Could a change in ownership signal a change in direction for the area?
It used to be a focal point of our neighborhood. Starting with the construction of the theatre in 1946, and then the addition of one of the first open-air strip centers in the state in 1948, Casa Linda Shopping Center was the retail destination in Dallas for decades.
But starting in the ’70s and ’80s, and most notably with the closing of the theatre in 1996, Casa Linda began to lose its luster. As more and more people were lured into the shopping malls, the retail offerings at the strip center became more pedestrian.
Mark Miller is using Casa Linda Shopping Center as an example of the area’s decline of the area in pitching his proposed high-rise condominium, noting that high-end retail has given way to dollar stores and tattoo parlors.
An oft-repeated complaint about the Casa Linda Shopping Center is that the current out-of-state owners don’t understand or just don’t care about what the people in the surrounding community want from the retail center.
Enter Craig Evans, son of former Dallas Mayor Jack Evans, a Lake Highlands High School graduate, and principal of the development company SC Companies in Dallas. He says he is in “serious negotiations” with Regency on a contract for the Casa Linda Shopping Center properties on the northwest, northeast and southeast corners of Garland and Buckner.
He says the neighborhood is picking up steam, making it a perfect environment for a revitalized center.
“It won’t be an overnight deal. It will take some time,” he cautions.
“We would spend quite a bit of money but keep the integrity of the architecture. Give it a general facelift. We want it to still look like Casa Linda, and hopefully we could fill the vacancies with businesses that the neighborhoods want.”
Mickey Ashmore has been involved with Casa Linda, on and off, since 1985, and was involved in the purchase of the property by Hopkins Schaefer in the early ’90s.
He says because of neglect in recent years, Casa Linda “needs a lot of attention.” Ashmore says a local owner would be in a better position to devote that kind of attention to the project, but it would still be a challenge.
Turning Casa Linda around, Ashmore says, could include some redevelopment and possible rezoning to allow big-box retail.
“It’s going to be challenge. There is a lot of space there, and with the advent of large box users, some of that space will be more difficult to lease.”
It would seem that the Casa Linda area has become a hot property of late — at least in theory. Miller is proposing a 25-story high-rise condominium, a perpetual letter of intent has been hanging over the theatre for a year, and now Casa Linda is looking attractive to developers again.
Longtime Realtor and neighborhood resident Dick Clements says it was just a matter of time before development started moving this way.
“Let me tell you what I think and have observed. For years, University Park and Highland Park was the place to live. Property got so expensive in the Park Cities that it moved toward Lakewood. Now, suddenly the next big thing is Forest Hills. Casa Linda has always been a good market, but now it’s really starting to pick up.”
