$300M Clearfork development lands 'integral piece' with luxury retailer

Dec 4, 2014, 2:50pm CST Updated: Dec 4, 2014, 3:19pm CST

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Courtesy of Cassco Development

The Shops at Clearfork will feature up to 1.2 million square feet of retail space, which will include Dallas-based Neiman Marcus and about 100 high-end retailers.

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal
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The $300 million, 270-acre Clearfork development on the legendary Edwards Ranch has landed a major catalyst to kick off its luxury-shopping destination, The Shops at Clearfork.

Fort Worth-based developer Cassco Development, along with business partner Simon Property Group, has signed Dallas-based Neiman Marcus for a two-story, 90,000-square-foot build-to-suit store. Real estate sources say this deal will be a major catalyst for the already much-anticipated development on the Trinity River.

"This is going to be for us, the first shopping center of his scope since The Domain (was developed in Austin)," Simon Property Group's Les Morris, told the Dallas Business Journal."There are not too many ground-up shopping centers being built these days. This project will represent our best thinking."

Simon Property Group is the landlord for 10 Neiman Marcus stores, including one at The Domain — a luxury, open-air retail center in Austin — that opened in March 2007. The Dallas-based high-end retailer has done so well there, it wasn't hard to convince Neiman Marcus to come to the soon-to-be developed Clearfork project, he added.

In January, Morris said Simon Property expects to announce a premium luxury theater will sign a deal at Clearfork. He also added a number of high-end retailers at The Domain in Austin are seeking to expand to North Texas' Clearfork development.

"This will be an excellent opportunity for stores established in the market, or wanting to make this their first location in Tarrant County," Morris told me. He also said Simon Property Group's portfolio is 98 percent leased, a high occupancy rate that has led to developments, such as this one.

"Across the country, retailers are wanting to expand and try out new concepts," Morris told me. "There's not much supply, which is certainly in our favor as we develop Clearfork."

At build-out, the mixed-used development is expected to have 2 million square feet of office space, 1.2 million square feet of retail space and 2,500 apartments. As part of the development, Dallas-based StreetLights Residential is already underway on 392 apartments, with an expectation of delivering the apartments in summer 2015.

Woodbine Development Co. is helping the developer oversee the retail leasing of the Shops at Clearfork. The initial phase of retail space totaling half-a-million square feet will include Neiman Marcus, as well as about 100 high-end specialty stores, a premium theater and other restaurants.

The development is being helped with a $30 million economic incentive agreement with the City of Fort Worth. The Shops at Clearfork will be directly accessible from the Chisholm Trail Parkway, which opened to traffic earlier this year in May.

Construction on the initial retail phase of the mixed-use development is expected to get underway in spring 2015.

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.

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