Retail for the 140-acre development, called Crown Centre, is expected to break ground sometime in 2025.
LEWISVILLE, Texas — This story was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. Read the original version here.
Bright Realty is slowly but surely making progress on a $1.3 billion mixed-use project in Lewisville’s Castle Hills and is gearing up to deliver the development’s shopping component.
Retail for the 140-acre development, called Crown Centre, is expected to break ground sometime in 2025. Located at the northeastern end of the site, the roughly 13,000-square-foot retail pad could even go online later this year, if plans proceed quickly. The site, which is close to finalizing design plans, is now shovel-ready.
The retail component of the project comes after a four-story, $50 million office building, Crown Centre II, opened for leasing in fall 2024, which marked a major milestone in the development. The office space broke ground in April 2023, which is just one part of the firm’s plans to meet the rapid growth of Denton County, which it says is on an “upward trajectory.”
“As we see more ground breaking around Crown Centre, we’re enthusiastic about being able to pave the way for further growth along the (Sam Rayburn Tollway) corridor,” Britton Lankford, Bright Realty’s development manager, said in a September statement.
Lankford added the expansion of Crown Centre II is designed to “keep pace with a dynamic and versatile community.”
The 147,500-square-foot space is neighbor to Crown Centre I, a 109,000-square-foot office building that opened in 2020 and is now around 95% leased. Both are located on a 140-acre parcel just off of Sam Rayburn Tollway. There is only one space available at Crown Centre I, and JLL is handling leasing efforts for both office buildings.
The mixed-use development, which has been in the works since around 2014, tells a common story of growth in Dallas-Fort Worth, especially in its outer suburbs. Looking to add more density, developers are looking to transform mostly residential neighborhoods into upscale live-work-play destinations. As city leaders also promote increased density and better quality of life to its residents, many are turning their heads to places closer to Dallas’ urban core, instead of continuing to purchase undeveloped, rural land up north, such as in Anna or Celina.
The Crown Centre offices are located at the southwestern part of the development, and the retail portion would mark growth on the other side of the project, said Kat Schrantz, marketing manager at Bright Realty.
As of now, Lewisville-based Bright Realty has not disclosed what tenants could go in the retail portion — it could be as many as five, smaller tenants or one large tenant that could occupy the whole space, Schrantz said.
According to Bright Realty, Crown Centre’s 140 surrounding acres represents some of the last remaining undeveloped land in Castle Hills. The developer’s 2,900-acre Castle Hills community welcomed its first residents in 1998. In addition to having over 4,300 homes, the neighborhood features multiple parks, a golf club, community center and an elementary school, which is a part of the Lewisville Independent School District system.
Of note: Castle Hills was annexed into the city of Lewisville in late 2021, which allowed it to gain Lewisville’s city services, including fire and police protections, traffic patrols and public transit. It also benefited the city of Lewisville, providing it a greater population and larger tax base.
Upon full build-out, Crown Centre is slated to include up to 2,000 multifamily units, 3 million square feet of office space and up to 500 hotel rooms, according to its website. Additionally, the development will feature three expansive open spaces with lakes and trails, which will connect all of its 35 buildings, including some multifamily.
In total, the project could take up to 20 years to complete. Schrantz added more commercial is likely on the horizon after the retail portion launches.
