Renovation project on one side of the street hurt retailers, but Hunky’s impending move, new businesses give gayborhood a brighter outlook
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| NEW LOOK | Workers paint the outside of TapeLenders Video on Tuesday, Nov. 17. The renovations are expected to be complete by the end of November. (John Wright/Dallas Voice) |
It’s been a tough year for retailers on the Cedar Springs strip, but Scott Whittall is optimistic that things are looking up heading into the holidays.
Whittall, co-owner of Buli Café and president of the Cedar Springs Merchants Association, said retailers on the strip have been hurt by a major renovation project on one side of the street between Reagan and Throckmorton streets, which has closed off the sidewalk and blocked parking spaces over the last several months.
Other factors hurting the retailers include continuing redevelopment and demographic changes in the surrounding neighborhood, rainy weather and, of course, the ongoing recession, Whittall said.
But he noted that the newly renovated sidewalk on the north side of the street is now fully reopened. Meanwhile, Hunky’s is preparing to move into the old Crossroads Market, and two new businesses have come on line in recent weeks a few blocks away at the mixed-used development ilume.
"It got rough there during the summer, but I think we’re just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel," Whittall said this week, adding that he estimates 2009 sales at Buli Café are down 10-15 percent from last year.
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| Rick Barton |
Whittall encouraged people to consider doing some of their holiday shopping on Cedar Springs.
"I think the main thing is we’ve got to get the word out that we are the lifeblood of the gay population, this is their street," Whittall said. "Yes, there are other areas, but remember where your heart is. We need everybody to continue to support us during our transition period.
"I know that people don’t need a gay street anymore," Whittall added. "They have to want it now instead of need it."
Rick Barton, owner of Hunky’s, said this week that he now hopes to move the iconic burger joint from its current location to the site of the old Crossroads Market sometime in January. Barton originally intended to move in November, but he said there’s been a delay in obtaining permits from the city.
Barton noted that retail sales are down everywhere, not just on the strip. But he said he wouldn’t be moving Hunky’s to the new location if he didn’t believe in the future of the street.
"That’s my Christmas wish, that all this is going to come back soon," Barton said.
A crew began finish work on the inside of the new Hunky’s this week, Barton said.
Outside, another crew appeared to be wrapping up façade work on the Center, which stretches from Throckmorton Street to the other side of the Round-Up Saloon.
The sidewalk and façade improvements began in July and were originally scheduled to be complete in early October, but reportedly were delayed in large part by wet weather.
Peter Deinken, vice president of Harry B. Lucas Companies, which managers the Center, couldn’t be reached for comment this week. But Deinken said in a voicemail that the sidewalk and façade improvements were "coming along pretty well."
"I think we’re going to be wrapping up most of the physical construction about the end of the month," Deinken said. "We’ll probably have a few little things we have to tie up still, that will take us into at least the first few days of December, but things are starting to look kind of like they should, and hopefully everybody likes the look.
We’ve been getting lots of great comments from our tenants and other people."
Whittall said with the sidewalk and façade improvements wrapping up, the Merchants Association is preparing to order benches and trash receptacles for the street, which represents the first phase in the group’s planned $2.5 million beautification project. The Merchants Association has raised about $36,000 through galas and raffles thus far.
"We haven’t even scratched the surface," he said.
The Merchants Association is working with the city of Dallas to obtain funding for things like cobblestone crosswalks and streetcorners. Meanwhile, private donors and sponsorships are being sought for gateway arches at either end of the strip.
Although the beautification project will eventually stretch from Oak Lawn Avenue to Wycliff Avenue, efforts are currently focused on the area between Reagan and Throckmorton streets.
Whittall said the Merchants Association hopes to eventually win approval for palm trees on the strip, which aren’t currently allowed under the Oak Lawn zoning ordinance.
It’s unclear what potential tenants are being eyed for the Center. Hunky’s will take up only the corner that was once occupied by a coffee shop, leaving at least three additional storefronts for lease.
Whittall said the Merchants Association’s wish list for Cedar Springs includes an art gallery and a flower shop, adding that options are somewhat limited by minimum parking requirements.
Barton said he’s heard rumors that a mom-and-pop burrito restaurant will occupy the site of the old Hunky’s once it moves. George Christ — property manager for the building that also houses Havana, Obscurities (which is currently moving into a storefront facing Cedar Springs) and Hungdinger’s — didn’t return a phone call seeking comment this week.
Whittall expressed concern about rumors that Mickey’s, one of several gay bars on the strip, is in danger of closing.
