NewQuest Properties will break ground by year's end on a new building for Marketplace at Ninety-Six in Galveston County after landing Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree Inc. as its newest tenants.

Each national chain has leased 10,000 sf in phase two of the 208,500-sf Marketplace at Ninety-Six, a 36-acre development at the crossroads of League City Parkway and Hobbs Road in League City. The stores are planning to open in early fall 2019.

"Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree recognized Marketplace at Ninety-Six is a strong location that's continuing to grow," says Rebecca Le, vice president of Houston-based NewQuest.

Le and Heather Nguyen, a NewQuest development partner, are closing in on having the 22,700-sf building fully preleased before ground breaks. Talks are underway with a liquor store for the 2,700-sf balance. Meanwhile, NewQuest will begin the permitting process and seek general contracting bids in the next few weeks.

Le and Nguyen also have leased 2,859 sf to Banfield Pet Hospital, which has claimed the last available inline space in phase one of Marketplace at Ninety-Six. The veterinarian is eyeing a first-quarter opening.

Tenant representatives were Ted Lacy of MTN Retail Advisors in Salt Lake City for Ace Hardware; Jeffrey A. Read of Read Kinig Inc. for Dollar Tree; and John LaRue of Retail Advisors for Banfield Pet Hospital.

Marketplace at Ninety-Six is viewed as a gateway to League City's leading master-planned communities, a stronghold of 7,000 existing homes with at least 1,200 more on the way. The attraction is its positioning in the top-ranked Clear Lake Independent School District and nearby employers like NASA and the University of Texas Medical Branch. The average household annual income is $121,000 within the center's two-mile trade area.

Marketplace at Ninety-Six is anchored by 123,000-sf Kroger Marketplace. "It is continually exceeding the grocer's monthly projections," Le says. The center's next-door neighbor is the Perry Family YMCA. The community retail center also is situated less than a mile west of Interstate 45 and 20 miles from Galveston Island and the Gulf of Mexico beaches.

NewQuest began working on Marketplace at Ninety-Six three years ago. Availability is now down to five retail pads and a 1.9-acre development site.