DRA Properties L.C. will partner with Minnesota-based Capital Growth Madison Marquette (CGMM) to develop the retail portion of Prairie Trail, the 1,000-acre planned community on the former Iowa State University research farm in Ankeny.

Plans for the development call for two retail components covering about 500,000 square feet. The Town Center at Prairie Trail will serve as the community’s commercial core and feature fashion stores as anchors, restaurants and a mix of regional and national merchants. It will surround a central park and amphitheater. The Plaza Shoppes at Prairie Trail will be a retail area at the southern entrance of the development. A Hy-Vee Inc. supermarket will anchor that development.

Retail construction is expected to begin next year, with the full project being completed in 2012.

“Almost every member of the Capital Growth Madison Marquette management team has a strong connection with Iowa and understands its people and communities,” said Dick Ward, senior vice president of acquisitions and investments at CGMM. “Several of us built our careers in this industry while working at General Growth Properties (Inc.), which was founded in Des Moines and has become one of the nation’s largest developers of regional shopping centers.” CGMM is part of Capital Growth Properties Inc., a private real estate investment company with offices in Cedar Rapids, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala.

Prairie Trail is the largest “new urbanist” development in Iowa and will encompass around 2,500 homes, civic and educational projects, including the city library, a school and police headquarters, and an extensive network of trails and parks. Dennis Albaugh is the owner of DRA Properties.

In June, Prairie Trail also will be the site of HomeShowExpo 2008. For more information, go to www.prairietrailankeny.com.