By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

After months of work at the site, Tebo Village will soon be completed, opening up new retail space to the Hays area.

The 12-storefront, 25,000-square-foot retail development sits at 43rd and Vine, with anchor tenant Pasta Jay’s in front of the retail space and expecting to open soon.

While the retail space remains under construction, Chance Reeser, construction manager for Tebo Properties, said a few tenants are already lined up.

“We excited about it,” Reeser said.

And that anticpation permeates through Hays, as well.

“We are really excited about seeing an additional space available for retail locations,” said Aaron White, executive director of the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development.

White said his office has been actively using the space as a recruitment tool for retailers interested in coming to Hays and may help fill gaps in retail options that were identified in the community retail survey.

Work on the site has been ongoing for a little under a year, but overall the project is only slightly over schedule.

Permitting issues first delayed the development.

“That kind of slowed us down a little bit, but we got it worked out,” Reeser said.

Most recently, however, construction has been slowed by weather.

“A lot of rain, weather slowed us down. It was really muddy and then high winds,” he said.

Construction is expected to be wrapped up in about a month, Reeser said.