It’s long been debated in the weeds of land use planning circles: what to do with the “bodies” of dead big box stores? When retail giants like Toys ‘R’ Us and Bed Bath & Beyond shuttered in recent years, they left large footprints and sprawling parking lots.
The former Bazaar grocery store at 10710 Garland Road in East Dallas offers 38,000 square feet on a 3-acre lot. The space has been vacant for “several years,” sources say.
So why not build an indoor adventure park with pickleball courts, trampolines, laser tag, a soft-play jungle gym, and video games?
Sky Park Adventure LLC co-owner Kyle Bickham, who also owns The Modern Tot preschool across the street, said he plans to do just that. Bickham is leasing the space from Dominus Properties Inc. and is consulting with The Colony-based supplier Best American Trampolines on the design and operations.
Land use planning and zoning representative Rob Baldwin filed for a Specific Use Permit in October, tipping his hand at what was to come. Baldwin told daltxrealestate.com that he expects the case to be heard by the City Plan Commission in March or April.
“We’re a long way out,” he said. “It’s a good adaptive reuse of an existing big building. Indoor adventure parks, especially trampoline parks, seem to be very popular, especially out in the suburbs. This is an opportunity for the kids in the area to have what kids in the suburbs have.”
Bickham said a February 2025 opening date is anticipated.
Garland at Centerville Road
The site of the planned Sky Park Adventure complex is across Garland Road from the Shoreline City Church property, approved last year for a mixed-income multifamily housing development under the Dallas Public Facility Corporation financing structure.
The Hayden is being developed by Ojala Partners and met resistance from neighbors in the Lochwood area, primarily due to the proposed 60-foot mid-rise building height.
Thomas Buck, communications chair for Lochwood Neighborhood Association, has taken an interest in the Sky Park project and said he’d like to see a separate entrance to the pickleball courts so adults can come and go separately from kids having birthday parties and social gatherings.
“It’s exciting news if done right,” Buck said.
The choice of location, Buck added, is “kind of obvious.”
“You have 300 [dwelling] units going in right across the street,” he said, referring to The Hayden, where developers could break ground early next year.
Baldwin hosted Buck, Trish Gaffney of White Rock East Coalition of Neighborhoods, Kim Dearman of the Reinhardt neighborhood, East Dallas resident John Botefuhr, and a daltxrealestate.com reporter for a brief meeting at the Garland Road site Wednesday afternoon. All the neighbors were generally supportive of the project.
“It’s nice to see some of these old used car lots and vacant retail getting some energy back into this part of the city,” Botefuhr said. “I moved over here in 2007 from Lower Greenville and I’ve watched it continue to get better. Geographically, it’s a great part of town. You’re close to LBJ and I-30. It’s not that far of a drive to access a freeway. And yet you’re tucked in and have that neighborhood feel.”
A neighborhood meeting will be held after the first of the year, Baldwin said.
The Plan For Sky Park Adventure
Bickham told daltxrealestate.com he’s not planning any new construction but will replace the roof.
The site already has ample parking and 38,000 square feet is the largest size that indoor adventure parks typically work with, Bickham said.
“They call it the mega,” he said. “Our market can sustain that. There are a lot of young families in the area, in addition to [those] who would drive over.”
Bickham and his wife and two sons live in Ash Creek Estates and opened The Modern Tot in 2018.
“We’ve always loved East Dallas,” he said. “We noticed a tremendous amount of young families, like 65 percent within a three-mile radius. We’ve gained so many close friends from The Modern Tot. I get a lot of joy out of solving problems for people and meeting a need. Serving families with young children is really fulfilling for us. We can relate to them. We are a family with young kids.”
The Bickhams have been taking their kids out of town to indoor trampoline parks. The adventure parks are incredibly popular in North Texas “because you can maybe go outside six months out of the year,” Bickham said.
He saw the lease sign go up on Garland Road and thought it might be a good fit.
“It’s in our neighborhood, and it caters to our needs,” he said. “It also builds community.”
