I felt a twinge of nerves when I read the following (Weitzman Group re-) Tweet of the Dallas Morning News’ city hall blog: “Does Lake Highlands Town Center Finally Have Retail Anchor?”
And then I thought about it for a second — literally it took me one second to know, without a doubt, that the answer was “no, no it does not.”
The post attached to said Tweet did include some new renderings presented to Dallas’ Urban Design Peer Review Panel, but, as its author, Robert Wilonsky, notes, the drawings are about all we will see anytime soon.
Indeed, a hypothetical Sprouts exists on the renderings of the future Lake Highlands Town Center by Good, Fulton & Farrell, but we know from experience that this is imaginary.
He adds that, “After years —years – spent trying to find a grocer to anchor the development, developers are this close to getting Sprouts to sign on the line that is dotted, according to officials familiar with the project.” However, the Advocate’s informal policy since 2011 — when we reported essentially the same thing as above regarding Sprouts and the LHTC, and reinforced after nothing came of a Sprouts Certificate of Occupancy at Skillman-Abrams in March 2014 — is to not get worked up about anything Sprouts (or grocery in general) related until we see verifiable proof. (I’m guessing that the News’ blogger has been around long enough to understand this too, hence the hint of italic-punctuated sarcasm in the announcement).
Following a lengthy search for a developer, it was seven years ago this month that Prescott Realty broke ground on their Lake Highlands Town Center. They razed some bad apartments, successfully rallied for a Public Improvement District in the area and built some new apartments. That is about where any visible progress stopped. In Oct. 2013, Cypress Realty took over and announced a new-ish vision for the Town Center. That also, to my knowledge, was the last time they spoke with us or returned our phone calls and requests for information (and we are really hurt by this, you should know).
Edit: I failed to mention that a DART Rail station was added in the years since groundbreaking, and that, also, is a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, stand by for a post related to the aforementioned Public Improvement District, its upcoming application for renewal and plans for the future of the area (including Town Center) that it encompasses.
