Much more than just an enticing mix of uses in a walkable, resort-like setting, Watters Creek in Allen, Texas, will be both the largest mixed-use development and the first retail development in the state to be LEED certified upon receipt of LEED Core & Shell certification, for which the development earned 27 points per the United States Green Building Council’s rating criteria. But perhaps equally or more innovative, Watters Creek is the first mixed-use development in which local women were integrally involved in establishing the development’s character during initial design and early construction phases to craft a retail environment truly reflective of what women want.

Named after the gentle watercourse traversing the development, Watters Creek is a 52-acre lifestyle center along the eastern edge of the 500-acre Montgomery Farm in Allen, Texas. Phase one of the 1.15-million-square-foot mixed-use development was recently completed and is now open to the public. Watters Creek serves as an urban lifestyle center for both the 500-acre master-planned Montgomery Farm residential community, which is currently under construction, and the City of Allen. Watters Creek currently offers 230 urban multifamily residential units, 90,000 square feet of office space and 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. All restaurants and most other uses have access to outdoor seating with views of the project’s natural landscape. Future phases of the $333-million mixed-use development will include additional residential, retail, restaurant, office space and a lifestyle hotel.

Getting Into Focus

Early in Watters Creek’s development, Trademark Property Company endeavored to create a retail environment that was uniquely responsive to the needs and desires of shoppers and the larger community. Recognizing that women account for nearly 80 percent of all U.S. consumer spending, research squarely placed the target demographic for the project with upscale women within the 25 to 55 age range. Trademark enlisted 23 local Allen women to take part in focus groups, which were presented with ideas and design elements to examine and discuss in small breakout groups. The groups were able to confirm and prioritize much of the developer’s research and provide valuable insight into the Allen community, which would have otherwise been unattainable.

These sessions revealed to the team that instead of looking at buildings and facades, women shoppers wanted to be “revitalized and inspired with something that would also invoke a sense of discovery and whimsy.” These were goals more typically associated with the design of resort environments—unique and unheard of in an urban mixed-use development. Thus the decision was made to adapt the beautiful natural character of the property to create a guest escape similar to that of a fine resort.

A Contradictory Approach

Trademark challenged the design team to integrate and take advantage of the naturally rolling terrain and creek running through the property. To meet this challenge and to begin to also accommodate the goal of LEED certification, TBG Partners, the project’s land planner and landscape architect, worked with Baltimore-based DDG, the retail design architect, to explore ways to incorporate the existing creek channel that bisected the property. Preserving the creek helped maintain natural drainage patterns and accommodate natural storm drainage for the property and the adjacent community. Equally as important was the need to save and integrate large, mature existing trees that abutted the creek. These trees contribute significantly to the city’s mitigation requirements and also provided opening-day scale, shade and comfort for guests.

Saving and enhancing the creek in its existing alignment contradicted the normal approach to mixed-use and lifestyle center developments, which typically feature short, formally aligned streets with formal streetscape systems. Bringing the streets within Watters Creek into and through the project and showcasing the creek corridor required curving the streets and rolling them to meet the existing terrain. This not only met the goal of integrating the creek and the existing trees but also contributed to the creation of a more relaxed and organic environment. Moreover, within this environment, TBG designed a variety of resort-level experiences for the patron, including a nature walk, bike trail connections and a boulder-lined pond/creek/pedestrian greenway corridor, which serves as the development’s central focus.

To further contradict an ordinary approach to mixed-use development, TBG and DDG proposed a single-loaded retail and residential street along the southern edge of the creek. This street is lined on one side with residential above retail while the other side abuts the creek edge with a broad pedestrian promenade providing an image representative of the resort aesthetic that everyone desired. This area showcases the creek and the adjacent town green, which is a large sloping lawn area adjacent to the creek. The green affords casual respite for people to sit or to watch performances and provides a community gathering area for the Montgomery Farm community and the City of Allen. Perpendicular to the town green and the creek and framed by one-story retail and restaurants is the village walk, an intimate outdoor space anchored by a large outdoor fireplace with casual resort seating and adjacent restaurant patios. The village walk, with a fireplace for cool evenings and the trees and shade canopies for warm afternoons, further extends the outdoor seasons for Watters Creek.

Tapping Into the Flow

To establish the headwaters for the creek and to accommodate a natural flow, an upper pond was created at the development’s eastern edge approximately 20 feet above the town green. This pond was shaped around a historic pecan tree that was preserved, which, along with the pond, became the central focus for a series of surrounding restaurants and outdoor dining patios. This space, visible from the adjacent Central Expressway, provides an inviting view into the pedestrian heart of the project. It is also a trailhead for a looped series of walks that surround the pond and the creek, which also align the retail storefronts and interconnect the residential lobbies and amenities. To the immediate west of the project is the natural Watters Creek corridor, which incorporates regional hike and bike trails. This trail system provides linkages to the adjacent Montgomery Farm community and Allen to the north and will connect to Plano to the south in the future.

The landscape design at Watters Creek provides extensive use of drought-tolerant, low water-consumptive plant materials. Additionally, irrigation is drawn from the upper pond, which is fed by a well and maintains the creek flow with a recirculating/pumped system. In addition to the drought-tolerant landscape, other sustainable elements contributing to Watters Creek’s LEED certification include increased insulation in walls and ceilings, reflective rooftop systems, the use of recycled and local building materials, and a recycling program implemented both during construction and after construction for tenants.


The Project Team:
Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Company is developing Watters Creek as a joint venture with Coventry Real Estate Advisors, developers Diversified Reality Corporation and Southern Land. TBG Partners provided land planning, along with DDG, and landscape architecture for the project. Other project team members include Meacham & Apel Architects as the architect of record, Field Paoli as the design architect, Bury + Partners as the civil engineer and Linbeck as the general contractor.