A second-floor suite left empty by a long-time office tenant has put a small question with a big policy behind it in front of the City Council: should a shopping center at the northeast corner of Preston Road and Parker Road be allowed more retail and service space?
Council holds a public hearing on zoning case 2026-006 at its 7 p.m. meeting Monday, Nov. 9. The Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval 7-0 on Oct. 19.
Two parts to the request
The petitioner, 3516 Preston, LP, wants to amend the 31.3-acre planned development that covers the center, which staff describes as holding a grocery store, a fitness center, a bank, offices, medical offices, shops and restaurants. The change only touches Tract 2, the two northern lots, where a two-story bank and a two-story multi-tenant building of about 20,000 square feet stand.
The first part would let that tract hold service businesses as well as retail. The zoning allows up to 10,000 square feet of retail there but does not mention service uses, even though the city has issued occupancy certificates for service tenants there over the years. Staff says the discrepancy surfaced when a certificate for a service use was recently denied.
The fix would allow retail and service uses permitted in the city's Retail district, except those subject to residential adjacency standards, and would drop a never-used allowance for two freestanding restaurants. Staff supports that part.
The second part would raise the cap from 10,000 to 13,500 square feet. The petitioner says that would let it lease the roughly 3,500-square-foot upstairs suite to a retail or service tenant.
