place here and say they want to come in and own and lease this whole center,” Wieder said.

“But this kind of development is somewhat of a confirmation for us. We always knew we had quality demographics, but because we are somewhat hidden and don’t have a lot of freeway frontage we may have been a little forgotten. It’s nice to see commercial grocers and developers and the retail and restaurant tenants realize that yes, we should look at Colleyville; yes we should come to Colleyville,” he said.

Drawing restaurants and retail

Across from the Downs, tenants are getting ready to open in Colleyville Stampede, a 12,763-square-foot retail center that will be home to the first Teddy’s Bigger Burgers in Texas and the first Snap Kitchen in Tarrant County.

Wieder said city surveys indicated in 2010, 2012 and 2014 that restaurants and retail were a priority for citizens.

“[The development team] really took that to heart,” he said. “So this is thrilling news to see this kind of response.”

To draw new restaurants he said the city had to show it had the daytime population to sustain restaurants.

“A number of brokers I approached about restaurants would tell me, ‘You guys just don’t have the daytime population,’” Wieder said.

A study was completed by Catalyst Commercial of Dallas, and Catalyst was able to quantify that Colleyville has 20,000 people in the city during the day.

“[The study] helped show that we do have the population, and that kind of helped get us over the hump in convincing brokers to take a look at the city,” he said. “To see those kinds of tenants come in, it’s a real testament to our citizens, our demographics and the people that work here.”

Diverse dining options

Snap Kitchen, which serves healthy chef-driven food, decided to come to the city based on the lifestyles of  residents, co-founder and CEO Martin Berson said.

“We are so fortunate to already be a part of major suburbs like Cinco Ranch in Houston and Avery Ranch in Austin, but we are especially excited to bring Snap Kitchen to Colleyville because we know that health and wellness are important to this up-and-coming Tarrant County community,” Berson said.

Some Colleyville residents are investing in the area as well.

After visiting Maui, Colleyville residents Brad and Nancy Sinex said they decided to bring a piece of Hawaii back to Texas by opening a Teddy’s Bigger Burgers restaurant.

“We fell in love with Teddy’s in Hawaii and never could find a restaurant that offered the same atmosphere and food quality—what we like to call craveability—in the area and wanted to offer that same experience to our community,” Brad Sinex said.

Sinex said providing jobs for area youth and becoming involved with the community in which he lives [is another goal].

“We want this to be a place for the community to enjoy a great hamburger in a lively, fun, creative and distinctly unique setting,” he said.