DTD: Stone Street Gardens
I have eaten at both the Metropolitan and the new Campisis at Stone Street in the past week. Both were more crowded than I expected. Check them out when you have a chance!
How was the Metropolitan? I'm assuming that the Campisi's is up to the standard that the chain normally sets? I've only walked through the development, and it looks great.
A really realy good little New York style Italian restaurant is the one just off a DART station in the downtown mall, I don't remember which, but it's called the "Best Italian Restaurant". Their strombolli is to die for, and their pizza is also of high callibur.
The Metropolitan was good. steaks, burgers, fish, salads.
Campisis.....well we all know the pizza is incredible. Campisis has an unbelievable happy 5-7 $2 beer/wine and FREE pizza!
Wow! I'm defintely going to have to catch one of those.
Yeah...check them out. They are a nice beginning for DT and are already enjoying success.
But my question is....when will we see the next development? Where will it be?
I'd say probably "The Merc". Isn't work supposed to start on that fairly soon? I hope so, that will be a major step for downtown.
FYI - another cafe of some sort is opening up soon next door to campisis soon. Also, Mark and Larry's stuff has been open for a while and seems to be doing well. Good start.
The restaurant that you are speaking of is Cafe Izmir...of lower greenville fame...a great restaurant, and a great addition to downtown I might add!
I originally heard it was going to open in September...but, last I checked it still hasn't opened. Anybody have a clue as to the revised opening date?
Hopefully soon...
Stone Street is coming along very nicely. The restaurants are doing well, Mark & Larry's is busy as well, and hopefully soon the adjoining Praetorian Building's conversion to residential/retail will be underway. Considering the slower economic times this is very good news.
In case you have not seen. Stone Street is completing the constructuion of a newsstand in between the metropolitan and campissis. It will be a nice addition.
I was at Campisi's last night (Wednesday) for happy hour. It was packed.
Anyone got a picture of hte newsstand? I'd love to see it, since I won't be able to get down there at least for a week or two.
A recipe for success in downtown Dallas
Stone Street Gardens eateries wait for retail to catch up
11:04 PM CST on Thursday, March 25, 2004
By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...one.b5ac7.html
Like many a sports fan disappointed with their team's lackluster play, the restaurateurs in the downtown Dallas Stone Street Gardens development are sounding a familiar rallying cry: Just wait 'til next year.
Two years after the first of three casual restaurants took a chance on the brick-inlaid pedestrian walkway that connects Elm and Main streets between Akard and Ervay streets, the restaurant owners have found the pace of additional development to be slow.
They have yet to see the kinds of art galleries, boutiques and clothing shops that they say would help generate post-lunchtime restaurant sales.
"Lunch is always good, depending on the weather," said Ali Nazary, co-owner of Izmir Mediterranean Tapas, which opened on the fern-adorned pedestrian strip a year ago. "But dinner, some nights there's hardly anyone down there. ... There's no attraction down there, that's what we're lacking."
Mr. Nazary, his brother and co-owner Beau, and other family members were honored Thursday by Dallas Mayor Laura Miller for sticking it out thus far. She insisted that they and the other "pioneers" would eventually be rewarded when developments now in the pipeline eventually score with consumers.
Citing the planned April opening of the Iron Cactus restaurant at 1520-22 Main – and the 2005 launch of the boutique Eureka Hotel at 1530 Main, she said that the early settlers "are going to be so happy when people are clamoring for space at ground zero."
An important place
Stone Street is important to the city in its effort to boost the fortunes of the downtown business district. If successful, the city can use it to lure other entrepreneurs into the central business corridor.
"It's important to the city that Stone Street happened," said Karl Stundins, area redevelopment manager for the city of Dallas and the man who oversees the operation of the city's seven tax incremental financing districts, in which tax dollars help offset development costs. Stone Street is part of the City Center TIF.
"It is the first successful purely retail project we have in the downtown core," he said. "This has been the first one that we can look to and say, 'Hey, this is working.' Once you get one successful project, it's going to help us attract other retailers."
Other projects on tap include Kendalls Restaurant, set to open this summer in the Hart Furniture Building on Elm, and up to 28,000 square feet of retail space planned for 1407 Main that also will include 375 public parking spaces.
That strength in future numbers is what's girding the current restaurateurs who, for now, feel the loneliness of being out in front.
"We were the pioneers, and we're catching the arrows," Ali Nazary joked. "Now we need the cavalry. The city needs to give a little help."
The Nazary family – which also owns a restaurant and market-deli on Greenville Avenue – spent more than $150,000 to open Izmir Mediterranean Tapas. That's money they have yet to fully recoup.
"First year's sales were not at all what we expected," he said. "It was off 50 percent from what we expected. But it's coming around."
Like Mr. Nazary, Joe Tillotson has faith in the future, though he's somewhat frustrated with the past. Mr. Tillotson is general partner of Dallas-based City Taverns, the limited partnership that owns the Metropolitan at Stone Street Gardens restaurant on Main Street. That urban contemporary spot, where businessmen wait 20 minutes for a lunch table, is at the opposite end of the walkway from Izmir.
A good start
Opened in August 2002, the restaurant initially benefited both from buzz about the area and nightlife generated by the Umlaut nightclub nearby, Mr. Tillotson said.
"We exceeded our sales expectations greatly" for the first six months, he said.
Early in 2003, after the holiday rush, Mr. Tillotson said he began to notice a drop in sales that continued throughout much of the year.
"We thought that after a cooling off period there would be a second-half kick in 2003, and we did not see that," he said, calling 2003 "an extremely difficult year for us."
And 2004 began with Umlaut closing in January for "renovations and re-concepting," said a spokeswoman, further reducing the nightlife. She said the club will reopen in May or June with a new name.
Meanwhile, the restaurateurs wait for more retail, nightlife and parking. Thus far, the largest Stone Street retailer is Mark & Larry's Stuff, which sells an eclectic collection of home decor items and fashion accessories.
From the city's standpoint, for retailers in the area to be successful, the city had to start by bringing in more residents.
"Most of the neighborhoods around downtown were evacuated," said Mr. Stundins. "There were no people. It would have been impossible to do retail without getting the population base up."
Mr. Stundins said that since 1992, about 14,000 housing units have been added downtown.
Retail recruitment
Next, he said, the city plans to offer incentives to "non-restaurant retail" to locate in the area, through a retail recruitment program.
In addition to increasing the residential population, the city needs to "educate the Dallasite people that it is user friendly to come downtown," said David Campisi, owner of Campisi's at Stone Street Gardens, which opened in June 2002.
Mr. Campisi said the restaurant quadrupled revenue in the first year after moving from Main Street, owing in part to a successful happy hour and a lunch business that accounts for about 70 percent of sales.
Even with his success, he was disappointed about the lack of shopping options. "The retail has not taken off the way I would have expected it to," he said.
For now, the restaurateurs seem content to wait for the reinforcements to arrive.
"It seems like everyone is putting an effort into making downtown a better place," Mr. Nazary said. "It's going to take a while. Maybe six months, maybe more. But definitely for next summer, we're going to be rocking."
E-mail krobinson@dallasnews.com
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
On a related note, we went to Pegaso (our favorite place to eat downtown) last night for dinner and discovered they have stopped serving dinner and are no longer open at all on Saturday and Sunday. I guess they're another victim of downtown's slow development.
That is terrible. My wife and I used to eat there all the time when we lived at the Manor House. It usually had a decent crowd...at least I thought so. That is very disappointing. Where are all the residents The Davis?Originally Posted by Columbus Civil
On a related note, we went to Pegaso (our favorite place to eat downtown) last night for dinner and discovered they have stopped serving dinner and are no longer open at all on Saturday and Sunday. I guess they're another victim of downtown's slow development.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
I'm confused by that statement (one vote for Aceplace and his crusade for word definition and usage consistency). Surely the bulk of the 14,000 housing units are outside of the CBD. The writer's inclusion of this quote is very misleading. It's an error to link the potential success of Stone Street Garden area business with the apt/condo boom in uptown. A more actional statistic to associate with Stone Street would be the number of CBD housing units to have been added since 1992.Mr. Stundins said that since 1992, about 14,000 housing units have been added downtown.
As I noticed this morning, Pegaso is COMPLETELY closed now. Monica was loading up a moving van this afternoon and closing up shop! I think that's one of the biggest tragedies downtown. I hope its only temporary, or that another great restaurant moves in there. It was a wonderfull place.
really? that stinks! I was gonna go to Pegaso.. but decided not to. twice. felt too dressed-down. Anyway.. here are some shots of stone street...
That's really sad that "Monica" shut down Pegaso. It looked very promising, but everytime I walked by, it did look rather empty.
[ xvisionx.com 13 - my photo gallery + journal ] - be sure to check out my new interactive downtown dallas picture map.
Has Campisi's expanded into the old Mark & Larry's space yet?
^ Yep
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
I wasn't real sure where to put this, so I thought I'd mention it here:
If you are in downtown during Happy Hour times (5p-7p), you should definitely hit Campisi's happy hour. They have a pizza buffet with their happy hour that is outstanding - they have some of the best pizza in town, and they just keep bringing it out fresh about every 10-15 minutes or so.
The buffet is free with a 2-drink minimum (otherwise you are charged $5), but Shiner Bock beer is only $2.50/bottle during happy hour. So it's a really good deal overall.
Does Amber ever work a shift there?
Sooo fine. Want to touch the hiney.
Second ... not the hiney part.
Does anyone else count at least 1 and possibly 3 homeless persons in the above photo?
Then you are blind.
I see 2 and smell 4.
Sorry to hijack the thread, but does anyone know what's going on at Stone Street?
I know the west side is doing well, with the theater coming on-line but the east side is nearly dead except for the one pizza joint (not Campisi's the other one, on Main).
There used to be a good little chinese/thai place, and a burger/fried food place that I never tried on the east side. Many, many months ago now they shut down; I assumed the landlord raised rent on them, they couldn't afford it and something new would take their place soon. Instead...nothing. And the buidlings on the east side look like they are falling apart. Any ideas?
(Also, I wish they'd power wash that thing once a week, all the pigeons and trash piling up on the Elm side make it pretty nasty.)
well, like you said, the theater is opening, and if i'm not mistaken, the place you are speaking of is being replaced with another oriental joint of some kind.. can't remember the name.. its short and simple.. someone here will know...
as for the space on the east side / elm. there is something going on.. the other day i noticed the door was open.. i popped in really quick for a look see.. tough to tell what was going on, as no one was there at the time...
other than that, all the spaces that front out on stone street are full if i'm not mistaken..
i agree on the power wash idea.. they do it every now and then, but nowhere near enough.. after i get off work in the morning, i sometimes hit the donut shop right next to tommy's, and the trash that Campisi's leaves on the curb has been completely destroyed by homeless ppl... by destroyed i mean each and every bag has been ripped open and dumped.. sometimes 10-15 huge bags.. now i'm all for a little trash/grit, but this is ridiculous...
I walked past that last night on my way down Main and Elm looking for burnt out lights. It was pretty gross. I had wondered how the homeless stay on the street and eat at the same time. Now I know.
1512 Elm / Woolworth Building (which houses Campisi's) wants to add a balcony along Stone Street for an upper level bar.
Stone Street Gardens developer wants to bring 'entertainment venue' downtown. But he needs a balcony ... and Landmark Commission's OK.
By Robert Wilonsky
11:55 AM on Thu., Mar. 29, 2012
http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/a...ne-street.html
...
According to docs filed with the Landmark Commission, which you'll also find below, Taylor now wants to make a significant change to the old Woolworth's. As you can see above, he wants to put a balcony on the second floor in order to accommodate "an entertainment club" that wants to lease out the space above Campisi's. The balcony would also serve as a canopy for Campisi's, complete with ceiling fans needed to cool down folks trying to dine beneath the summer sun.
As Taylor told me this morning, "We have a great tenant from the West End district, an entertainment venue, where they have comedy, jazz and various acts every night. We hope to draw from the hotel crowds and folks who might want to eat at Campisi's, and we think a balcony would be a fabulous draw to make that a very exciting area again."
Taylor took the project to Landmark for a courtesy review, to get its OK before spending time and money generating plans for something the commission might not approve. And Landmark's task force gave Stone Street Garden the proverbial okee-doke. But as you'll see below, city staff isn't ready to give its blessing: "Staff recommends that the balcony/porch addition is not added due to the fact that the preservation criteria prohibits horizontal additions to the main building."
...
The historic preservation criteria stating no horizontal extension is weak at best. With the historic buildings on the other side of Stone being turned into an empty lot, Campisi's is going to need something to continue the sense of place.... besides, balconies in a pedestrian cut-through like this are fantastic for ambiance. Heddington is probably all in favor of this balcony, since it will buoy whatever replaces Praetorian etc.
Agreed. Being on the side of the building, it shouldn't be an issue; it's not cutting into the building or very visible from Elm Street. The suggestions seem to ask for a more simplified design so as to distinguish it from the original building. It should be a great addition and will help make the ground level patio space more enjoyable (and useable year-round). While they are at it, I hope it incentivizes the owners to turn on the fountain, fix the landscaping and reopen the kiosk.
^Couldn't they add that into the conditions for approval? Or the city could make those kind of requests when awarding approval for construction couldn't they?
Cause your right Stone Street needs a little maintenance work from both sides. It was such a popular spot when it originally opened mostly because there was almost no real competition downtown for this kind of restaurant retail space for pedestrians. Now that there is so many other good restaurants downtown Stone Street needs to keep things up if they want to maintain a competitive edge.
Last edited by cowboyeagle05; 29 March 2012 at 03:04 PM.
There is a fountain? Had no idea.
Yes, over by the ice cream stand. I've never seen it running in the 6 years I've worked downtown.
I'll have to take a look when I walk through there next time. Thanks!
I like the look of the proposed balcony above Campisi's.
I hope they approve this. Preserving history is great, but like what was stated above, its a minor addition to the outside of the building that should not effect it much history wise. It also enhances the building to bring in more business and to help this area.
RAIN! To....much.....rain.....
Wow... i think this really says something about Downtown if that business is wanting to move from West End... Though now much is going on in west end at the moment.
Here's the former fountain:
IMG_1109.jpg
That's the thing that Dallas needs to get rid of. In my opinion, that fountain is a piece of crap, to put it politely.
FYI the balcony received Landmark approval today.
Why is it a piece of crap? When it's running it's really nice and doesn't take up valuable room in the plaza. When it's running which it hasn't for awhile, people sit by and enjoy the cooler atmosphere. It also helps mask some of the city noise when it's running. It's not the cities job to take care of it either I guess the developer felt it was too expensive to repair or maintain once some of the shine of Stone Street wore off. It's sad that owners let infrastructure like this fall to the wayside cause it only makes their property look worse and more run down.
It is a piece of crap not because it is a fountain, I know and fully support the benefits of urban fountains. Rather, because, well need I say? It looks like a DIY project infused with metal piping, not to mention the horrendous drain. This just looks like a cheap after-thought. Perhaps if I were to visit in person when fully operating it may not look so bad.
I remember seeing the fountain run way back when, It actually added some atmosphere and pleasing ambient noise.
RAIN! To....much.....rain.....
So you have a personal distaste for its design aesthetic, I was just checking to see if you had another reason. I also have a personal distaste for the design of the fountains at Main Street Gardens so I guess tomato, tomato then.
Yes, of course you have the right to your dislikes as well. Speaking of MSG fountains, those boulders remind me of coffins. They should have been more careful about their shape.
Took this photo yesterday.
Wow, beautiful ambiance. Not.
Yeah. But it looks temporary.
To shield you from debris when they tear up ol Praetorian
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