The town of Argyle is working with a developer to bring an H-E-B grocery store, Baylor Scott & White hospital and more to the west side of town.
Last week, the Town Council held a joint workshop with the Planning & Zoning Commission and applicant/developer of the Heritage tract, 196 acres located on the southwest corner of I-35W and Robson Ranch Road, just inside the town limits. The workshop was meant to help the developer modify its concept plan to give it a better chance at getting approved. The applicant didn’t mention the grocery store by name (he said he’s bound by a non-disclosure agreement), but H-E-B was named in a social media post and the cat’s out of the bag.
“We want to work with the developer to help move the project forward and get H-E-B to Argyle,” said Councilman Ron Schmidt.
H-E-B is also considering building a store right across Robson Ranch Road from the Heritage tract, in the city of Denton.
“I know they want to be right on I-35W, and that’s probably in our favor, if you look at the drawings, we’re offering the hard corner with the most exposure,” Schmidt said.
The Heritage tract is currently zoned Agricultural, and the applicant is requesting a zoning change to a Planned Development with a base of office retail, community retail and community facilities. It would take a few decades to fully develop, and would have lots of office space, retail stores, restaurants, amenities, medical offices, open space and much more. A home improvement store is also being targeted. There would not be any residential use in the development.
Oh, and H-E-B wants to bring a car wash, too, something the small town probably doesn’t really need anymore.
“I think a lot of people would take an H-E-B with a car wash over no H-E-B,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said he expects the applicant to come back with a smaller section of the Heritage tract for the rezoning request, focused on the parts of the concept plan that would be developed first. The Argyle P&Z Commission is expected to consider the zoning request at its March 5 meeting, and would then go to Town Council for approval later that month.
“We’re hoping that the details can be worked out and we can pass this in March,” Schmidt said.
