Construction is progressing on Phase II of Grand Parkway Marketplace, a retail development by Kimco Realty Corp. in Spring, Texas.
EMJ Construction’s team began drilling piers on January 27 and the shell of the 63,000 square foot Academy Sports + Outdoors, an anchor of the project, was completed on March 27—only 60 calendar days from “foundation to finish-out.”
Academy is familiar territory for the EMJ team, having constructed six previous stores for the American sports retailer, and the rate of construction is one of our team’s most efficient yet.
“Academy’s progress reflects an ideal programmatic partnership,” said Ray Catlin, Executive Vice President of the EMJ Construction. “Our previous experience with the retailer allowed our team to streamline the building process to effectively serve Kimco’s needs—in this case, a quick turnaround for the area’s growing retail demands.”
EMJ’s work on Phase II comes on the heels of Phase I, a 481,833 square foot Target-anchored shopping center across the street, which opened to the public in March.
“The team has been heads-down moving the construction forward every day rain or shine,” said Catlin.
EMJ’s 15-year partnership with Kimco has undoubtedly played a key role in the project as well. It’s what EMJ refers to as programmatic work—performing multiple projects for one client of similar scope and size, which provides long-term consistency and accountability.
“We’re working with the same client under the same expectations, same values, same goals—on a very similar scope,” said Conan Schantz, EMJ Director of Construction-Retail Development, who led efforts on Grand Parkway I and II. “You’re able to immediately implement lessons-learned and build your team around knowledge from the previous project, trust and collaboration.”
Implementation of improved practices evolve into a custom, efficient construction process for the client, which is applicable on future projects and creates exclusivity and trust between the client and contractor.
Along with Grand Parkway, Kimco owns over 520 shopping centers comprising of 85 million square feet of leasable space nationwide. Grand Parkway is EMJ’s ninth project with the publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT).