Downtown Kroger

[Columbus Civil]

I was talking to a downtown business owner last night, and he informed me that Kroger is planning a downtown location. He told me where it was going to be, but I wasn't exactly clear what the exact location was...around Elm and Akard, I think (not really sure). From what I understand, it is going to go take up two stories of an existing building. I haven't seen anything mentioned about it here yet, so I'm guessing that it's a fairly new development. Does anyone have any information on this?

[bloodandpopcorn]

Any official news on this? I may email Kroger and see if they have anything to say on it... If this is true, this is awesome and just what Downtown is desperately needing!

[GarrettCarey]

I sure hope they announce it soon. I imagine that would help generate some more excitement, development, and interest in the area.

[CTroyMathis]

We have got to get a good-sized grocery store like this in Dallas' downtown! I wish I knew something more about this, but, alas- I don't. If anyone gets information, post it! This is a major stepping stone...

[metrosteve]

I have e-mailed Kroger Corporate and asked them to verify this matter. Have not received a reply yet but I imagine they have quite a backlog of customer correspondence. If I get a response, I'll post it immediately along with anything else helpful to our cause in regards to a major grocery store IN downtown proper.

[bloodandpopcorn]

Awesome! I look forward to hearing what you can find out. I really hope this is true.

[GarrettCarey]

Hungry for an urban grocery
10/25/2002 - DMNews

By CHERYL HALL LEVERAGE / The Dallas Morning News

Never has the prospect of a grocery store caused such giddy anticipation.

No, we're not talking about another Central Market. This hullabaloo is about a proposed supermarket in the heart of downtown Dallas.

Plans are moving forward to turn an asphalt parking lot on Main Street into a public parking garage with 140 residences on top and retail space at street level. The crown jewel is going to be a 30,000-square-foot grocery designed for urban dwellers.

Don't expect this to be your typical Albertson's, says Alice Murray, part of the team putting together the mixed-use (and government-subsidized) project. Rather, she envisions a hybrid of Eatzi's with more staples.

And guess what? Several purveyors have shown initial interest.

"Every time I say 'grocery store,' people suddenly don't give a damn that I'm doing lofts," laughs Ms. Murray, who also plans to build 60 luxury apartments in the Gulf States Building next door. "It's the biggest news of all time."

From her viewpoint, this is no hyperbole. To get residents to move into projects downtown, they have to be able to buy food without driving to the suburbs.

Ms. Murray knows this firsthand. She helped redevelop the Kirby Building into loft apartments and now lives there.

Landing a grocery store is just one initiative of Downtown Partnership Inc., a nonprofit organization of property owners formed last year to revitalize the six-block center of downtown.

The problem has always been which comes first: residents or retail.

The partnership wants to forget the question. It's uniting residential, entertainment, parking and public space as one concerted package.

Drugstore interest


Nancy Hormann recently came on board as executive director to spearhead this effort. Two months into her job, she has other news to report.
While she won't name names, two drugstores are vying for ground-level retail space in a new parking garage slated for Commerce Street between Neiman Marcus and the Magnolia Building.

"We're also in negotiations with three bookstores looking at three different locations," says Ms. Hormann, who previously led the redevelopment of historic downtown Sacramento. "We haven't gotten any of the three to pull the trigger yet, but I'm positive that will happen."

She says that Dallas has the same ingredients that turned Sacramento's bowling-alley streets into after-work hives of activity.

Progress on downtown's residential front is remarkable, she notes, with 1,300 housing units built, 258 under construction and 350 more on the drawing board. That's nowhere near the critical mass needed, she says, but it's a long stride in the right direction.

If you haven't been downtown on a weekend night lately, you might be shocked by hordes of pedestrians and traffic jams as urbanites head to restaurants and bars.

"I live on the top of the Kirby," says Ms. Murray, "and when I look down on Main Street, it's total gridlock after 10 o'clock on any given Thursday, Friday or Saturday."

Nightlife in the dead zone? Who'da thunk it?

Well, Ms. Hormann, for one.

"So many downtowns go through revitalization plans, and they look for everybody else to solve their problems," says Ms. Hormann, who also spent four years with the International Downtown Association helping other cities implement such projects. "The only downtowns that work are those where the private sector comes together and gets it done.

"They are so together here; this is going to work."

Nothing but Neiman's


Ms. Hormann remembers her first visit to Dallas as a conventioneer in 1989. She had grown up in Los Angeles and thought of Big D as Neiman Marcus and the world's best shopping.
She was shocked to find nothing but Neiman's downtown.

"We don't have to change perceptions of people outside of Dallas. We just need to give them what they think is here," says Ms. Hormann. "We do have to change the perception of people in the metroplex by giving them a dose of what's happening."

Won't it be ironic if the key to that turnaround turns out to be a grocery store?

[freewaytincan]

It would...just one...

Whereas we now have nineteen (as of this coming spring) from Spring Valley to Plano Parkway on Coit...sad, sad, sad...

[gc]

Anything new here? When this happens, things will boom in DTD..........in my opinion.

[Houstonrush]

Houston just got a Randalls Downtown. It is very nice. You park under the store in a parking garage and it is surrounded by huge live oak trees.

[gc]

Good for Houston and their continuous efforts to improve life in the CBD. Hey houstonrush, can you direct me to a link that talks about the new Randalls? I would apprecite it.

[gc]

I was thinking today about the prospective development of a large downtown grocery store. I know this has been covered to some extent in this thread and others.....but how important is it to have one?

How close are grocery stores in the suburbs? People drive to the grocery store everywhere you go. Here in the urban core there are several large grocery stores that are about the same distance from people's homes as their suburban counterparts. For example, Alberstons on Mckinney Avenue, Kroger and Tom Thumb(?) on Cedar Springs, and Fiesta in East Dallas to name a few. Besides, do we want shopping carts being pushed around the sidewalks of DTD? I think not.

Now having said that, I think it would be more beneficial for downtown to target smaller market type stores (i.e. Main Street Market). A bakery, a butcher, the farmer's market, etc are more ideal (to me).

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

[crescentboi]

I agree and disagree.

I don't want carts being pushed all over the streets. But I do want something larger than Main Street Market, which seems to me to be a partial dollar store. The idea is to walk there, get what you need and then walk back. In DC, there is a store in the adams morgan area where there is no parking except for street parking. people walk in, grab their stuff and go, but there's a large enough selection that you could get whatever you need, but just on a smaller scale. know what i mean?

also i don't know if anyone here has seen one (i wish i would have taken a picture of it) but i saw a stand in dc where you could by the BASIC groceries, cigs, film, toilet paper and an atm all in one. the cool thing was that no one worked there, it was all mechanical. insert a cc or cash and a "arm" grabs the product and sets it down and then you grab it! it's the coolest thing ever. that would be great here in dallas.