The key to the Nebraska Furniture Mart deal was that, more than any transportation corridor, the 121 area diagonals through the entire Metroplex, says Cencor EVP/Dallas development head David Palmer (standing, in a leasing strategy meeting with The Weitzman Group’s Matthew Rosenfeld and Jack Dawson and Cencor asset manager Joe Lea.) The area’s growth is a combination of better access, more density, increased housing, and overall economic growth of the entire trade area, David tells us. The Colony/121 area can be seen as a natural expansion of the development along the Tollway in West Plano and Frisco. Once NFM opens in the spring, it will generate even more traffic, David says.

David expects to see complementary projects positioning themselves in the area, too. Much the same thing happened after IKEA opened just up the road on SH 121 in Frisco, he says. Cencor has projects in the works along 121 with the 500k SF mixed-use project at West Plano Village, another 200k SF in Phase 1 of Castle Hills Marketplace (Kroger Marketplace-anchored at SH-121 and Josey), and with a 300k SF home-oriented center anchored by Rooms to Go directly across the street from NFM, David tells us.