Central Market to Build Store in Uptown Dallas Next Year

Central Market is moving forward with a much-anticipated grocery store in Uptown Dallas.

H-E-B’s upscale grocery chain intends to open a location at the corner of Lemmon and McKinney avenues, the Dallas Business Journal reported. It is redeveloping a building that previously housed an Albertsons, at 3524 McKinney Avenue.

Construction is expected to start next year, pending city approvals.

The plan marks the latest attempt by Central Market to expand its footprint into the Uptown market, following years of speculation and changing proposals. H-E-B had previously envisioned Central Market as the anchor tenant in a $295 million high-rise project proposed by KDC.

However, that plan was sidelined due to a “softer post-COVID commercial market.” KDC withdrew from the project earlier this year. Central Market’s revised approach aims to establish a stand-alone location that is better suited to current market conditions.

Renderings of the store show features like a cooking school, an upstairs dining space and a community room for neighborhood gatherings.

Plans also call for a live music stage and two-level parking, features that H-E-B president Stephen Butt hopes will help transform the store into a hub for local residents.

If approved by the Dallas City Council, the location would add to Uptown’s grocery options, which also include Whole Foods and Tom Thumb.

Uptown is an established multifamily residential area that’s denser and more walkable than many Dallas neighborhoods. And it is poised to replace downtown as the city’s go-to office market.

The neighborhood has become a vortex for Y’all Street, the cheeky name for the ongoing relocation of financial firms to Texas. With $1 billion in real estate investment, the neighborhood has drawn tenants Bank of America and Deloitte, plus Goldman Sachs’ $500 million campus, which is under construction next to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

— Andrew Terrell