There is a sign up for a Pack N Mail place in the strip plaza on Welborn, south of Rock Prairie. This is the same plaza with the Potato Shack, Subway, and Dry Cleaners.

Yankee's in Carlos is up for sale, although they remain open.

The Beer Joint on Hwy. 30 is now serving lunch from 11-2.

Texas Furniture Co in downtown Bryan is closing. Will be a few more months but I hear they already have a buyer.

Huge sales, btw. We went this past weekend and saw some decent deals. Sale price on the tables were about 30% off list, and they were discounting another 30%...and willing to ORDER IT FOR YOU. Markup on furniture is freaking crazy.

[This message has been edited by 99_aggie_grad (edited 4/14/2008 8:31p).]

Stopped by the Waco Cracker Barrel the Manager says Cracker Barrel will open in 2010 in BCS but didn't know about the location.

Co-worker tried to go to Ninfas for lunch yesterday but they were closed. Looks like they are moving all their equipment to the new store, so it should be opening shortly.

Rumor:

Walgreen's is buying the Longhorn Tavern property at 21 and Texas in Bryan. Longhorn Tavern will build a new location next to the Cotton Patch by Premiere Cinema.

rumor that midnight rodeo/shadow canyon set to re-open as Daisy Dukes or something similar to that name. same theme, dance hall on northgate

edit - double post

[This message has been edited by RoadwayAg (edited 4/19/2008 11:07p).]

edit - double post

[This message has been edited by RoadwayAg (edited 4/19/2008 11:00p).]

rcj, the Walgreens part of that rumor makes sense, as they were looking to buy the property at the NE corner of 23rd and Texas four years ago.

Daisy Dukes will be at the old Shadow Canyon/Midnight Rodeo location...

Found this

http://www.daisydukesbcs.com/

Although there is nothing on it yet.

Lesbian bar???

I'm doubting the Deluxe moving into Beetle's because I heard that rumor so long ago and see absolutely no sign of anything going on. I think that one can disappear from the list.

heres the Bryan Towne center

weblink:http://www.lauth.net/ViewProperty.aspx?PropertyID=105

and it seems that Lauth is gonna develop across Bryan Towne Center in that open field across from the BMW/VW/Hyundai Dealership, they have a sign up




[This message has been edited by AG @ HEART (edited 4/21/2008 6:17p).]

[This message has been edited by AG @ HEART (edited 4/21/2008 6:31p).]

Ninfa's is open.

Ate at Ninfa's today at lunch. It was good as usual. The building is very nice.

You can have a bar with girls wearing tight short shorts, but not a Hooters?

List updated

With the problems that Lauth is having leasing the Bryan Towne Center and the overall slowdown in retail expansion, I wouldn't expect that they'll be developing a second phase any time soon.

What information do you have or know that says Lauth is having problems leasing? I've heard the opposite.

From multiple conversations and meetings that I've had with both Lauth and their leasing agent. I finally pulled out of the project about 3 months ago, but they were REALLY struggling to get it to a critical mass with both junior anchors (like a bookstore, TJ Maxx and sporting good store) and smaller tenants. When it was on the bubble for me they were willing to make some pretty big concessions to get me into the project and even allow me to open late just so they could start getting some leases signed.

I don't remember if I posted this elsewhere on the thread but Starbucks also pulled out of the project.

Like I said, maybe this has all changed this spring, but with virtually every major retailer in the country slowing or stopping their expansion plans, Bryan TX starts to fall way down on the priority list. It's going to be a tough time in retail real estate for the next few years.

Chip,

What type of retail are you in?

I work for a retail real estate service provider, but I'm an outsourced real estate manager. For the last couple of years I've been solely outsourced to a service retailer who was going through a very rapid expansion program. Being the good Aggie that I am, I tried repeatedly to get another new store or two in BCS and we just couldn't get the stars to line up.

Thanks for your efforts Chip. It gets tough at times "camping-out" here in BCS.

Looks like it is going to be a nice center. But it is located about 10 minutes too far north.

I think the real problem is just the lack of density on that side of the highway. So when retailers are looking at the area (especially ones that aren't familiar with Bryan) they don't get a super picture of the who their customers are going to be. Due to the much lower density on the East side of 6, a drive time radius around that intersection is going to be fairly light as compared to doing something at say Texas & Villa Maria.

It's generally what I would refer to as a 180 degree trade area. It would be like opening a store next to a lake. When all (or in this case, most) of the people are coming from one direction to get to your store, it is a lot harder to justify the store based on demographics.

Chip -- Unless we are talking about a grocery store I don't see where it makes a difference if the center is located on the east or west side of Hwy. 6.

For most South College Station residents it will not take any longer to travel to the Super Target than it will to reach the one on Texas. At times it may be faster.

If there is an alternative to stay outside the 77840 zip code I will take it every time.

Well to be honest, from a demographic standpoint, the demos are going to be the same for the Walmart across the street as they are for the Lauth project.

But say some hot shot real estate manager is in town with his broker and he drives the corner, you see what's going on across the street with Walmart and Lowe's and then you see the sleepy Lauth corner and it is hard to get too excited about it. I don't know this for a fact, but I would imagine that the traffic count number for Briarcrest west of Hwy 6 >>>>>>>>>Briarcrest east of Hwy 6. Plus the fact that the center is set so far back off of Hwy 6 means you lose the advantage of being on a highway like that. There are just a lot of strikes against the center from a retailer's perspective.

I originally tried to do a Bryan store by the new HEB at Villa Maria & Texas, but all that was left unleased was crap space. I would have killed to be able to go in the outparcel bank/Starbucks.

Thanks for feedback Chip. Do you know Josh White?

Chip,
I respect your insight and first hand knowledge, I just hope you're really wrong.

I guess if it doesn't lease up we may get one more Chinese Buffet in town.

quote:

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Thanks for feedback Chip. Do you know Josh White?

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I know A Josh White, but unless you happen to be talking about a guy that graduated from Corsicana HS in 1996, its probably not the one you are thinking of. Who is the Josh you are talking about?

Short1, I could be wrong, like I said, it had been a couple of months since I talked to the people at Lauth or their leasing people in Houston and Dallas. From the first time I met with them, I liked the project, it just didn't make sense for me at the end of the day. I think it would be a really nice addition to the BCS community. Developing new retail though is going to be a pretty scary proposition for the next couple of years though.

quote:

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I guess if it doesn't lease up we may get one more Chinese Buffet in town.

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And a dry cleaners, nail salon, and Subway.

Chip -- The Josh White I know works for Staubach in Dallas.

Ah, that's his name. I just looked him up on Staubach's website. I park near him in the garage. I'd seen his ring so I knew he was an Ag but don't know him. They don't let us out much to associate with the office guys.