A new Marshalls store is taking shape at 8680 Fourwinds Drive in Windcrest, with exterior signage already promising it's “coming soon” even as workers strip down and rebuild the interior for retail use. The space, tucked next to a Skechers store near Interstate 35, previously served as Whataburger University before the fast-food chain consolidated its training operations elsewhere.
According to MySA, the interior of the future Marshalls remains completely cleared out, with work underway as of Tuesday. Reporter Nicholas Hernandez, a New Braunfels digital reporter for the outlet, detailed the ongoing build-out, which per Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records covers a 23,411-square-foot interior finish-out of an existing shell space with an estimated construction cost of $1.2 million.
The project isn't moving quite as fast as originally planned. Construction started September 4, 2025, and the listed completion date on file was March 1, 2026 — meaning the Marshalls build has already run roughly six months past its original target, the same report notes. Windcrest has seen similar slow-motion timelines elsewhere in town, including a delayed Pizza Ranch conversion inside a gutted former Luby's, detailed in Hoodline's report on that project's interior demolition delays.
Filling a Corporate Void With Retail
Whataburger University vacated the Fourwinds Drive space in July 2025 after the company moved its manager leadership training programs to its San Antonio headquarters in the Park Central Building on Sunset Road, according to background reporting from MySA. The shift left a chunk of prime real estate empty in Windsor Park Center, the 196,599-square-foot open-air shopping center that stretches across 8480–8680 Fourwinds Drive.
That center is owned and managed by Houston-based Whitestone REIT, a real estate investment trust that focuses on open-air retail properties across Sun Belt growth markets, per LoopNet. The company has been actively reshuffling tenants at the property, having signed a 40,000-square-foot lease with EoS Fitness in January 2025 to add a gym anchor alongside existing tenants like Ross Dress for Less, PetSmart and Cavender's, according to Traded.
A Growing Cluster Along Fourwinds Drive
Once open, Marshalls will join a cluster of retailers along the corridor that already includes Ross, Bealls, Office Depot and Cavender's Boot City, according to the same MySA report. The addition fits a pattern of turnover across the shopping hub, which sits near the Interstate 35 and Loop 410 interchange.
The timing lines up with a broader expansion push from Marshalls' parent company. TJX Companies announced in August plans to accelerate store growth to 4% annually starting in 2027 and raised its long-term global footprint target to 7,500 stores, according to CoStar. That growth mirrors a wider surge in off-price retail, with national chains collectively opening more than 370 new U.S. locations in 2026 as shoppers hunt for discounted brand-name apparel, per Modern Retail.
Marshalls has also been reshuffling its own footprint elsewhere in San Antonio. In April, the chain closed its longtime Fiesta Trails store on Interstate 10 West and relocated several miles away to The Rim shopping center on Worth Parkway, a move Hoodline previously reported was delayed by construction issues before that location opened.
Traffic and Tax Stakes for Windcrest
The Fourwinds Drive corridor sits along the footprint of TxDOT's $3.5 billion I-35 Northeast Expansion project, a 20-mile undertaking building elevated express lanes that are expected to open their first section in early 2027. Ongoing construction from that project has created lane closures near the retail strip, a dynamic Hoodline covered after a crash near Tradewind Drive hospitalized four people in late August.
Retail development along this stretch of I-35 carries real weight for Windcrest's budget. The city collects an 8.25% total sales tax rate — combining 6.25% state, 1.75% city and 0.25% crime control district taxes — making commercial activity along the interstate central to its tax base, according to the Windcrest Economic Development Corporation.
The Marshalls project isn't the only major redevelopment reshaping the suburb. Nearby, the former 1.2 million-square-foot Rackspace headquarters campus is undergoing a $40 million redevelopment by Industrial Commercial Properties, converting the facility into a multi-tenant business park after Rackspace downsized its footprint amid a shift to remote and hybrid work, as Hoodline detailed in its report on the campus's rehab milestone.
Before Marshalls can open its doors, the project will still need to clear standard state accessibility requirements. Under Texas Administrative Code Section 68.52, building owners must obtain a registered accessibility specialist inspection within 30 days of completing construction, and no later than one year after the build-out finishes, per the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
