Inland American, Inland Diversified Select JLL to Lease 1 MSF Dallas Retail Portfolio

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Prestonwood Town Center, Dallas

Inland American Retail Management L.L.C. and Inland Diversified, of Oak Brook, Ill., have chosen Jones Lang LaSalle Retail to lease seven shopping centers in the Dallas area, JLL announced Monday. The properties, which total more than 1 million square feet, are nearly 95 percent occupied.

“The Dallas retail market has seen healthy decreases in vacancy during the last year, with shopping centers and power centers leading the pack,” JLL Senior Vice President Robin Smith said in a release. “We expect a mix of local and regional service tenants and restaurants to continue seeking space in these Class A and Class B shopping centers.”

“Inland’s assets are well positioned to capitalize on the retail market’s steady improvement in Texas,” added Lance Taylor, CCIM, also a JLL senior VP. “Rents have started to rise, although it will take another two to three years for rates to return to pre-recession levels.”

The seven centers cover a broad range of sizes:

• Cityville Oak Park, Dallas, is 18,374 square feet and features El Tizoncito, Highland Park Emergency Room and Tread Fitness.

• Hunter’s Glen Crossing in Plano totals 97,425 square feet and has Tom Thumb as the anchor tenant.

• Josey Oaks Crossing in Carrollton is 90,209 square feet and also is anchored by Tom Thumb.

• Prestonwood Town Center, in Dallas, is anchored by Walmart (about 203,000 square feet) and also has 233,378 square feet of small shop space, with tenants including Barnes & Noble, Ulta, DSW, Office Depot, Petco and Michaels.

• Suncreek Village, in Plano, is 17,510 square feet and is anchored by Tom Thumb.

• Waxahachie Crossing, in Waxahachie, is a 350,000-square-foot power center anchored by JCPenney, Best Buy, Ross Stores and Home Depot.

• McKinney Towne Crossing in McKinney is a power center anchored by Target and Lowe’s with 242,728 square feet of smaller shop space, including Ross Stores, PetSmart and Staples.

Dallas-area retail vacancies are continuing to decline, but this trend will gradually end as new projects come on line, according to CoStar/PPR figures provided to Commercial Property Executive by JLL. The vacancy rate is expected to stabilize around 8 percent, or roughly a typical low prior to the recession.

Though retail deliveries are starting to increase, they remain well short of past levels. The market added roughly 2 million square feet in 2012, versus an average of 10.3 million per year from 2000 through 2008. In addition, net supply growth was moderated by “the continued demolition of obsolete retail space,” more than 800,000 square feet in the past year, according to the CoStar/PPR report.

And although landlords will soon be able to start raising rents, an impending equilibrium between supply and demand means “it will take another two to three years for rents to return to prerecession levels.”