More retail development is headed to Georgetown, a small city north of Austin that has ballooned as an affordable bedroom community on the fringe of the metro.
Cypress Equities of Dallas started construction Thursday of the 77,050-square-foot Oak Meadows Marketplace, a shopping center on 11.2 acres at the southwest corner of Williams Drive and Jim Hogg Road that will be anchored by a Randalls. The stores are expected to open in December 2017.
Two additional tenants have been secured for Oak Meadows: Organic Nails & Spa has signed for 2,097 square feet and Natural Pawz, a pet supply and grooming business, has signed for 1,700 square feet. That leaves about 16,000 square feet of retail space up for grabs.
Cypress purchased the land in September for an undisclosed amount, said Glenn Miller, the company's portfolio marketing director.
"The combination of the city’s motivated workforce, low tax and utility rates, as well as its strong sense of community and exceptional quality of life make this a highly desirable market in which to operate," Cypress Equities CEO Chris Maguire said in a statement.
The Randalls will be 57,655 square feet with a Starbucks, a sit-down sushi bar, a full-service pharmacy, meat and seafood departments, a floral department and a fuel station and convenience store.
Georgetown was the fastest-growing city of its size in the nation from mid-2014 to mid-2015, when its estimated population reached 65,719. Residents have flocked there to buy relatively affordable homes — median sales price in February for a single-family home was $253,750, compared to $287,000 in the metro at large — and commercial development is following suit.
Cypress is handling the leasing for Oak Meadows along with SRS Real Estate Partners of Austin.
Founded in 1995, Cypress is a retail and mixed-use developer, operator and manager with a current portfolio of more than 10 million square feet.