Crews work to refurbish Creekside Center, which will host Alamo Drafthouse and a host of new restaurants

Lake Highlands residents counting down the days to patronize the planned Alamo Drafthouse and surrounding restaurants at Skillman-Abrams – it’s about to get real.

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That flurry of activity you may have noticed at the shopping center surrounding the old Tom Thumb (the even older Simon David) is the work of landlord, Retail Plazas, Inc. (RPI). The company’s contractors, which moved onsite this week, are beginning redevelopment of the center, which they are renaming Creekside.

“It’s not always the case that landlords and neighborhoods work this well together,” laughed Trey Hodge, VP of RPI as we stood in the center’s parking lot watching construction vehicles and work crews buzz about, “but lots of people from around here have contacted me to say they are excited about what’s coming. It’s been blighted and ugly for some time, and we get that. Neighbors want the Alamo Drafthouse, they want the new restaurants, and they are going to get them.”

RPI began refurbishment Monday, working to get the façade ready for Alamo to begin “inside work” Monday of next week.

“The optimists say Alamo will be ready to open in 4 months,” said Hodge, laughing again. “The pessimists say it will be 6. We will see.”

We’ll keep you updated here at Advocate as progress continues and more new tenants are revealed.

Construction crews work on the old Tom Thumb at Skillman-Abrams