DESOTO TOWN CENTER in Desoto, TX | CLIDE Award, North Central Texas COG – Redevelopment.
DESOTO TOWN CENTER in DeSoto, Texas, received a CLIDE Award for Redevelopment from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, recognizing its transformation of an underperforming retail center into a vibrant economic and community asset. The project reimagined a vacant big-box site—formerly an Ace Hardware—into the Grow DeSoto Market Place, a dynamic small-business incubator and marketplace developed through a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership.
This redevelopment exemplifies the Principles of Development Excellence by promoting adaptive reuse, local entrepreneurship, and community revitalization. By offering affordable retail space, shared resources, and business support, the project lowers barriers to entry for emerging entrepreneurs while activating a previously declining commercial corridor.
The result is a thriving, mixed-use destination that strengthens the local economy, fosters job creation, and creates a unique sense of place—serving as a model for how strategic redevelopment can turn vacancy into opportunity and long-term community value.
The CLIDE Awards Program was created in 2003 to recognize private and public development programs and projects that exemplify the Principles of Development Excellence. JHP has been the recipient of 11 CLIDE Awards through the years.
