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Burlington Coat Factory is on track to downsize its Richardson location, making room for an additional business, after the City Plan Commission unanimously recommended approval for a rezoning on Aug. 6.
The details
Burlington Coat Factory currently occupies a 74,000-square-foot building on S. Plano Road.
“They're currently not even using the entire building, so this property screams under-utilization,” said Maxwell Fisher, a consultant with Zonedev who is representing the property owners.
Burlington plans to downsize to half of the building, leaving the other half open for another tenant. The property owners requested the rezoning to allow additional uses in the vacant half of the building, including entertainment or fitness businesses.
Fisher said the new business is likely to be a fitness center, as several have already expressed interest in the site, but the rezoning would also allow the following new uses:
The rezoning will also include prohibited uses for the property, which were identified as more “intense uses” by the developer and the surrounding neighborhood. Prohibited uses will include a car wash, child-care center, convenience store, motor vehicle repair or service shop and smoking establishment.
A closer look
Even with a large retailer like Burlington, Fisher said the property “suffers from a lack of visibility” as it is obscured from the intersection by other developments.
“It doesn't have the same advantages that other properties do that rely on impulse purchases, and so we need a destination-type use back here,” Fisher said
As part of the proposal, senior planner Derica Peters said the property owners will add another light on the property as well as four additional landscape islands with canopy trees. Fisher said the owners also plan on improvements to the building, including roof work, repainting and adding architectural elements to the entrance.
“I live in the neighborhood and we have been anxiously awaiting the revitalization of everything on this corner, so [I’m] very happy to see this coming in,” commissioner Kristen Schascheck said.
What’s next
After the commission unanimously recommended approval, City Council will consider the rezoning case at a later date.
