Apartments proposal at Shops at Highland Village shelved

No apartments are coming to The Shops at Highland Village, at least not anytime soon.

After its proposal to build hundreds of apartments at The Shops at Highland Village was denied by the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission, Poag Development Group is not moving forward with its request.

“We are appreciative of the feedback we received from the Planning & Zoning Commission to our multifamily proposal,” Ravi Wadhwa, senior general manager at The Shops, said in a statement. “While the proposed plans did not pass, our intention is to continue to think creatively to evolve The Shops at Highland Village.”

Poag first publicly discussed its idea to build 560 high-end apartments at The Shops at a community meeting in October 2021. Residents and city leaders expressed opposition to the proposal, which would have had the apartments replacing the AMC movie theater and Snuffer’s restaurant.

After considering feedback and AMC’s resurgence in financial viability in early 2022, Poag cut the number of proposed apartments in half and kept the movie theater. The company submitted its rezoning request to the city and it went before the Planning & Zoning Commission on May 16. P&Z unanimously recommended denial, citing concerns about fire infrastructure, traffic and more. Poag could have brought the proposal to City Council for consideration, but because of the P&Z recommendation, it would have needed a supermajority (six of seven) of council members to vote to approve, an unlikely outcome. Poag has informed the city that it is not moving forward with the proposal, according to Highland Village Mayor Dan Jaworski.

Poag initially considered adding offices or a hotel before trying the apartments plan, and it is expected to eventually come up with a new proposal to transform the 16-year-old outdoor shopping center. During last month’s P&Z meeting, Josh Poag, president and CEO of Poag Development Group, said The Shops has to adapt to the continued rise of online shopping.

“You need to keep evolving and improving in order to stay relevant in these times,” Poag said.