Developers break ground on West Plano Village shopping center after being delayed by recession

This is the same development that will house the new West Plano Eatzi's.

Image courtesy of Weitzman/Cencor

This mixed-use development, planned for Parker Road and the Dallas North Tollway, will feature 90,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 60,000 square feet of office space and 245 multifamily apartment units. The first anchor restaurant, eatZi's, is scheduled to open this fall.

PLANO — A $75 million mixed-use development that was put on hold in 2007 is back in action and under construction for its first phase.

West Plano Village, located at Parker Road and the Dallas North Tollway, is the latest partnership between the Haggard family, which owns the land, and developers The Weitzman Group and Cencor Realty Services.

Plans include 90,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 60,000 square feet of office space, and 245 multifamily apartment units. Site work is currently under way, with groundbreaking for the first buildings expected this summer.

The 500,000-square-foot development will be anchored to the north by the existing Cinemark Tinseltown movie theater and to the south by eatZi's Market and Bakery, which is set to open this fall. Design plans include a pedestrian-oriented street that will connect Parker with the theater through the development, with apartments and retail on either side.

"These new urbanist, mixed-use projects in suburban areas -- probably Southlake Town Square and the Shops at Legacy are the best examples of this development -- lend themselves to a warm environment with natural stones," said David Palmer, executive vice president of Cencor/Weitzman. "I wanted it to be a little bit modernist or contemporary but still be a warm and traditional feel for the patrons; both office tenants and customers."

Work on the project goes back to 2005 but experienced a delay starting in 2007, Palmer said.

"Certainly, I think the pace of the project, and when it was to break ground and be developed, very much got affected by the 2007/2008 recession," he said. "So we pulled back a bit at that point and waited for a more appropriate time to break ground, which we did this year.

Phyllis Jarrell, director of planning for the city of Plano, said a preliminary site plan has been approved as well as plans for the current construction, though any development that differs from the original 2007 plans will have to go before the planning and zoning commission.

"The plan has changed over the years, but it's always intended to be a mix of apartments, retail restaurants and some office space," she said. "Over that time period the developer has redesigned the plan. Things have kind of moved around a bit as they have made adjustments for the uses, but the basic framework is still the same."

Prior development between Cencor/Weitzman and the Haggard family includes shopping centers at the northeast and northwest corner of the intersection, anchored respectively by Tom Thumb and Academy Sports and Outdoors.

The development's first apartments are expected in mid-2014, and the first retail/offices should open in fall 2014, Palmer said.