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Building Equity in your home for 21yrs
Thishelpsexplaintheburgeoning little restaurant scene created by Fuzzy’s and Pizzeria Venti, as well as Lakewood’s 1st and 10 bar and grill, which reopened under local ownership in 2009.
Popularneighborhoodeateriesare nothing new for the shopping center: In the ’50s and ’60s, it had Charco’s, the hamburger drive-in that was the No. 1 hangout for bobby-socked Woodrow students. Later came Pancho’s Mexican Buffet.
The original occupant of the Tuesday MorningcornerspacewasReed Hardware,“areallygoodhardware store” which was owned by three siblings, says Sue Sinclair of Lakewood Lighting, who has been in business at Hillside for 33 years. And Jim Tudor fondly recalls visiting Jo Jo Toys as a child when his mother took him along on errands to Hillside Village.
In the decades since Charco’s, Reed and Jo Jo, many mom-and-pops gave way to national corporations, such as the Drug Emporium that took over the ReedHardware space. Then as the center aged, it became more attractive to discount retailers looking for a deal on prime real estate in urban areas.
When Twinrose took over, the Tudors determined to be more selective about tenants, which for them meant turning down some of the discount retailers that came calling.
“Theneighborhoodstillwantsdiscount [stores] to be available to them, but I think that there was a shortage of tenants that were just a little more eclectic,”Rebecca Tudor says.
A drive-through coffee shop was on the wish list, and Jim Tudor knew White rock coffee owner Nancy Baker from their high school days. When he called her, he learned that the business was looking to expand. at the top of Twinrose’s list were restaurants, and to make that happen, “we were very patient with what we put into a space,” Jim Tudor says. “We really wanted some restaurants to put on the street, but we didn’t take the first restaurant that came along, and we didn’t take things that weren’t restaurants.”
Cindy Taylor is the third owner of Hillside Beauty Salon at Hillside Village. Unlike other shopping center stores, Taylor says the salon has changed little since its opening in 1954. Many of her customers. who range from age 75 to 100, have been getting their hair done at the salon for more than 50 years.
“Things on the east side and north side of the lake are connected in attitude, so it was a logical extension for them to move to that intersection,” he says.
The restaurants needed to be able to utilizepatiosandappealtonotonly residentsoftheimmediateLakewood area “but also a youthful customer that comes from a fairly wide area around that intersection,” he says. “certainly, Fuzzy’s matchesthat.Peoplewhohavenever been to our center will eat there, and then notice other stuff.”
That’s why the Tudors wanted to place the restaurant’s main door on the west side, encouraging people to park in the core of the shopping center. So when the taco shop has lines every day for lunch
“CONSTRUCTION STARTS THURSDAY ON HUGE NORTHDALLAS CENTER”
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, JUNE 27, 1954
Hillside Village was announced as “the largest shopping center in North Dallas or the Park Cities under one ownership, developer W.W. Caruth Jr.” The original village was built on both sides of Abrams north of Mockingbird (the west side of Mockingbird is now called Mockingbird Commons), and included300,000square feet of space plus parking. The larger section on the east side was built to accommodate 35 stores, including two supermarkets, a large independent drug store, and a super service station on the corner.
The areaaroundHillside Village was “in the highest income bracket in Greater Dallas, and one of the fastest growing,” according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Caruth estimated thatthe village would eventually serve 25,000area residents north to Northwest Highway and east to White Rock Lake.
“HILLSIDE TO OBSERVE FIRST YEAR”
DALLAS MORNING NEWS,APRIL 12, 1956
Hillside Village’s 30 merchants celebrated the shoppingcenter’s firstanniversaryin April 1956 with a Saturday night drawing of merchant prizes, each worth $25 or more. The prizes ranged “from paint to mattresses, from movie cameras to ice cream.” Within the first year, the stores were spread over 12 acres with 130,000 square feet of retail space, and T.B. Timbs, assistant to Hillside developer W.W. Caruth, noted that “to date, there are no building vacancies in the center.”
Hillside Village businesses participating in the celebration included: John Cobb’s Hillside Village Drugs; Fritz’s Paint Store, Community SewingShop;Direct MattressCompany; A&P Super Market; Owens Brothers Jewelry; Super Tex Camera Store; Ches-Lee; Conkling’s Youth Fashions; Davenport’s 5 cents to $1 Store; Home’s Hillside Store; Williams-Logue Carpets; Reed Hardware; Beck’s Fried Chicken;Village Man’s Shop; Polly Dupont; Clinton’s Shoes; Jo Jo Toys; Flowers Galore and Garden Center; Ford’s Ben Franklin Store; Hillside Village Barbers; Linda’s Beauty Shop; Evan’s Food Mart No. 2; Lee’s TelevisionRecords Shop; Eames Ice Cream; Village Grill & Restaurant;White Star Laundry; Drew’s Supermarket; Pat Carbone’s Humble Station; and Mrs. Northcutt’s Dress Shop.
“CITY’SBIGGEST SUPERMARKET SCHEDULES OPENING TODAY”
DALLAS MORNING NEWS,MARCH 1, 1955
When Hillside Village A&P opened in the shopping center, it was “Dallas’ largest supermarket” at the time with 15,000 square feet. The new store was “designed to serve shoppers west of White Rock Lake and in the Lakewood, Skillman and Greenville Avenue neighborhoods.”
