Developer ready to expand retail, restaurants on west side of Seguin

Developer ready to expand retail, restaurants on west side of Seguin Main Photo

7 Jul 2021


news, SEDC, Real Estate, Retail

Dalondo Moultrie The Seguin Gazette

With promises of still more to come, a developer announced the recent opening of businesses at an expanding real estate development in Seguin which was a couple years in the making.

A fast-food restaurant and a medical center are operating at the retail center under development near the southwest side of Interstate 10 and State Highway 46. Plans for other businesses are in the works for the 24-acre lot, developer Tom Rohde said.

“Burger King is open,” he said. “Chicken Express is about to start construction. DaVita Kidney Dialysis is open. Domino’s is about to start construction.”

Burger King and DaVita opened about four months ago and construction for the other businesses is set to begin in the fall, Rohde said.

The property starts at C.H. Matthis Drive near the IH 10 off-ramp on the west side of SH 46, stretches to the traffic signal and then continues south to thelot just south of Best Drive.

Rohde partnered with the Red McCombs family to develop the land and bring much-needed retail to that side of town, he said.

“Originally, we bought it to build a big shopping center,” Rohde said. “With the COVID virus and all the retailers changing their operations, we decided to sell pads.”

Plans could change back to constructing a larger shopping center depending upon demand, he said. But for now, the focus is on providing food and service to the influx of new residents moving into that area of Seguin and Guadalupe County, Rohde said.

Numbers of housing units in the area has exploded and continues to boom in the area, he said. The people moving in and the ones already there need services that can be offered at the center he’s developing, Rohde said.

“The housing has been busy but the retailers haven’t,” he said. “Those people have to eat somewhere. I don’t know about shopping anymore like fashion shopping for clothing or shoes. But they have to shop for medical and dental and like that, and fast food.”

After the project’s kickoff in the second half of 2019, progress is evident and welcomed, Seguin Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Josh Schneuker said.

As construction begins on the other pad sites under contract and other businesses begin to open at the development, the city will make more formal announcements about the project, Schneuker said. He expects the development to help spark a wave of business in the area, the economic development director said.

“It’s definitely a catalyst for retail development on that side of town,” Schneuker said. “To be able to provide retail services to the businesses and to the residents on that side of town is definitely a big win for us. I think it’s the tip of the iceberg on what we are anticipating seeing coming to that area in the near future.”

The site has captured a lot of attention and been a positive momentum builder for about the last six months to a year in that area of Seguin, he said. His office has been able to point toward that momentum in attempts at attracting other businesses to come to the city, Schneuker said.

They’ve targeted businesses like Chick-Fil-A, Cracker Barrel, Discount Tire and more to help offer Seguinites what they need in their own backyards, he said. The continued growth eventually could lead to national chains locating here, including a grocery store, which will be a must-have in the near future, Schneuker said.

“That leaves the opportunity, especially in our part of Texas where you have your usual suspects in grocery, it’s either going to be a Walmart or H-E-B,” he said. “That makes sense that somewhere down the road, that’s going to be in there.”

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