Two readers, Justin and Jeff, both emailed me on Tuesday about Place LeGrand – AmeriStar Commercial, who appear to be the brokers that are representing Place LeGrand, has some detailed information on their website about this exciting new shopping center development that’s planned for the intersection of FM 741 & FM 548 here in Forney. Thanks, guys, for sending me the URL of their site!

The first exciting thing I saw was that AmeriStar commercial represents property in areas such as Plano, Frisco, Carrollton and more, and they’re currently working on “Uptowne Frisco”, what will be a 3 million square foot center, so Place LeGrand may be as nice as I’ve been hearing.

From looking over the AmeriStar website, I’ve discovered that the shopping center at Place LeGrand is currently scheduled to be open in Spring 2007 and consist of 21,000 square feet of retail space. It will be on the portion of the development that is on the north side of FM 548.

Another interesting fact is that AmeriStar’s demographic information shows that for the 5 miles surrounding this development, the estimated population is 18,736, with a 66.75% growth rate and an average household income of $68,977.

The remaining portion of the development appears to consist of pad sites – most of which will be set aside for use by retailers and restaurants, but one of the sites is marked as an office building, and another may have a mix of retail and offices. The plans for this portion of the development also show a series of streams and ponds running through the property, creating a riverwalk or riverside effect. The realtor’s website lists these sites as “Year Built: 2006″, which makes it look like they planned to have it built by the end of 2006, but my guess is it’ll be sometime in early-to-mid 2007. I haven’t been over in that part of Forney recently, but I don’t think construction has begun yet, so chances are the buildings won’t be ready until 2007.

In case you’re wondering, the shopping center’s rates were listed at $22-$25 per square foot with a 3-5 year term; the pad sites range from $20/square foot to $25/square foot. This information is from AmeriStar Commercial’s website, www.AmeriStarRetail.com, and they list Chet Wilke, 972-618-1047, as the contact person if you’re interested in leasing space there.

With a 21,000 square foot shopping center and 16 pad sites (including one 120,000 square foot pad site marked as retail/restaurant – 120,000 square feet is about the size of a regular Target – SuperTargets are usually about 180,000 square feet; it’s also about the size of a Lowes or Home Depot; since Forney already has a Lowes, and Target has been rumored, it definitely makes you wonder if this could be a new Target store), this is a huge new development that will bring quite a few new stores and restaurants to Forney.

As I hear more about the progress at Place LeGrand as well as possible tenants, I’ll post more updates. In the meantime, please email me at josh@twentypeacefulminutes.com if you have any news on new developments in Forney.
I also have some new information on Shafer Plaza I hope to post within a day or two – Shafer Plaza will bring 80,000 square feet of retail space and numerous pad sites, including restaurant pad sites to the intersection of Highway 80 & FM 548.