“CARUTHSCHEDULED TO OPEN HILLSIDE”
DALLAS MORNING NEWS,MARCH 31, 1955
When Caruth envisioned Hillside Village, he had already developed Inwood Village and Park Cities Village on Mockingbird at Central. A profile on Caruth soon after Hillside opened noted that “his Inwood Village has long been regarded as a model among the nation’s shopping centers, and in 1952 his Park Cities Village won the national award from the home builders’ organization.” When completed, Hillside Village was “expected to surpass any of the others in size and perfection because of improvements dictated by knowledge gained from the development of the earlier shopping centers.”
The profile also describes Caruth as “a champion of proper zoning” but “he nevertheless realizes that too often certain zoning legislation is enacted with little forethought to its eventual effect on development of specific areas within a community, and sometimes, development of the community itself.” and is crowded on weekends from open ’til close, customers are more likely to notice the shoe repair shop next door, which should result in more business.
And it has. Heather Green, who coownsRicoHillside Shoe Service with her husband, Francisco Rico, says their shop is getting new business because of restaurant and retail traffic.
“The shopping center is always full, so it attracts attention to other businesses that have been around awhile.”
Adding casual restaurants with patios onthatcornerhaspushedtheretail center into a new era, the Tudors say. It’s a focal point that draws people driving or cycling to and from White Rock Lake. Brokers have begun paying attention, too the Twinrose phones ring every day with calls about the center, they say.
That’s good news for the investors, who regularly contact the Tudors with their two cents.
“Some of our investors live in Lakewood, and many of them live in the city of Dallas,” Rebecca Tudor says. “They shop at this property, and they call us and tell us what they like and don’t like. It really makes it much more personal.”
The local ownership contributes to the retail strategy, such as the push to open the shopping center to more local entrepreneurs. Judging by the profile of new tenants, that strategy has been successful.
Butluckalsoplayed a partinthe shopping center’s recent revival. And in Hillside Village’s case, luck showed up in the form of an unlikely helper — the recession.
Visitors to Hillside Village may attest to the center being busier now than it was three or four years ago.
“Some of my customers have a hard time finding a parking space,” says Cindy Taylor, who owns Hillside Beauty Salon, which opened with the center in the ’50s.
Buttheshoppingcenteris86percent leased today, compared to 100 percentleasedwhenTwinrosepurchased it.However, only 19 of the 34 tenants occupying the center in 2007 still remain. Many of the stores that vacated “were just a casualty of the economy,” Rebecca Tudor says, “and allowed us to accelerate our plan, which was to re-tenant it slightly over time.”
Newretailconstructionscreechedto a halt after the 2008 bank failures, and Twinrose waited out 2009, which “was just not a leasing year,” Jim Tudor says.
Carpet Brands
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By the following year, however, retailers and restaurants had begun focusing on existing shopping centers with open space.
The result at Hillside Village was “lemonade out of lemons,” Rebecca Tudor says.
Theysqueezedmoresmall-business space out of the center as part of the transition.Roughly half of the party supply store became Tuesday Morning; the other half was divided into two spaces that may someday become a bike shop or some sort of furnishings store, Jim Tudor says, or perhaps be split up into multiple service shops.Theoriginal9,500-square-footTuesdayMorningspacewilleventually be carved into multiple spaces, too, they say, just like the single Blockbuster store became three spaces.
Large spaces are usually sought after by large companies, which have an easier time paying the corresponding rent. But national companies have become less aggressive because of the recession. And in a central city area such as our neighborhood, the value of space goes up, Jim Tudor says, and “there are a lot more local tenants that can get into a location if you make it smaller.”
The Weitzman Group has leased several former Blockbuster spaces, and “there definitely is a trend to reworking some of these spaces” with more than one tenant, Pierce says.
WHITE taste of 2011 ROCK
a Dinner Club featuring locally-owned Restaurants & Supporters of the Lake
Cafe Lago Trinity Hall Irish Pub Bangkok City Terilli’s Mexico Lindo Angelo’s Lakewood’s 1st & 10 Another Broken Egg Cafe Lakewood Tavern Barbec’s Roma’s Sol’s Nieto Mexican Grille White Rock Sports Bar & Grill
■ Price is $10
■ Buy one meal, get 2nd of equal or lower value FREE! (some restrictions apply)
■ Valid Jan 2 - Oct 31, 2011
■ For coupon books call the Peninsula Neighborhood Association at 972.533.1144 or stop by The Green Spot at Buckner & Northcliff, or the service desk at any of these Albertsons: Casa Linda, Mockingbird & Abrams, or E Northwest Hwy & Ferndale sponsored in part by the Advocate Magazines benefitting White Rock Lake & Local Neighborhood Associations
The former Blockbuster space in Hillside Village is “right there on the street, great visibility,”Piercesays.“Alotofthose Blockbuster spaces tended to be one of the best spaces in any given shopping center, which explains why you’re seeing some really strong tenants backfill them.”
Smaller tenants also give Hillside Village “more diverse offerings, a little more congestion,” and “a much more urban feel,” Rebecca Tudor says.
Certainly, the Tudors and other Hillside investors are pleased with what has happened in such a short amount of time, especiallyconsideringhowsomeother real estate investors have fared in recent years. But “we do still consider it a work in progress,” Jim Tudor says. Twinrose is interested in one more restaurant adjacent to either Abrams or Mockingbird and is on the lookout for other shops that would bring something new to the center.
“We’retryingtoanticipatenotjust where Lakewood and Lake Highlands and the Greater East Dallas area is today,” Rebecca Tudor says, “but where it is going to be in 20 years.”
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