DALLAS — This story was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the full version here.
The redevelopment of the Shops at RedBird is approaching another major milestone. But the chase for a grocery tenant is proving elusive after plans crumbled for a Tom Thumb in the southern Dallas project.
The project revamping the roughly 107-acre mall property off West Camp Wisdom Road is nearing the end of its first phase. Phase one of the development included upgrades to the west wing of the property and saw tenants including nonprofits Vogel and Crossroads Community Services move into the complex.
In addition to working on the west and north wings of the site, Peter Brodsky, the developer for the Shops at RedBird, and his team continue to pursue a grocery tenant for the mall. Tom Thumb originally was slated to move into a roughly 50,000-square-foot space in the complex and generate at least 90 jobs, but Albertsons Cos., which owns the chain, last year decided not to move forward with the store and pulled out of an incentives agreement with the city. The store would have activated the west side of the property and joined tenants including Dallas College and UT Southwestern.
The Shops at RedBird team is talking to every grocery store out there, Brodsky said, but consolidation in the industry and the expansive growth across North Texas can make it hard to stand out. Still, Brodsky said he isn’t giving up on showing that the RedBird community deserves and can afford a high-quality grocery store.