These are the four parking spaces that will be replaced by the temp skybridge and elevator.
Losing a major grocer as a tenant in Preston Center is not going to hurt Crow Holdings one bit. Not gonna lose one penny. The company will find retailers to fill the old Foleys/Sanger Harris building right up, whether it’s Bed, Bath & Beyond or Buy Buy Baby or Sarah’s Secrets. (Kidding on that last one.) That’s how the business works. Preston Center is some of the most primo commercial property in Texas.
Who will lose? The people who live in the area who will have to drive north to Preston/Royal or Preston/Forest to pick up Tide and Ziplock bags with their milk and pot roast, or south to — wherever.
Maybe they’ll just go to the new Sam’s on Central.
A grocer might be a more cohesive tenant than a string of smaller stores. It would be open longer, later, and might pull a vibe for that side of Preston Center.
I don’t know why some of the community and the TSK Force is so hell-bent on saying “No!” The skybridge is not permanent. Harlan Crow told Candace Carlisle of the Dallas Business Journal
“The city’s fight to get grocery stores in neighborhoods, and this neighborhood has a very small grocery store that I think doesn’t serve the community,” Crow, who is chairman and CEO of Dallas-based investment firm Crow Holdings, told theDallas Business Journal.“I think this is a unique chance to get a substantial grocery store in the area.”
I really wish Crow Holdings would divulge more details of the grocery deal as I think that would help influence the ones who count, the people who live in the area, make a decision. Thus far I have received three e-mails from people who are pro-skybridge because they want to see progress in the area. No offense to Laura Miller, but many see her as being anti-development.
By the way, Candace was wrong in her article: Crow Holdings does not plan to re-develop the adjacent garage. That would cost an arm and a leg. As the largest tenant, I think they have a right to the most spaces. They will make $1.1 million improvements to the parking garage through clean up, painting and re-striping, which will bring in more parking spaces. Only 4 parking spaces will be used for the skybridge and elevator connection, and those will be made up in the re-striping. Crow Holdings has stressed to me that NO parking spaces will be lost with the skybridge. This is important because many employees use the top of the skybridge for parking — which was my original concern. Also, this is probably our only chance to have a private commercial entity improve the garage that the City of Dallas has no dinero to improve.
Crow Holdings owns the two-story Preston Center Pavilion and would like to redevelop the adjacent garage at the corner of Berkshire Lane and Westchester Drive. The firm, which invests heavily in real estate, would like to develop a sky bridge as part of the garage redo that will also help lease a vacant portion of the building to a grocer.
Why are the same old people holding this area back? Why can we not get a long term lease with a major landmark tenant in Preston Center West? Now may be a crucial time to say howdy to Jennifer Staubach Gates and Lee Kleinman, and tell them how you feel! Here is a link to ALL of them!
By the way, I want to say kudos to Candace for getting Harlan on the phone. She’s the third fourth hardest-working real estate editor in Dallas…
