Developers Ready for Retail Construction -- At Last

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX-Dolphin Ventures LLC and EWB Development LLC have put its $60 million Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay back on track for development with help from a just-announced partnership with Lockard Cos. of Cedar Falls, OH. The more than 350,000-square-foot retail center has a planned spring 2012 groundbreaking on a 281,526-square-foot first phase – five years after the project was first announced.

According to local media, San Antonio-based Dolphin Ventures signed an agreement with Nueces County in 2007 to purchase 49 acres at the intersection of U.S. 77 and U.S. 44, with the idea of developing an outlet mall in this heavily trafficked, high tourist area. However, the economic crisis, combined with tightening lending restrictions, forced the developer to push back timelines on both the land purchase and project development. The developer, at one point, was attempting to attract foreign investment in the project.