Scheels is the driver behind this new retail center that will be built by Towne East

Following years of sitting empty as properties around it got new businesses, the land just north of Bubba’s 33 and west of Towne East Square finally is seeing some new life.

“We’re going to be building a new retail center on that pad site,” said Brad Saville, Landmark Commercial Real Estate CEO.

The we includes Saville; former Landmark president Kevin Dreiling, who now is president at J.P. Weigand & Sons; and Tim Austin of Iron Horse Development, in which Saville also is a partner.

The three bought the property when Dreiling still was at Landmark.

“It’s great,” Saville said of working together even though they’re also competitors. “No problem.”

In addition to about four spots for retail in the planned 11,000-square-foot center, Saville said, “We’re looking for two restaurants, and we have an opportunity for one that has a drive-through, and the other one would have a patio.”

These restaurants would be smaller ones than the others around it. The space with the patio will be 4,000 square feet, and the space with the drive-through will be 3,000 square feet.

“We’re just getting started on the marketing,” Saville said.

Landmark’s Don Piros is handling leasing at the center along with Christi Royse of Weigand.

Saville said his team worked extensively with the city on creating better access to the property and to Scheels over at Towne East.

“The most-important thing that we did with the city is we installed a full-movement driveway,” he said. “It’s really important because now you can turn into the site going north or south. . . . We gave a little corner of our property to the city so they can create this.”

There’s now a turning lane into the drive leading to the ever-popular Scheels, which Saville said is helpful given the traffic it creates. On the weekends, he said traffic can get backed up.

“If Scheels wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “They’re driving so much traffic. . . . It’s one of their top stores in the country.”

For years, Bubba’s 33 and the LongHorn Steakhouse to its south lined the street leading to Towne East, but this third property sat vacant.

“After Scheel’s opened, Bubba’s and Longhorn . . . sales drastically increased,” Saville said.

Though this will change soon, he said his property looks a little rough at the moment, even with the new approach to where the center will be.

“It’s just like an approach to nowhere right now.”