BUSINESS BUZZ

The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses

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Davis-to-Jefferson connection

A $42-million mixed-use development is expected to connect Bishop Arts to Jefferson Boulevard. The project, from California-based developer Farrokh Nazerian and son Michael, comprises about 4.5 acres. They are planning 218 apartments with an underground parking garage, as well as 26,670 square feet of retail and office space. It is expected to be two stories along Bishop and Melba, and increase to four stories toward Madison and Ninth. The developer is seeking $5-million Tax Increment Financing reimbursement for the project, which is the first of two phases. The $5 million would pay for sidewalks, street trees and lights, improved water and sewer lines and burying power lines. The developer would provide 30 public parking spaces and some affordable apartments. About 43 of the apartments would be available for 15 years to people earning no more than 80 percent of the Dallas median income, currently about $45,000 for a family of four.

More West Dallas rooftops

Three hundred more apartments are coming to West Dallas, near Trinity Groves, plus a homebuilder is planning 60 new homes near the Belmont Hotel. PSW real estate, the Austin-based company that has two new-home developments underway in Oak Cliff, owns a 5-acre lot at Seale and Willomet with plans to build homes comprising 1,700-1,800 square feet each and selling for about $300,000. Developer StreetLights

Residential and Stonelake Capital Partners are adding more apartments to the neighborhood, on a 25-acre tract near Singleton and Sylvan. They are planning a four-story complex of about 300 apartments, called Trinity Village. The project also includes forsale homes and a park.

More business bits

New restaurants

A new restaurant is coming to the Bishop Arts District space vacated by the Book Doctor. Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. could open at 310 W. Seventh by the end of the year with a menu focused on cheese and bread. “Everybody’s got a memory of grilled cheese,” says Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. partner Mack Simpson. Expected offerings include American cheese on Texas toast, “with a PBR,” says Simpson, or brie with pears and walnuts on French baguette, for example. Simpson and partners Diana Ezzell and Glen Shank are still working out the menu. Restaurateur Victor Hugo opened a new restaurant, VH, in the former Outpost American Tavern space. The menu includes sweet potato Johnny cakes with blue crab, mango and sweet corn relish; duck and goat cheese taquitos with avacado crema; and baconwrapped pork tenderloin. Entrees cost $15$24. Hugo is from California and has lived in Dallas since 2008. He previously worked as manager of Al Bernait’s and general manager of Bistro 31. VH is open for lunch, happy hour and dinner Tuesday-Sunday.

1115 N. Beckley, 214.946.1308 vhrestaurant.com

1 Baylor Rehab is renovating a former funeral home at 222 E. Colorado, according to construction permits. 2 The Bank Tower at Oak Cliff is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Exhibits in the lobby show clothing trends over the past 50 years, a 1965 Corvette Stingray and art related to JFK and 9/11, among other themes. 3 Construction is expected to begin early next year on the Oak Cliff Streetcar from Beckley at Colorado to Zang at Seventh.

Transportation

New signs on Colorado and Zang warn cyclists to the dangers of slipping a wheel into the new streetcar tracks. Several bike riders have been injured since the tracks were constructed. Experienced cyclists recommend riding single file to the right of the tracks — riding between the rails is a bad idea. And make sharply angled turns across the tracks.

City hall

Most of Oak Cliff’s recreation centers and libraries will be open longer due to increased funding from the city. The Kidd Springs and Kiest Park rec centers will be open longer. And the North Oak Cliff and Hamtpon-Illinois libraries will be open seven days a week starting next year.

Education

Mountain View College opened a teaching and community garden in August with a $128,824 grant from Wells Fargo. The garden will host community workshops on growing, cooking, nutrition, composting and rainwater harvesting, among other topics. The college will make 24 of its beds available to the community for $50 a year each. The remainder of the beds will be used as part of classes.

Mountain View College will receive $345,377 in grants via the Texas Workforce Commission to train 133 workers for jobs in logistics. Texas-based packaged salad company Fresh Express and logistics companies First Co., E.A. Sween Co. and OHL contributed the grants. The job-training programs will result in 25 upgraded jobs and about 100 new jobs paying an average of around $24 an hour.

La Rondalla, the free music school at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center, needs help staying open. The program offers free classes taught by professional musicians to Oak Cliff school children. They need about $15,000 to pay for the fall semester. Search La Rondalla on indiegogo. com to contribute to the fundraising campaign.

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