It’s been a little more than a year since Charter Holdings, a Dallas-based real estate investment company, purchased the property that houses Kingsley Square Shopping Center at Skillman and Kingsley. And the property looks pretty much the same as it did 12 months ago. But, says Ray Washburne, president and CEO of Charter Holdings, things are ready to start rolling.
“We hope to start demolition mid- to late-July,” says Washburne adding that he wants to hold a formal groundbreaking when that happens, but hasn’t set an exact date yet. “We want to have it when the bulldozers are actually out on the property ready to go.”
According to Washburne, plans call for the demolition of the back half of the center, where Whole Foods was located (before it closed in 2002). A 50,000-square-foot L.A. Fitness gym will be built in its place. CVS Pharmacy will go in the corner where Mi Cocina is now and Mi Cocina will move to the northeast corner, where the restaurant will be able to expand and include outdoor dining space.
Another locally owned and operated Italian restaurant is set to go in on the other end of the strip center. Washburne says he can’t name the tenants just yet, but adds that the operator is very well known. “[The restaurant] is very family-oriented, in the same spirit as Mi Cocina,” he says.
A donut shop and an ice cream shop are also in the works, as well as a hamburger joint, also run by a “very well-known local operator,” says Washburne, again declining to name names at this point.
“We are 100 percent leased. We are very excited about it. It’s just taken so long,” say Washburne, explaining that the reason for the delay was due in part to some environmental issues with the old cleaners. “But we finally got it corrected and can start.”
