Some merchants within the Core District, which includes the DFW Chinatown, Downtown, Heights, Interurban and Lockwood neighborhoods, said they feel revitalization efforts have yet to deliver additional foot traffic to their businesses. According to an analysis by Community Impact, several Core District businesses have closed over the past few years.
The big picture
Part of the city’s plans to revitalize the Core District include a building modernization grant for Alamo Drafthouse. Officials declined to answer questions about how grants are awarded or if more were to be given to businesses nearby.
Drafthouse officials said it was unlikely to renew its lease without the funds due to declining attendance, per emails between city officials and Bill DiGaetano, co-owner and CEO of Alamo Drafthouse North Texas.
DiGaetano said he expects the upgrade will bring people to the theater and that, as an anchor tenant, will help other businesses.
“We saw an improvement in ... tenants that wanted to locate in the Heights as a result of Alamo,” City Manager Don Magner said, referencing its opening.
Other city investments to make the area a walkable destination, such as creating a new park called Interurban Commons or widening sidewalks, aim to tie the five district neighborhoods together.
The approach
Identifying the right businesses for the revitalized Core District has been a challenge given turnover and other factors, said Manasseh Durkin, president of Durkin Properties, a company developing retail in Lockwood and along Main Street.
Durkin added that his firm is evaluating options to bring additional businesses near downtown with a goal of creating a destination within the Core District. Despite closures and delays, he said there continues to be high demand for businesses to locate in the area.
“[Belt & Main is about] trying to change the sense of what this place is in North Texas ... so [individuals] start to think they want to be in downtown Richardson,” Catalyst Urban Development President Paris Rutherford said.
The first phase of the Belt & Main project is once again progressing smoothly, albeit about one year behind schedule, which resulted in Catalyst hiring a new construction group for the project, Rutherford said. There were also other uncertainties, namely supply chain issues during the pandemic, that delayed the project, he added.
“Sometimes good things take a little waiting and patience for them to occur,” Rutherford said.
What they're saying
“Because of the delays in the development at Belt & Main, we haven’t quite realized the return on our investment in our business as I’d hoped we would have," said Kristine Baugh,
co-owner of Cinnaholic.
“I think you’ll see the shopping center continue to evolve and become even better than it has been over the decade that we’ve been here, which is really exciting," DiGaetano said.
What's next?
Rutherford said the apartments, parking structure and commercial footprint of Belt & Main is on track to open this summer.
Baugh cited Belt & Main as a reason she invested within the Core District, hoping residents would discover her store.
“A big piece of the puzzle for the success of the [Core District] is having a population ... that actually lives there,” Magner said.
Despite the setbacks, Baugh said she is optimistic for the future once the project is completed.
“Hopefully the city will turn [the delays] around, but they can’t do it quickly enough for me,” Baugh said.
