Wylie Today

Well, City Councilman David Goss called it as the above picture was being taken by Anne Hiney of Troy Aikman and I on Wednesday evening. “There’s the lead-in picture for the Wylie Today story!”

Turns out he was right. I’m sure you will see plenty of pictures of this event in the next week or so as I couldn’t count the amount of cameras on-hand. I have a few from the event that I will post below, and I might just add a gallery here in the near future.  But to lead-in, yeah, that’s me and Hall of Fame quarterback, 3 time Super Bowl Champion, the greatest Fox Sports NFL analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. I like to mix it up.

City of Wylie Mayor John Mondy was completely jubilant this evening and with good reason. The people involved have been working on this deal for over a year and tonight was another step towards $600,000 in additional sales tax revenue for the city. It was another step towards a thousand newly created jobs in the city. It was another step towards keeping the citizens of Wylie shopping in Wylie. I’m really surprised we didn’t see Mayor Mondy break out some Riverdance moves.

Major kudos go out to Wylie’s Public Information Officer, Craig Kelly. Aside from seeing him run around picking up yoga flyers someone had left on the tables, the event went on without a hitch. Hundreds of people were in attendance for the groundbreaking ceremony and Dickey’s BBQ.

On hand to speak at the event was Wylie Economic Development Corporation’s Sam Satterwhite, Texas State Representative Jodie Laubenberg, Direct Development Sr. VP Don Bouvier, City of Wylie Mayor John Mondy and Troy Aikman.

Mr. Bouvier related the event to an Oscar speech as he mentioned so many people involved from the beginning that required accolades. He spoke further about four legs of a table and if one breaks or can’t support the weight, the table fails. He spoke very highly of the City of Wylie staff and administration and said they delivered on everything they said they would do. Now it was Direct Development’s turn to deliver on their promises.

Super Target Summer of 2009!

Some other players that need mentioning are the City of Murphy and the City of Sachse. Murphy made a small plot of land available to Wylie that was required for the development at the corner of 544 and McCreary. Sachse agreed to build a road to connect the back end of the development to Hwy 78. As Mayor Mondy said, “This has truly been a community effort”.

Troy Aikman talked about the special place in his heart for Wylie. You see, his wife was born in Wylie, though she didn’t stay very long. “I’m pretty sure if there had been a Super Target here, she would have stayed a bit longer.” he mused continuing on to talk about credit card statements and things I am so completely familiar with. He went on to talk about how great Direct Development is and how proud he is to be a part of such a great team. He knows that Direct Development isn’t a build and run type of company. They plan, build and maintain. Their developments are works to be proud of and that is why he chose them.

Overall, the event was a huge success and we can expect to see bulldozers out in the fields within a few weeks as road construction begins. This thing is moving forward quickly, people. And a ton of people were involved to make it happen. This is a fantastic day for the Great City of Wylie.

Look for more images soon and the small images above are clickable, leading to a larger image.

Photos © 2008 wylietoday.com (except for the lead-in photo of the 2 awesome dudes. Thanks, Anne!)

The City of Wylie has developed a new monthly newsletter called Wylie Living. The newsletter is included in our monthly water bill, but it can also be viewed online. This month’s edition primarily covers the road status for the next 5 years.

Twelve road construction projects are listed in the newsletter. They range in status from completed to design phases, with the latest project listed with a 2012 start date. Sounds like a lot of headaches coming our way over the next 5 years. Well, coming your way, anyway.

I used all the pull I have around the city and got them to finish construction on the major roads I use in and out of town before I even moved here. I told them that was part of the deal if they wanted my family living in Wylie. I typically use one major road in Wylie; 544, that nice 6 lane divided road with minimal stoplights.

At least for now. :/

Driving around some parts of Wylie is really depressing. Well, depressing for anyone who has to drive in and out of there every day, twice a day. But from the looks of the map in the Wylie Living newsletter, in 5 years or so all the traffic in Wylie should flow in and out of the city as easily as my crew does now.

I just drove by Albertson’s Express on 544 and Westgate, and they are having a gas price markdown blowout!

Gas was $.25 off today’s prices. Word’s getting around, traffic is building up at this location.

Pack up your picnic baskets and get in line!

Update - the promotion is over and all is back to normal.

PRESS RELEASE - DIRECT DEVELOPMENT TO DEVELOP 64.5 ACRE RETAIL DEVELOPMENT IN WYLIE

DALLAS, Texas (February 25, 2008) Direct Development, a private commercial retail real estate development and investment company, today announced that it has purchased 64.5 acres located at the southeast corner of FM 544 and McCreary Road in Wylie, Texas. Direct Development intends to develop a 575,000 square foot retail shopping center, Woodbridge Crossing Shopping Center, which will be the largest retail center located in Wylie when it is completed in the summer of 2009.

“Woodbridge Crossing would not have come to fruition without the collaboration of several key groups,” remarked Don Bouvier, Senior Vice President with Direct Development. “The City of Wylie, the Wylie EDC, Target Corporation, the previous owner—Don Herzog, and countless others worked together to bring this needed amenity to Wylie residents.”

