Entertainment Venue To Anchor Forney Mixed-Use Development After $4M Incentive
A 120-acre mixed-use development in the booming town of Forney will get a huge entertainment venue after city officials approved a $4M incentive agreement for the project.
Forney City Council signed off on a deal Tuesday for Evo Entertainment to bring its fourth North Texas location to the city on the Metroplex’s east side, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
The venue will be at least 75K SF but could be as much as 96K SF and is expected to offer movies, bowling and arcade games. The company also operates venues in Addison, Southlake and Waxahachie.
The agreement between the Forney Economic Development Corp. and Forney Legacy Holdings, a subsidiary of Evo-owner Elevate Entertainment Group, will reimburse the developer for infrastructure improvements at the venue’s construction site.
Elevate Entertainment Group founder and CEO Mitch Roberts is the grandson of Forney native Lee Roy Mitchell, who founded the Cinemark theater chain.
Roberts told the council the Forney location would be the “largest, best facility” the company has built.
Dallas-based firm Direct Retail Partners is also a partner in Forney Legacy Holdings.
The agreement requires Evo to create a minimum of 35 full-time jobs and up to 200 part-time positions during its first three years. Once the venue receives its certificate of occupancy, Forney Legacy will get annual incentive payments of $267K for 15 years.
StreetLevel Investments broke ground late last year on the 120-acre Village at Gateway development inside the 2,000-acre Gateway master-planned community. The first phase, which will include 500K SF of retail space, is slated to open in summer 2026. The second phase will add another 200K SF of retail, and the project will eventually include nine outparcels, a multifamily residential component and connectivity to Texas Health Resources’ 50-acre medical campus just to the west.
Forney was one of five North Texas cities that were among the 10 fastest-growing cities in the country, according to data released by the Census Bureau last year.
In addition to Gateway, Plano-based investment firm Tellus Group is building a 2,700-home master-planned community on nearly 1,100 acres just north of Highway 80 in Forney.
Forney's population rose 60% between 2010 and 2020, helping spur wider commercial development in Kaufman County. One of the highest-profile developments in the county is the 140K SF H-E-B store currently being built in Forney. That store was one of DFW's three biggest retail leases of 2024.
