To market, to market – in downtown Dallas
20,000-square foot Fresh Approach market will feature standard products, gourmet
food
02:09 PM CST on Wednesday, January 28, 2004
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
After a decade of good intentions and hamstrung dreams, Dallas' increasingly
resident-friendly downtown may finally play home to a supermarket.
"It's a miracle," Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said after the vote. "But this has to be successful. People have to use it."
The City Council this morning approved a tax incentive package for the redevelopment of the dilapidated, eight-story Interurban Building at 1500 Jackson St., in which developers plan to open a supermarket by early 2005, if not sooner.
The 20,000-square foot Fresh Approach market will feature all the standard products of a larger market, coupled with gourmet food and a "chic urban" motif of exposed piping and concrete flooring, market manager Danny Furr said.
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The council, on a unanimous voice vote, approved the tax package, which includes
$5 million in tax increment finance funds for the building redevelopment and
a 10-year property tax abatement for the supermarket worth an estimated $967,038.
Council members Mitchell Rasansky and John Loza were not present during the
voting.
"The financial structure is done right for us to succeed," said Mr. Furr, who operated two failed Fresh Approach markets in Dallas during the 1980s. "We've got our concept and we're going forward now."
With the recent opening of several downtown apartment buildings, residents have to make a 10- to 15-minute drive to Uptown or the Central Expressway corridor for full-service shopping options.
The Fresh Approach grocery would be smaller than most in the city. Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Markets average about 40,000 to 50,000 square feet.
The Interurban Building, also known as the Trailways Building, first graced the skyline in 1916 as the terminal for North Texas' electric railway system. Continental Trailways had its bus depot and offices there during the mid-20th century, but for decades, it has remained vacant. In 2000, a group of investors gutted the building, with plans to build offices, but the plan fizzled.
About 180 apartment units and a 500-space parking ramp will also be developed as part of the Interurban Building project.
E-mail dlevinthal@dallasnews.com