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Village Plaza is in the Bag After Four Years of Land Assemblage
Jennifer Dawson
Houston Business Journal

Alan Hassenflu is finally breaking ground on Village Plaza at Bunker Hill after spending more than four years piecing together parcels for the west Houston retail center.

Construction will begin in mid-October on the 520,000-square-foot, 46-acre shopping center at the northwest corner of Bunker Hill and Interstate 10.

Hassenflu acquired five properties to assemble the land -- the largest being the former manufacturing complex of Daniel Measurement and Control Inc.

A property swap, rather than a land purchase, was the sixth and final deal to fall into place.

It all came down to a small textile manufacturing site that was inhabited by CEO Manufacturers, a company that makes school uniforms.

Owner Carlos Kuri, who started his business there in 1989, did not want to move.

"I've gotten very attached to the property," Kuri says.

That created a major hurdle for Hassenflu.

"His tract was critical because we needed it for the primary entrance into the shopping center on Bunker Hill," says Hassenflu, managing principal of Houston-based Fidelis Realty Partners Ltd.

Kuri ultimately traded the manufacturing site to Hassenflu in August in exchange for a 5,000-square-foot pad site in Village Plaza that is ground-leased to Bank of America. CEO Manufacturers' building has since been demolished, and the business moved to a nearby location.

There was also a lot of negotiating concerning traffic flow around Village Plaza in preparation for the groundbreaking.

Hassenflu worked on traffic issues with the Texas Department of Transportation, which is widening I-10; the City of Houston; tax reinvestment zone 17; and Jim Smith, who owns the 450,000-square-foot Centre at Bunker Hill retail site across the street.

Those talks culminated in agreements for six access points into Village Plaza from I-10; three points from Bunker Hill; and a traffic signal on Bunker Hill between the two retail centers.

Anchors away

Village Plaza's largest tenant will be an H-E-B Market, which is a cross between a regular H-E-B and the chain's upscale Central Market concept. The 127,000-square-foot store will carry day-to-day items, such as paper towels and cola, that aren't available in a Central Market. And it will sell specialty foods and drinks that aren't offered in an H-E-B.

The new store is similar to the H-E-B in The Woodlands, but larger. Within the next month, the San Antonio-based grocery store chain will be opening three of the larger hybrid stores in Cypress, Pearland and on the Grand Parkway.

Special features will include Central Market Café on the Run for takeout and catering; a floral department with delivery service; an expanded produce section with more than 100 varieties of organic produce; and a full-service sushi bar.

Meanwhile, Dick's Sporting Goods, a new entrant into the Houston market, is creating a two-story, 83,000-square-foot store in Village Plaza. Other anchor tenants include Circuit City and Petsmart, which are both bringing their superstore concepts to the project.

Village Plaza, which is expected to open in a year, is nearly 70 percent leased.

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