AUSTIN — A new strip mall is under construction near the the Austin Wal-Mart, and its first two tenants are already set.
The 4,200-square-foot first phase of the mall will house Pro Cellular, which is an AT&T franchise, and Sun Tan City, said Patrick Flynn of United Development Group in Menomonie, WIs. The stores should open around the beginning of 2014, he said.
The first phase will cost a little less than $1 million.
The mall also has a planned second phase that would bring the mall to 12,000-square feet and add more stores. "We're negotating with a couple (stores), and we would still have room for more if something comes to light," Flynn said.
United Development Group, with primary offices in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Menomonie, Wis., develops and builds single and multiple tenant retail shopping center projects in small markets across the Midwest and Central Plains.
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It focuses on developments in Walmart parking lots, Flynn said. "Everybody goes to Walmart, right?" he said.
Other retailers that United Development often works with include Maurice's, Dollar Tree and Hibbett Sporting Goods. United Development isowned and operated by Rick Johnson, Patrick Flynn and Jason Tadych.
United Development has undertaken other projects in southeastern Minnsota. This year it built a strip mall in Winona that contains aHibbett Sports and aSun Tan City; and in 2008 it built a strip mall in Stewartville that contains anAnytime Fitness and aVerizon store.
After a several years of slumping during the recession, commercial construction has picked up in 2012 and this year.
