BUSINESS BUZZ

The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses

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La Paisanita taqueria opens at West Davis and Adams

The second Paisanita has opened in north Oak Cliff and is different from its counterpart at West Davis and Ravinia. Located in a renovated former laundromat, the new Paisanita is not just a taco stand where customers order at the counter and wait for someone to hand out tacos in a plastic basket or paper bag. At the Paisanita on Adams, customers can either order takeout, or sit at a table or booth and order from the small, simple menu — tacos, gorditas, tortas, breakfast plates. Dine in, and a waiter will bring a basket of thick chips, served with a warm habanero salsa, which will make a thin sweat break out over your scalp. It will make you sniffle. It’s so good.

Zoning change approved for Sylvan Thirty

City Council has approved Oaxaca Partners’ request for a zoning change that will allow 70-foot tall buildings, among other considerations. A few people spoke against the zoning change, including Belmont Hotel owner Monte Anderson and Fort Worth Avenue Development Group president David Lyles. Opponents of the plan say the city should not be making changes to the planned development district, put in place about 10 years ago to define what type of developments neighbors wanted for Fort Worth Avenue.

Brent Jackson of Oaxaca says he now is working to finalize construction drawings, and then site work can begin. It should be about three to four months before building starts. Cox Farms Market, anchor tenant for Sylvan Thirty, had been slated to open in November 2012. That’s still the official date, but Jackson says it is likely to take several months longer. So neighbors could be looking at early 2013 for Cox Farms in Oak Cliff.

Pedestrian-friendly, live-work concept planned for Fort Worth Avenue

Cielo Realty Partners has shown off its plans for the former Colorado Place site on Fort Worth Avenue, and they include some unique amenities for the mixed-use development. The site has been vacant since the old apartments on both sides of Fort Worth Avenue were demolished and the new plans could mean that a proposed Walmart-lite strip shopping center is now gone for good. The new development is called The Collective, and the name plays off the collaborative interaction between the 320 apartments, retail space, artist studios, commissary kitchen, community garden, dog park and innovative office arrangements. Cielohopes the configuration of the development will lead to weekend markets with food and art, work”lifestyle and pedestrian-oriented activities. Ground-breaking is planned for May, with a 22-month construction schedule.

Dine in, and a waiter will bring a basket of thick chips, served with a warm habañero salsa, which will make a thin sweat break out over your scalp. It will make you sniffle. It’s so good.

More business bits

Smoke chef Tim Byres is opening a restaurant called ChickenScratch in the old Jack’s Backyard space. It will serve rotisserie and pan-fried chicken. A bar called The Foundry will be next door. Bolsa’s sister market concept, Bolsa Mercado, is now open in the former Kemp Garage space on West Davis. The Kings Highway Conservation District has launched a new website, kingshwy.org, that features community forums and blogs. Urban Acres market has cut back its hours. The store is now open from 12-6 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday, and is closed Monday-Thursday.

Get In Contact

La Paisanita 440 W. DAVIS 214.942.0000

Sylvan Thirty SYLVANTHIRTY.COM

Smoke 901 FT. WORTH 214.393.4141

SMOKERESTAURANT.COM

Bolsa Mercado 634 W. DAVIS 214.942.0451

BOLSADALLAS.COM

Urban Acres 1301 W. DAVIS 469.248.2270

URBANACRES.WORDPRESS.COM

Bolsa Mercado more business buzz every week on

Real estate agents Jenni Stolarski and Robb Puckett in January announced a business partnership, specializing in Oak Cliff residential property. They are now the Puckett Stolarski Real Estate Team of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty.

Community

Art Conspiracy raised $30,000 for Musical Angels in November. The charity provides music lessons to children in Dallas-area hospitals. Its founder and president, Dr. Gustavo A. Tolosa, called the donation “one of the highest points in Musical Angels’ history.” Over the past seven years, Art Conspiracy has raised $140,000 for charities through its annual auction.

The Old Oak Cliff Conservation League has elected new officers with Phil Levin of Hampton Hills stepping in as president. Other officers are: Alicia Quintans of Beckley Club Estates, secretary; Annmarie Winston of Kings Highway, treasurer; Michele Cox of Kessler Plaza, executive vice president; Sherry Peel of Kessler Park, vice president for neighborhoods; Judy Pollack of Oak Park Estates, vice president for membership; Lybo Buchanan of Kings Highway, vice president for communications; and Michael Amonett of Sunset Hill, past president.

The Sunset Hill neighborhood is reorganizing its neighborhood association at a meeting Feb. 7 at Calvary Baptist Church. The area was established in 1911, and Dallas annexed it in 1915.

The Fort Worth Avenue Development Group donated $15,000 and raised an additional $10,000 in donations to design and implement bike lanes along the West Dallas thoroughfare. The bike lanes will run along Fort Worth Avenue and West Commerce, from Colorado to Beckley. The two miles of bike lanes is part of an effort to “assist the city in developing bicycle infrastructure within the next six months,” as recommended in the Dallas Bike Plan.

Education

Dallas ISD invited a nonprofit, Reading Partners, to help elementary school students in kindergarten through second-grade improve their reading skills. It is recruiting tutors to help one-on-one with students at Roger Q. Mills Elementary. To get involved, contact Ashley Richard at 214.980.8232 or arichard@readingpartners.org.

High school seniors and their parents are invited to attend college financial aid workshops hosted by Education is Freedom. The workshops are from 4-8 p.m. on the following days: Townview Magnet Center, Feb. 1 and 2; Sunset High School, Feb. 16; Molina High School, Feb. 23; Kimball High School, Feb. 10; Adamson High School, Feb. 7.

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