North Fort Worth’s planned 300-acre Presidio Junction project may share similar stats with other North Texas planned mixed-use developments with one key difference: it’s about to deliver some space and begin construction on even more.

LNR Commercial Property Group is putting the finishing touches on infrastructure at Presidio Junction in north Fort Worth at the intersection of North Tarrant Parkway and Interstate 35. The 300-acre development will boast more than 1 million square feet of retail and restaurants, 1,300 apartment units and 750,000 square feet of fitness, hotel and Class A office space.

Presidio Junction is being developed by Newport Beach, Calif.-based LNR Commercial in conjunction with several companies. Gables Residential is assisting with the multifamily component; The Weitzman Group is handling the retail component; and Stream Realty Partners LP is listing multifamily, office and medical office spaces for the project.

Vertical construction already has begun on 348 apartment units within the development that will begin leasing this summer. In the retail portion of the development, infrastructure is wrapping up and soon will go vertical on a Lowe’s home improvement center, which will anchor the retail portion. Lowe’s is set to be delivered in June 2010.

Lowe’s will be joined by a Babies R Us and a Toys R Us, said Marc Marrocco, assistant vice president at The Weitzman Group. Although negotiations are in full-swing with several other junior anchors, Marrocco said he couldn’t release any other tenants at this time.

“We’ll build your standard boxes. These won’t be lifestyle tenants,” Marrocco said. “It’s not going to be like Highland Park Village or West Seventh. It’s anchored by Lowe’s, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, an office supply store, discount women’s fashions and the like.”

In addition to Gables’ gated apartment community currently under construction, which will include a clubhouse with a business center, workout facility, pool and a dog park, Stream Realty Partners LP is heading up listing efforts for two additional multifamily sites as well as the project’s office space.

Russ Webb, Stream Realty vice president who focuses on Tarrant County, said his company has had “several good inquiries” from out-of-state multifamily developers for the two Presidio tracts, which feature one 15-acre and one 17-acre pad site.

Webb said there will be no speculative office space given the current state of the real estate market. His company is marketing a handful of office parcels ranging from 7.3 acres to 9.3 acres each.

The development will feature what Marrocco calls “clean, nice and neat” architecture, with no over-the-top designs.

Financing, beer and hospitals

made it possible

The development has been two years in the making, but Marrocco said several factors contributed to the project coming to fruition at a difficult time in the real estate industry when many developments have fallen apart. First and foremost, he said, was the developers’ mix of internal financing coupled with secured financing before last year’s banking system meltdown, which created a stable situation for Presidio Junction.

“The developer is in a good cash position and was one of the few that had financing already in place,” Marrocco said. “… It has its capital and financing in place and you can go out to the site and see work being done. That’s half the job is showing people that it’s not just another development that’s being planned, but saying ‘Hey, this is a real project. Dirt is moving.’”

With financing secure, marketing the project was made easier at the end of 2008, when an election approval made it possible for retailers to sell beer and wine on the premises – something that “really helped draw interest from grocers and restaurants,” Marrocco said.

Likely the biggest driving force for Presidio Junction’s office portion, though, had little to do with the development and a lot to do with recently announced hospitals in the area.

HCA Hospital is pending build-out to the east of Presidio Junction and last year, Texas Health Resources announced the purchase of a 47-acre tract to the west of Loop 820 for a future hospital. Webb said the future hospitals have done wonders for Presidio’s office space.

“The two hospitals make Presidio Junction a key medical development,” Webb said.