Hotels, more restaurants planned near Cinemark Waco movie theater | Catch My Job

A Dallas hotel developer has signed a deal on 6 acres directly behind the 14-screen Cinemark movie theater. It plans to develop two extended-stay hotels on 4.5 acres, while reserving the remaining 1.5 acres “for future development,” said Austen Baldridge, senior vice president at NewQuest.

“The significance of this transaction is that it brings another mixed-use element to our project,” said Baldridge.

NewQuest launched the 143-acre development in 2019 and has already brought Cinemark, Topgolf and Main Event to the site.

The latest commitments come from Cotton Patch Cafe, which has signed on to occupy 4,500 square feet in speculative space near the Cinemark entrance, NewQuest said in a news release.

Baldridge entered into land leases with Whataburger and Black Rifle Coffee, both near the I-35 frontage road. Black Rifle Coffee has broken ground on a 1.16-acre pad, while Whataburger is awaiting permits to build on a 1.29-acre site, the company said in a statement.

“We had a lot of interest in the six acres from the hospitality sector,” Baldridge said. “It is an appealing location for hotels, both traditional and extended stay, because of the entertainment, dining and retail facilities.”

Baldridge said NewQuest will within 30 days complete work on 26,500 square feet of speculative retail space spread over three buildings. Cotton Patch Cafe will lease a limited space within one building, Baldridge said. Cotton Patch Cafe operates another location on Bosque Boulevard, next to Target.

Baldridge did not return calls seeking further comment on the Dallas hotel developer, the brands the hotels would carry or their room count.

He said in a statement that NewQuest remains committed to multiple uses, and is one step closer “with the addition of hundreds of hotel rooms.”

Earlier this year, NewQuest kicked off its housing component, striking deals to build 850 units of construction rental homes and apartment buildings.

The Houston-based developer reached an agreement with the city of Waco to build retention ponds and install sanitary sewer, water lines and wastewater infrastructure on the 143-acre site in exchange for a $5.3 million grant and sales tax rebates totaling 66% of the former. 10 years.

NewQuest owns a portfolio of more than 100 retail and mixed-use projects totaling more than $2.3 billion in value, and provides leasing services to more than 12 million square feet of commercial space in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona and Georgia and “throughout the United States,” said her news release.