This transaction involves a $12 million public-private partnership between the City of Wylie, the Wylie Economic Development Corporation and Direct Development. Direct Development will immediately develop more than 1.5 miles of adjacent roads, public utilities, traffic signals along FM 544, and a bridge over Maxwell Creek and receive reimbursement over a 12 year period. John Mondy, Mayor of Wylie, Mindy Manson, Wylie City Manager, and Sam Satterwhite, Wylie Economic Development Corporation, were very instrumental in the development, which is expected to kick-off with an April 2008 ground-breaking ceremony.

“Woodbridge Crossing will serve as a new gateway to our thriving, growing, City and have a positive impact on the quality of life and ongoing economic development efforts in Wylie,” said City of Wylie Mayor, John Mondy. “Partnerships with our neighboring cities, Murphy and Sachse, along with the hard work by city staff, City Council and Direct Development, were key to the success of this project.”

Super Target will be the anchor tenant of Woodbridge Crossing, with the Target Corporation simultaneously closing on 13.6 acres within the 64.5 acre development. A “to-be-named” department store, numerous “junior-anchor” retailers and several well-known restaurants have also expressed an interest in the project. More than 150,000 people within Wylie, Sachse, Murphy and East Richardson are within the development’s primary trade area.

The site is part of a 186 commercial planned development, owned by Herzog Development Corporation, which includes zoning for an adjacent 100 acre sports facility complex and a 20 acre senior housing project.

David Watson formed direct Development in November of 1997, and the company was recently ranked 22nd among the Dallas 100 fastest growing private companies. In May of 2006, Troy Aikman joined the firm as principal due to the firm’s integrity and quality of development projects. Over the last 10 years, Direct Development has developed or acquired 33 shopping centers comprising over 3 million square feet of commercial retail properties, and has offices in both Dallas and Austin. Additional information on Direct Development is available at www.ddevelopment.com or call (214) 891-3222.

Yeah, for the next few weeks, anyway. I can’t see myself visiting soon if this keeps up. My stroll through Wylie 15 minutes ’til noon was pretty interesting. Zero cars in line at the Wendy’s drive-thru. Zero cars in line at the Taco Bell drive-thru. Heck, even the seemingly always packed Chili’s parking lot provided ample parking. All because of Arby’s.

The field next to Arby’s was working out nicely as an overflow parking lot. All the spaces allocated to Arby’s were full. The drive-thru line was two cars away from spilling out on to 544. I’m sure it’s all because of the free advertising Arby’s has received from Wylie Today. A cut of the sales should be demanded!

So I guess I’ll be “thinking Arby’s ” for another few weeks because I surely won’t be eating there. Well, I suppose if there is only one or two or three cars in the drive-thru line, I might take the chance. If I just so happen to need gas and then milk and then Red Bull and then dog food and then a tractor from Tractor Supply Company throughout the evening and notice a small line, I’ll take the chance. Surely during one of those individual five trips the Arby’s line will be short enough for me to access.

Nothing more, really. But February 21st can’t get here quickly enough. I noticed a lot of people at the new Arby’s on 544 at Westgate as drove by on my home from work today. It looked like it was a family training night of some sort. I saw a few teenagers in their awesome Arby’s garb walking with what I assume to be their families. The parking lot was packed. I saw a manager camped out at the entrance and one at the drive-thru line.

I briefly considered parking and going in to see my son “John” in training. Surely a “John” works there, right? Surely I look old enough to have a teenager, right? I might have been able to mumble through a last name for “John” if I got that far.

But I remembered that my wife was cooking meatloaf tonight and as awesome as Arby’s is, it just can’t compare to my wife’s meatloaf. But beware Arby’s! The citizens of Wylie are just dying to come inside and give you money. We’ll see you on Thursday.

Photo © 2008 wylietoday.com

I am in so much trouble. I just got off the phone with a representative from Arby’s who informed me that the Grand Opening of the Wylie Arby’s is February 21st, 2008. This Arby’s restaurant is located at the corner of 544 and Westgate, which happens to be entirely too close to my residence. I have already ordered a case of Arby’s sauce to compliment the mass amount of roast beef sandwiches I’m sure I’ll be purchasing over the next 10 years.

Potential employees are encouraged to drop by the location to pick up and fill out an application.

Photo © 2008 wylietoday.com

For those of you who missed it during your daily commute out of Wylie today, the AutoZone at McCreary and 544 is now open for business. It is so new, Autozone.com doesn’t even have the site listed on their Store Locator yet. So stop in on your way home and get your supplies in preparation of the possible winter storm this evening.

Though it has been rumored for months that a Super Target will be built in Wylie, a preliminary plat for the corner of 544 and McCreary road actually has Super Target listed. The plat is up for review with the Planning and Zoning committee this Tuesday.

Along with 2 more banks and 2 additional stop lights on 544, the plat shows locations for 20 additional retail and restaurant spots.

Click the image above for the large version of the image.