Retail

Twenty-five years ago, the Plano-Frisco-McKinney area was replete with open fields, cows and dirt roads. Today, the intersection of State Highway 121 and the Dallas North Tollway is central to Dallas-Fort Worth’s (DFW) development activity. Every red light within a three-mile radius of that intersection has cars stacked 10 deep. The entire area is a metropolitan buzz of noise and activity. The key to understanding how real estate markets — not just retail —in these cities changed so dramatically in less than 20 years lies in geography. The (DFW) metroplex consists of about 9,286 square miles, which is roughly double the size of the Los Angeles metro area, not to mention bigger than the combined size of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The sheer mass of land in DFW and diverse city development policies ensure population densities and characters vary tremendously from one submarket to another. Consequently, retail real estate in the metroplex exists and thrives in pockets. Given the benefit of the expanded infrastructure that the Plano-Frisco-McKinney area has enjoyed over the last two decades, it comes as little surprise that the region would eventually be a magnet for rooftops — and associated retail activity. Basic Numbers CoStar Group identifies …