A southward view of the Garland-Lakeland corner lot owned by Jack Keller that will become a restaurant
Commercial broker Tom Metcalfe has managed the northeast corner of Garland Road and Lakeland for 20 years, first for owners who had held the land since the ’60s and more recently for neighbor and businessman Jack Keller, known for Keller’s Drive-In. Personal Touch Tree Service has leased there for some time, Metcalfe says, and recently moved to Samuell near Ferguson. Ross and Greenville Automotive still sits on the corner, but will vacate by July or August, he says.
After that, the 47,000-square-foot property will be leased to a restaurant — exactly what Keller said he wanted almost two years ago.
“He’s turned down a lot of people and every attempt to sell it,” Metcalfe says of Keller. “He’s turned down a lot of concepts — some a lot more commercial and more solid in ways — but he thought the property connoted a real original kind of use and something that served the neighborhood.”
The property will become what Metcalfe describes as “an Austin-style yard restaurant.” The owners aren’t yet ready to disclose the details, but Metcalfe speaks highly of the project, saying it is a long-term lease that involves experienced restaurateurs with major investment backing.
The Garland-Lakeland corner property is across from the Dallas Arboretum, and is flanked on the north side by property the City of Dallas acquired from the arboretum in 2014, 15,000 square feet just south of Walton’s Garden Center. It also backs up to several residential homes on Angora in Little Forest Hills.
