The California firm’s JV with the former retailer marks its biggest investment in the Dallas market
By James Bell
Bye-bye, Fry’s Electronics. Hello, hole in the market.
LaTerra Development has stepped into its biggest DFW investment with a $50 million mix of retail and storage to fill in one of the bygone big-box retailer’s former sites, at 2488 Market Place Boulevard, in Irving.
The Los Angeles-based developer, as part of a joint venture with Fry’s to redevelop its real estate holdings, plans to build retail and self-storage as well as RV and boat storage.
The Irving City Council recently approved the project, adjacent to an existing Home Depot, which will bring more than 191,000 square feet of storage and almost 20 acres of retail to the Dallas suburb.
LaTerra plans a 145,000-square-foot self-storage facility that will feature an additional 46,000 square feet of RV and boat storage. About 116,000 square feet of community retail and 700 surface parking spaces will occupy almost 12 acres facing Interstate 635.The project is expected to begin construction in the second half of 2023, said Chris Tourtellotte, managing director of development at LaTerra.
Fry’s recently closed all of its stores in Dallas and across the nation, and this project is part of the firm’s joint venture with Fry’s that it began in May 2020, to repurpose many of its stores into commercial space.
The firm has facilitated similar projects for Fry’s locations in Burbank and Sacramento, California.
LaTerra acquired the Irving location in 2021, and it represents the firm’s first major project in Dallas, with plans for more.
“There’s no self-storage within a one-mile radius of this site,” Tourtellotte said. “What’s on the site now is a long-vacant, rundown old big-box retail building, and we’re going to really bring this whole campus to life.”
The self-storage market has been experiencing substantial growth over the past few years in response to increased demand since the pandemic, and Tourtellotte noted the area’s business growth.
The City of Irving has been touted as the “headquarters of headquarters,” with companies like ExxonMobil and Caterpillar opting to relocate their HQs.
James Bell is a writer with The Real Deal, Texas Real Estate News.
