Valley Ranch Town Center Round-Up
There's quite a bit that's happened (and not happened, or might happen) at Valley Ranch Town Center as of late, so here's a little rundown...
Academy:
The Academy store opened as scheduled back on September 23. The grand opening events brought droves of people out to celebrate, and it has stayed busy right up into the holiday shopping season.
Academy Story Here!
Kroger:
This is probably the most disappointing news! As of right now, Kroger has put the brakes on the opening of the new Marketplace in VRTC. It originally was supposed to open by Thanksgiving. Strangely, most of it is in place...including the building itself and the gas island, shelving, some signage, etc.. According to
Signorelli, this is solely a decision made by Kroger themselves...And Valley Ranch is not the only location where a new Kroger store has been delayed or even stopped in its tracks. This is just speculation, but it seems they may have bitten off more than they can chew with the amount of megastores going up at once. Either way, it has been significantly delayed. They are now shooting for a late-spring/early-summer opening in 2017. We'll update you if and when Kroger provides an explanation.
Still To Come:
Panda Express will be the next business to open its doors in VRTC. They are positive on a pre-Christmas Day opening. We'll be touring the new restaurant next week, so hopefully there will be a solid date by then.
The list of stores contracted to open within the next year has pretty much stayed the same. Those include Sam's Club (set to open January, '17), Hobby Lobby, First Choice Emergency Room, and a slew of restaurants.
Official List of Valley Ranch Tenants Here! There have been a few others mentioned - Burlington Coat Factory, Petsmart, Ross and TJ Maxx. Contracts have not been signed on these yet, but we'll tag them official as soon as they are.
Amphitheater:
The East Montgomery County Improvement District has announced a "Rock The Ranch" music festival scheduled for May 12-13, 2017. It is to be held in the new 10,000-seat Amphitheater planned for VRTC. However, according to Signorelli, there is zero chance the Amphitheater will be built by that time. They did say the festival would be held on the "grass hill" part of the Amphitheater site. Temporary stages will be erected by the organizers of the music festival.
New EMCID Building:
Speaking of EMCID, they have also released a proposal for their new 78,500 sq ft building to be located in VRTC. "The two story building — with the capacity to expand vertically in the future — would provide double the space for community events, more than double the size for Lone Star College’s Lifelong Learning Academy, additional of ce space for EMCID, the Greater East Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and non-profits. It would also provide about 2,500 sq. ft. in office space for elected state officials. The projected cost is just over $19 million."
So, what are your thoughts on Valley Ranch Town Center so far? Is it what you expected? Have you shopped at the new Academy? What are you looking forward to...Or not looking forward to?