A retail center taking shape near Valley Mills and Lake Air drives likely will be ready to welcome tenants by late July, almost two months ahead of schedule, but the disappearance of a Pet Supermarket sign has raised questions about whether the Florida-based company will anchor the strip.
A Pet Supermarket spokeswoman said the growing retailer of pet-related toys, chow and even clothing has signed a lease for the space but may not arrive until late this year or early next.
The chain has slowed its aggressive pace of expansion that included opening 40 new stores last year, said Carol Wass, whose territory in Pet Supermarket’s real estate division includes Texas. But the company continues to view several markets as prime growth areas, including Waco, Wass said.
“If we do open a store in Waco, it will be at that site,” she said of the location behind Whataburger, where the former Richard Karr Motors dealership was leveled after it moved to West Loop 340.
Pet Supermarket and Canada-based Pet Valu merged in 2016 to form Pet Retail Brands, which has almost a thousand locations in the United States and Canada. The retailers kept their names, with Pet Supermarket pursuing growth in the South and Southwest, and Pet Valu targeting the upper Midwest, Wass said.
The merger made Pet Retail Brands the third-largest retailer of pet supplies in the United States, according to a press release on the deal.
Crews with San Antonio-based Alliance General Contractors have almost completed the steel frame for the $20 million structure that may house Pet Superstore.
“It should be substantially complete much earlier than the original September target date, probably by late July,” Alliance President Dave Thomas said.
Though he is not involved in the deal, Thomas said it is his understanding Pet Supermarket may have reconsidered its plans and that at least one other potential tenant is involved in negotiations, though he could not name the other prospect.
Waco real estate agent Brad Davis brokered the deal that made the 1.4-acre site available for development and said he has noticed the Pet Superstore sign has been taken down.
The land was sold by Weaver GP LLC, a partnership named for longtime car dealer Frank Weaver, who owned a Pontiac dealership there for decades.
Eric Walker, a partner in Houston-based Capital Retail Properties, continues to market the site. Last October, Walker announced Pet Supermarket’s intention to open a 9,000-square-foot store in the development, after the store’s “coming soon” sign had gone up.
Walker was away from his office and not available for comment for this story.
The Pet Supermarket website shows the location of several stores around Texas, and Walker said last year that the chain was also planning openings in the cities of Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.