Copperfield Area

[MontroseNeighborhoodCafe]

EXCLUSIVE REPORTS

From the January 28, 2005 print edition

Copperfield area all the Rave for theater operator

Jennifer Dawson

Houston Business Journal

Continental Retail Development has purchased 34 acres for a multitenant retail project near the Copperfield subdivision that will include Houston's first Rave Motion Picture theater.

Rave is a Dallas-based movie theater company with 18 locations that are in development or have already opened around the country. Continental Retail, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, is currently developing multiple sites for Rave.

Continental Retail bought the acreage near the southwest corner of Highway 6 and West Little York last month from Houston's Canyonlands Corp. The tract is part of Canyonlands' Yorktown Crossing, a 120-acre master planned development in northwest Houston with a commercial segment called The Streets of Copperfield.

Continental Retail broke ground two weeks ago on the 75,000-square-foot Rave theater, which will anchor the development. The 15-screen movie theater will feature high-back rocker chairs, four feet of legroom between each row and a game room. Films are scheduled to start rolling in the fall.

Randall Tuller, president of Canyonlands, believes the state-of-the-art Rave theater will be well received because there is not another movie theater with stadium seating within 10 miles of the site.

In addition to the theater, Continental Retail is developing an open-air shopping center that will have 225,000 square feet of retail space. The firm is still in the planning stages and is not ready to announce other tenants.

Tuller says restaurants are showing interest in the additional retail acreage owned by Canyonlands. The developer's most recent lease was signed last September with Bubbles Express, the car wash company's first Houston location that allows customers to stay in their vehicles as they're being washed.

Canyonlands executives say retail is needed in the area because in the last two years, more than 3,300 new homes have been constructed within two miles of Yorktown Crossing.

Industry sources say numerous developers have tried unsuccessfully to create a large retail center at that intersection.

Retail broker Cyndee Smith of Shelby/Estus Realty Group speculates that the movie theater will do well in that area, which could possibly support an entertainment-type center with restaurants.

Major retail stores may be a little difficult to secure because several national retailers already have a presence a mile away at Highway 6 and FM 529, Smith says.

"Highway 6 and 529 is like ground zero for Copperfield," Smith says. "All the retailers are out there."

Canyonlands began developing Yorktown Crossing in 2001. The firm has developed more than 2,000 home lots and 200 acres of commercial sites in Houston over the last 14 years.

[houstonsemipro]

Sounds like a winner in the houston area.

[avicalc]

I am trying to get my mom moved from Alief into the Cy-Fair area closer to the rest of her family. I really like the established feel of some of the neighborhoods of Copperfield (W of SH-6, E of Barker-Cypress, N of FM-529, S of West Road). However, there are pockets in the area that seem to be run down, specifically, the Sommerall neighborhood and some parts of what's called Northmead Village (N of West Road).

I know that any of these neighborhoods would be an improvement over Alief.

We have found some homes in Copperfield in her price range ($125-140K) that seem to be in good neighborhoods but I am concerned that the run down areas will spread into these neighborhoods in the near future. I don't want to move her into a house that turns into Alief in 10 years.

Any opinions or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

[rps324]

I haven't run prices out there is a long time, but could she get something in an older established area like Lakewood Forest for that price? Sometimes you can get a good deal on something in a better area that just needs a coat of paint and carpet.