Southlake Town Square getting much-needed facelift

Nearly two decades after opening, Southlake Town Square is getting a facelift.

Construction is underway at the upscale shopping center to repave streets, replace sidewalks and add handicap ramps. Work on the $373,000 project, which began Feb. 27, is taking place mostly at night and should be completed by mid-April, just in time for Art in the Square.

Attention is currently focused on areas surrounding Southlake Town Hall. For the remainder of the month, workers will repave angled parking lots surrounding Town Hall and Rustin Park. In April, they will redo Main Street, Fountain Place, Civic Place, State Street and Grand Avenue.

Southlake Mayor Laura Hill said the city needed to fix several sidewalk ramps to make them compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, so it made sense to combine that with the street work.

She said work has been focused on areas with the highest density of stores.

“That’s where we have the largest impact to our roads,” Hill said. “All of our festivals are in that area. That’s an area that we keep a very close eye on. We want those roads to be in their best shape all of the time.”

The project is part of the 2017 Town Square Enhancements Initiative. The City Council allocated funds for the project in this year’s budget.

The city purposely scheduled the construction at night, with workers on-site from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday.

“That’s when there’s the least amount of impact to our shoppers,” Hill said. “We’re committed to investing money back into Town Square and keeping it the jewel of Southlake.”

Jason Kasal, vice president and senior leasing director for RPAI Southwest Management LLC, the company that owns Town Square, said the construction will improve the shopping experience. This month marks 18 years since Town Square opened.

“While our property has a timeless appeal to it, it does require maintenance and an eye for detail to ensure it stands the test of time,” Kasal said. “RPAI is always reinvesting in the property and taking care of the details so that the hometown ambiance stays in-tact while the super-regional draw and traffic continues to grow.”

In the last year, RPAI has remodeled common areas and office lobbies, improved several outdoor patios, touched up paint and landscaping, and added lighting.

The work schedule could change based on weather.

Daniel Sanabria, sales lead at Crazy 8, said the store has seen a drop in traffic since construction started.

“A lot of the parking in front of our store is inaccessible,” Sanabria said. “They’re roped off because of the construction. We’re hoping once everything is completed, we’ll have our regular traffic come back.”

But at Bag ‘n Baggage, an employee who declined to give his name said the construction has been well managed. “They’re doing it thoughtfully with the store in mind. It’s not a huge inconvenience.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2017 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Southlake Town Square getting much-needed facelift."