Lake Highlands Town Center on hold

I suspected that something was up since I hadn't seen much movement on the site in the last month or so. Now comes the official word that Phase 1 of the Lake Highlands Town Center won't be opening until 2012.

So what is the Lake Highlands Town Center? LHTC is supposed to be a mixed-use development similar to Mockingbird Station. The site is located at the corner of Walnut Hill and Skillman. Prescott Realty knocked down some unkempt apartments to make way for this future development. The developer has promised shops, upscale apartments/lofts, office space, and zero-lot line townhomes. Additionally there is promise of a DART station as well. You can view renderings of LHTC here.

What concerns me is that Prescott Realty has never disclosed who the anchor tenants are. Does that mean they don't have any lined up yet? Most people who live in Lake Highlands have expressed (me included) that they would like a supermarket along the lines of Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's; NOT a Walmart. The other things people want are restaurants - which is sorely lacking in Lake Highlands. Anyone who has tried to go to Mi Cocina or Picasso's on Saturday night knows what I am talking about. Prescott Realty has never disclosed whether anyone has signed a lease to set up shop in the development.

Another disconcerting thing is that Prescott Realty has said that they need $70 million in financing to begin Phase One construction - money they don't have at the moment. So, until they get the money, nothing is going to get built. While I was not a fan of the rundown housing that bordered my sub-division, I am also not enamored of having a huge swath of vacant land either. Now understand my issue with the old apartments was not that poor people lived there - my issue with it was that the owners of that housing did not maintain the apartments and they were clearly in disrepair. Now, we may end up with a large naked plot of land to stare at for the foreseeable future. A lot prime for a Wally-World type store. That just makes my inner Howard Roark go crazy.

Read the whole article about LHTC here.

Lake Highlands Town Center site here.