Lincoln Property Co. has asked Dallas City Council to OK a $1-million economic development grant for the shopping center at Gaston-Garland-Grand, now called Arboretum Village, at the council’s final meeting before summer break on June 26.
In exchange, Lincoln will grace us with the presence of a 15,000-square-foot grocery store to anchor the center. Up to this point, it has been anyone’s guess for what the grocery store will be, but right now it looks like (drum roll please) The Fresh Market is the grocer in question. The News seemed somewhat hesitant about the official status of the store in its post, but the City Council’s meeting agenda spelled it out in pretty black and white terms on page 5:
“The proposed plan involves significant building improvements to the existing 79,963 square feet of space, which will accommodate a new 15,000-square-foot grocery anchor known as Fresh Market.”
In order to secure the grant, Lincoln would have to spend $10 million in project costs — site renovations, design, etc. — by Dec. 31, 2015, and the “grocer tenant” would have to be open by Dec. 31, 2014.
Based on our previous speculation, which we’ve had a lot of, The Fresh Market would actually fit the major independent grocer criteria Lincoln seems to be looking for, for that spot. The Fresh Market, which is based out of North Carolina, has been sweeping across the country lately, and is making its way into Texas. It has bought out four of the Rice Epicurean Markets in Houston, which is one of the grocers we speculated about a few months back, and it will open those later this year, according to a press release from Rice Epicurean. Now it looks like The Fresh Market has its sights set on the Dallas Fort-Worth area as well.
Right now there aren’t any locations in the DFW area. In fact, the closest one to us is in Tulsa, but if indeed The Fresh Market does come to East Dallas, you can expect to see another European/Farmers Market-syle grocery store, similar to grocers such as Whole Foods, Natural Grocers or Sprouts.
WANT MORE? Click to sign up for the weekly newsletter and be the first to know what’s happening in our neighborhood.
