Market Basket:New building constructed before tenants are signed

New speculative retail construction has been virtually nonexistent in the market for the last five years.

It has been too risky.

Developers by and large have shied away from breaking ground on new projects without confirmed tenants, especially when so many retail companies have dramatically slowed or even halted expansion plans.

Instead, national retailers and restaurants that have been expanding have done so in free-standing buildings specifically constructed to match others in their chains.

Think Dollar General and Cheddar's Casual Cafe.

Or, new local businesses have taken advantage of existing, immediately available, and often-discounted space at commercial plazas. There still seems to be plenty of available storefronts.

But Holladay Properties, of South Bend, has taken a leap of faith, so to speak.

It is among the first area developers to construct a completely speculative retail building in quite some time. The building is located immediately south of Heritage Square in Mishawaka.

Holladay doesn't have any signed leases for the 10,000-square-foot building that will expand the Martin's-anchored shopping center near Cleveland and Gumwood roads.

But that does not scare Holladay, or Garrison Investments of New York, the joint owner of the Mishawaka center. Holladay is responsible for leasing, property, construction and asset management.

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Market Basket:New building constructed before tenants are signed