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Complete Forecast for  May 09 2008

By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor

People who bought homes in the Gresham community to get away from the hustle and bustle of Tyler will find growth following at their heels.

Developers are planning convenience stores, food service establishments and offices, transforming an area near the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road 2813 and Old Jacksonville Highway. The Texas Department of Transportation recently completed its widening project of Old Jacksonville Highway to four lanes with a center turn lane (just a few years ago it was a two-lane, four-way intersection controlled by stop signs).

The widening project, and the addition of nearby Loop 49, greatly enhanced the area's accessibility.

John Chesley, a Gresham resident, owner of Appraisal Resource Group Inc. on FM 2813 and a residential and commercial developer and builder, said he believes other developers were waiting for the highway widening project to be complete before they started turning dirt.

But the dirt is flying now.

Vernis Stanaland, a developer and general contractor, said he will build Bennett's Convenience Store, a "super convenience store," behind the current Rikby station, which he owns and leases.

"We're already under construction," Stanaland said. "We're doing foundation work now. We'll probably have that completed in about two weeks."

The 8,335-square-foot center should be completed about mid-August and represent an investment of about $2.3 million, he said. Avalon Investments LLC, a group of investors with Bennett Hooks as president, will be the owner.

"We're going to build it right behind the present building," Stanaland said. "We're going to have a Whataburger, convenience store and a branch bank."

The current building that houses the Rikby store will be removed and the gasoline station will be converted to Valero.

The bank's identity has not been determined, Stanaland said, as representatives of several banks have spoken to him. The space would contain a satellite office with a drive-through service window.

He said the idea for Gresham development started with bringing Whataburger to the community. Many people live there, and consumer demand exists for more food establishments.

"We decided that since we were going to do the Whataburger anyway, we needed a bigger convenience store," Stanaland said, noting growth in the area. "There's been a demand for more there for several years already."

Stanaland said he is also building a 17,000-square foot building to house a convenience store, a bank and three restaurants on the site of the former Red Acker's seafood restaurant in nearby Noonday.

While no leases are complete, Stanaland is planning on national food chains putting restaurants in the building, specifically a hamburger, barbecue and pizza restaurant. Construction should begin in mid-August, and estimated completion is February 2009.

The investment at the Noonday location, at Texas Highway 155 and County Road 168, will total about $4.2 million, he said.

Stanaland said he is also working on another development in Bullard, similar property to the one planned for Noonday. It will be built across U.S. Highway 69 across from Brookshire's, with construction beginning by August.

Avalon will also own the Noonday and Bullard centers.

Chesley used to have his appraisal office on Kinsey Drive in Tyler.

"The lure of the country kind of brought us out here, because we lived out here, too," he said.

Chesley constructed another office building to the west of the one that houses his office. Four suites contain 800 square feet and one contains 1,600 square feet. Completed in October 2007, it filled with tenants in a matter of weeks.

"We're going to duplicate that building," he said, gesturing to a lot across FM 2813.

Over the past several years, some businesses that that located in Gresham did not stay. But others did. Chesley speculated that the ones that left were just the wrong types of businesses, or competition with the same product already existed in the community.

Competition from other developing housing additions did not seem to hinder sales of Chesley's residential addition in Gresham, Kingswood Place, off County Road 167.

Only eight lots are left to be sold in the 44-lot subdivision, which sits on 17 acres that Chesley purchased in April 2006.

"We had four or five houses sell in there in the last six weeks," he said. "What we tried to do is find a niche where we didn't think there were enough builders."

Home sizes range from 1,800-2,200 square feet.

Developers say other Gresham area additions include a new dentist's office, an automatic car wash, Bruno's Pizza's second location on Old Jacksonville Highway toward Tyler and a Kidd-Jones development on the highway's east side. Efforts to reach a Kidd-Jones representative about the company's plans were unsuccessful.