The Skillman shuffle

There’s been a lot of buzz about the shopping center on Skillman between Live Oak and Oram, much of which was bought by Austin-based investing firm Stonelake Capital Partners a couple of years back. Seems like every time we turn around, someone else is moving out or moving in. Amid a flurry of rumors, it’s hard to pin down Stonelake’s grand plans for the place, but the surrounding neighbors have one request — for the love of Pete, no more restaurants, please.

What’s the latest?

Back in December 2012, Austin-based co ee shop Houndstooth announced it would open a location in Lakewood at the southeast corner of Skillman and Oram. Houndstooth owner and Dallas native Sean Henry planned to play into the rising trend of o ering local brews as well as co ee.

However, someone already occupied that particular corner: Gallery Central, a custom-framing store that had been there for 23 years.

In 2011 Stonelake Capital Partners purchased the strip of shops on the east side of Skillman between Oram and La Vista, where Gallery Central was located, as well as the old Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage building on northeast corner of Skillman-Oram and the retail triangle at Skillman-Live Oak that houses Wine Therapist, CrossFit White Rock and The Mecca.

With Houndstooth moving in, Gallery Central owner Ste anie Smith says Stonelake told her she had to move out to make room for the new java joint.

“They were nice enough, but it was obvious this is a numbers game,” Smith said at the time.

Smith didn’t have to move far. Stonelake began preparing a spot for her behind her longtime location. It was a little out of sight, but at least it was in the same shopping center. Smith had to move out by January so Houndstooth could begin setting up shop. By February, it was obvious things were moving a little slower than planned for Houndstooth, but Gallery Central still moved out.

Smith opened in her new location in April. Visitors can access Gallery Central through the back parking lot, between Sunstone Yoga and the playground for the East Dallas Developmental Center.

“I like the space — it’s open and it’s bigger — but business has really slowed down because we don’t have the window spot on the street,” Smith says. “We were supposed to be closed two weeks, but because we had to be out over there before this one was finished, we were closed three months, so that really hurt us.”

Now, more than nine months after Houndstooth announced its plans to move to Lakewood, the location at the corner of Oram and Skillman is still co eeless.

“It’s been very frustrating,” Smith says. “I could have been there all along; everybody would have been happy.”

So where in the world is Houndstooth? Last time we talked with Henry, in March, he said the project was on hold while he dealt with “unexpected issues,” but he wouldn’t elaborate on what the issues were. At the time, he said he was unsure of the future, although he did say he still wanted to open a Houndstooth in that location. Henry hasn’t responded to interview requests since March.

Neither has Stonelake responded to multiple interview requests, but in June, someone who answered the phone in the front o ce told us that “[Houndstooth] is not going in, but we have not closed them o from coming.” At press time, the former Gallery Central space still sat vacant.

Next door, at 1926 Skillman, the East Dallas Developmental Center (EDDC) is slated to move across Oram into the old Coldwell Banker building in September.

Like their neighbor, the EDDC team was asked to move by Stonelake, but this time the move is actually working in the childcare center’s favor, says EDDC spokeswoman Lexi Harper. The center is gaining extra square footage, a quiet, fenced-in play area, more parking, a safer entrance and exits for the kiddos, and a fresh start in a newly renovated building. Stonelake tried to rezone the Coldwell Banker building last year from a neighborhood service district to commercial retail zoning (which, among other things, could’ve been a restaurant, or even a fast-food chain), but neighbors intervened and put a stop to the zoning change.

Harper says the EDDC plans to move on Sept. 19, so is in the process of renovating and fundraising now.

EDDC has been a fixture in East Dallas for more than 30 years and in that time has educated hundreds of children, from 6 weeks to 5 years old. The waitlist to get into the school is long, so this expansion is much needed, Harper says.

The Wine Therapist, which has occupied the corner of Skillman and Live Oak for nine years, also is relocating. The Wine Therapist’s lease is up Oct. 31, and owner Phillip Nikpour says Stonelake raised his monthly rent to almost $10,000, so he couldn’t stay. Nikpour will move across the street into what used to be Lakewood Consignment, between Goldrush Cafe and Ralph Austin Jewelers. Stonelake does not own the strip of shops on the west side of Skillman.

If all goes as Nikpour plans, the Wine Therapist will re-open in November, but first Nikpour has to make a few renovations to the building, which he says is a “really lovely space with a wrought-iron railed staircase and high ceilings.”

Finally, Chip’s Hamburgers is opening in the building behind Matt’s Rancho Martinez in what used to be Paperbacks Plus. Chip’s co-owner Brent Gampster says the family-owned, Dallas-based restaurant chain hopes to open the new Lakewood location sometime in mid-September.

The layout of the restaurant is going to be significantly di erent than any of the other Chip’s, Gampster says.

“This is the first time we’ve gotten to design a building that was really just a shell,” he says. “In all the other places, we’ve gone into what was already a restaurant, so we had to work with that. To me, it’ll be a little more upscale but still have a lot of the same features that we’re known for.”

There will be an open kitchen where people can talk with the cooks, like at existing Chip’s locations, but man and La Vista will allow Chip’s to o er more of a cafe-style eating area with big windows, multiple TVs and a full bar.

This location also will feature a separate dessert area where Chip’s will serve pies, sno-cones and, of course, its signature milkshakes.

Chip’s also hopes to put in a patio along La Vista, Gampster says. And like the Chip’s location on Lovers, this one will have a game room for the kids, but instead of being crammed in the front, there’s a separate room for it tucked away in the back.

Gampster says he is working hard to preserve the integrity of the building.

“Even those windows that are coming out with the bookstore stu on them, we’re going to try to incorporate those on the inside,” he says. “You’ll still see the red granite and stu on the outside; all that will stay. We want to keep that Lakewood history inside the building.”

If you build it, they will come

New restaurants inevitably are followed by an influx of parked cars, which is the concern of surrounding neighbors. The Skillman Live Oak Center parking lot is busy enough as it is, so the thought of more restaurants in the area is cringe-worthy, says nearby neighbor Olive Talley.

“We’re looking at Lower Greenville and the parking issues they have, and we don’t want that,” Talley says.

With Houndstooth MIA and the EDDC moving, that leaves a whole lot of potential restaurant-ready space. Talley says she has attempted to reach Stonelake several times to ask about plans for the space, with no success.

Nikpour says Stonelake has shown the Wine Therapist space to restaurants and other wine bars, although so far none has been interested in the space for the price Stonelake is asking.

Trey Knowles, a practicing manager with Metro Paws, says the veterinarian o ce is extremely nervous about the thought of more restaurants coming to the shopping center, especially since they already struggle with the current parking setup.

“With restaurants, people come for an hour or more and stay, and they bring in people from all over who maybe aren’t as understanding of our situation,” he says.

“We had a lady the other day who had an