$30M Champions Park set to open restaurants, retail in early 2017

​ARLINGTON – A restaurant-centered development is promising more variety to north Arlington’s culinary palate.

Champions Park, a 54,000-sf complex of four retail/restaurant buildings under construction at the northeast corner of I-30 and North Collins St., is expected to open the first of possibly eight restaurants in early 2017.

Greenway Investment Co. is working to create a mix of fast-casual and sit-down restaurants in the buildings and on four restaurant pad sites. The $30 million first phase will have a 70-30 mix of restaurants and retail.

Four restaurants have signed leases so far, said Greenway Vice President Christy Hammons. 

They are all fast-casuals—Torchy’s Tacos, Firehouse Subs, Tarrant County’s first Tokyo Joe’s and DFW’s first BurgerFi.

Having a stable of strictly fast-casual eateries can be a good thing, says Steve Gray, senior vice president of the Weitzman Group, a retail real estate broker who is familiar with the Greenway development. 

He said clusters of fast-casual restaurants have proved to be successful alternatives to the traditional model of the shopping center that depends on a large grocery anchor to pull in enough traffic to support the adjoining retail.

Hammons hopes to tweak that model. “We’re still trying to secure a really high-end restaurant,” she said. “A high-end, chef-driven restaurant; a known chef.”

Hammons also is excited about another tenant, Tiff’s Treats, which delivers baked-to-order cookies. “I’ve got them in three of my centers,” she said, “and they’re absolutely fabulous.”

The development now has about 34,000 sf available for lease.