The vacant Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealership at Wooded Acres and Valley Mills drives is attracting more interest from restaurants and retailers, a local real estate agent said Wednesday.

“I am in the final stages of negotiations with a variety of tenants, both food and non-food uses. All will be new names to Waco,” said Mike Meadows, who is showing the site for owner Gordon Harriman III.

“I’m hoping that by early fall, you will see some things finished over there.”

The proposed Lakewood shopping center at Wooded Acres and Valley Mills drives would include restaurants and retail stores.

Sam Nay’s Waco Dodge did business at the location before giving way to Allen Samuels Dodge Chrysler Jeep. Samuels built a new dealership on U.S. Highway 84 across town, leaving the buildings and lots vacant.

Meadows said crews are demolishing everything now standing and will erect a 12,000- to 18,000-square-foot building for a retailer new to Waco.

Meanwhile, an 8,000-square-foot strip to be called Lakewood Center will go up next door to accommodate retailers and restaurants needing up to 3,000 square feet.

Meadows said he also is pursuing deals on pad sites along Valley Mills Drive.

“I have very high hopes. We have three leases out on the (Lakewood Center site), and I think we’ll have the deals closed very quickly,” said Harriman, president of Crawford-Austin Properties.

Meadows said he is quoting $24 per square foot annually, triple net, as the lease rate on Lakewood Center space. That price would include insurance, maintenance and taxes.

Surge in popularity

Barry Haydon, a real estate agent from Austin who works Central and South Texas for Durhman & Bassett Realty Group, said Waco is gaining in popularity among retailers looking to expand.

“I’m starting to see development in other areas of the state as well, but Waco stands a little above some markets,” Haydon said. “I’m seeing momentum and I expect to see some top-quality tenants arriving.”

Haydon said he thinks Waco benefits from having Baylor University, an improving employment picture and a quality of life that residents find agreeable.

Retailers talk with one another, he said, “and when they hear that people are doing well here and why, that carries a lot of weight. Apparently, Waco is proving itself.”

Workers from Corsicana Sign and Crane take down a large Dodge sign at the former Sam Nay’s Waco Dodge dealership Wednesday.
Duane A. Laverty / Waco Tribune-Herald

Haydon said he represents an Austin group poised to buy a small shopping center on Bosque Boulevard.

Because the deal is not done, he declined to name the would-be buyer or the site, but he said the center will get a fresh look.

Quality tenants

“I think you will see some top-quality tenants going in there,” Haydon said.

The retailing scene in the Waco area recently received a boost when Beaumont-based appliance and electronics chain Conn’s confirmed it is leasing 40,000 square feet next to Academy Sports & Outdoors on New Road.

Elsewhere, Home Zone Furniture opened in the former 51,000-square-foot Lacks Home Furnishings space at Franklin Avenue and New Road; and Big Lots is moving into the former Circuit City space on Waco Drive.

The former Guaranty Bank building at Lake Air and Valley Mills drives had attracted interest from at least three prospects — the Which Wich sandwich chain; the Mama Fu’s Asian chain; and Palm Beach Tan.

But it was bought by Bank of America and pulled from the market.

BOA spokeswoman Diane Wagner said Wednesday the chain is deciding how best to use the space.

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