"That’s the last thing we need is another empty building on Cedar Springs," Whittall said.
Mickey Briggs, owner of Mickey’s, confirmed this week that there’s a possibility the six-year-old establishment will have to close at the end of the year.
Briggs said he needs to retire for health reasons. He also said his landlord wants to significantly increase his rent effective in January.
Briggs said he’s currently looking for someone to buy the business for next to nothing. He said his top priorities are protecting his 12-15 employees and finding a new owner who will support the community.
"I’m trying to look at it from a good standpoint," Briggs said. "I could be negative and say I think I’m the latest victim of landlords raising the rent because of all the development on Cedar Springs. But I’d rather look at it like this is an opportunity for me to retire and for someone else to take over and hopefully continue on and have a great business.
"For me to have to step back from it is really difficult, and the main thing is, what we’ve created here, I want it to continue," he added.
Briggs said he had a potential buyer for Mickey’s lined up, but the deal fell through early this week. He said he hopes that even if another buyer can’t be found by the end of the year, he can extend his lease on a month-to-month basis.
While Briggs blamed new developments like ilume for causing rent
increases and pulling away some customers from existing businesses, most believe ilume will eventually be a boon to the area.
Dish, an upscale bar and restaurant, has been open for a few weeks at ilume, and Red Mango, a popular frozen yogurt chain, opened this week.
Luke Crosland, chairman and CEO of ilume developer the Crosland Group, said the deli/convenience store Beyond the Box is expected to open the first week of December. Crosland said other future retail tenants include Delicatessen, a hip restaurant/lounge that offers international comfort food and currently has two locations in New York City; a sushi place or a restaurant from the chef of Geronimo Restaurant and Coyote Café in Santa Fe, N.M.; and a salon.
Crosland said more than 100 of the 306 planned residential units at ilume are complete, and 60 to 70 percent of them are already occupied, mostly by LGBT residents.
"We ought to have all the retail filled up by June, and I think the property should be fully occupied by June or July," Crosland said. "I’m just real excited that people have received it so well."
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 20, 2009.
“Do we even need a tapelenders with everything online these days.”
You have got to be kidding me. That you could compare the offerings of tapelenders with Netflix or Blockbuster or Itunes shows exactly where today’s gay community is headed.
I’m sure you would be peeing your pants if they were to put in the following:
1)pottery barn
2)restoration hardware
3)banana republic
4)the gap
5)starbucks.
Then your shopping day would be complete.
Why don’t you just move to Plano?
Are the Cedar Springs merchants trying to preserve an integral part of our community, which includes the nostalgia of “the strip”, or are they stubbornly hanging on to something that should have died and gone away a long time ago? Let’s hope it’s the former, and not the latter. Many of us married, suburban dwellers hardly ever see the strip anymore, but I hope we all still remember how important it was (and is) to our community. Rock on, Whittall, Barton and Mickey!
@Cdallas…I agree that Cedar Springs can use a little sprucing up but we definitely don’t need another cookie-cutter shopping center like West Village. It looks like every other shopping center in Dallas. Modern and lifeless. I don’t want the strip to lose it’s personality for the sake of progress. I love the feeling of some parts of lower greenville and deep ellum. funky vintage shops, independent coffeeshops, record stores (yes I said record stores), art galleries. We don’t need Starbucks and Banana Republic.
I think it is great to improve the strip and storefront but what we need are more modern stores that sell to the marketplace. Do we even need a tapelenders with everything online these days. How about the stores update thier interiors to match what the West Village offers. The 1970’s look is long over welcome to 2010. Illume is great how about we build apartments over the bars and stores on Cedar Springs and create more density and vibrancy and work with the city to get one of the new street car lines brought to us and connect downtown. Lets move to the future people.
Amen, Latisha!!!!! I am so over all the character-free “modern” areas of town. If I wanted to live in Plano, I would!
Thanks for the update! Not to be picky, but ilume is not “a few blocks away” as described in the story.
As for work on the strip, I’m glad the facade work and sidewalk improvements are coming along, and I’m convinced that lining the street with palm trees would add a ton of character (even new visitors) to Cedar Springs.
It’s worth noting that the Brick reopened last night in a new location and most of the bartenders from Mickeys have moved to the new Brick, possibly in preparation for Mickeys closing down.
And I agree 100% with Cdallas that we need a streetcar to connect with downtown, even if it’s an extension of the vintage MATA line. Any chance that the merchants association will support that idea?
Don’t give up on Mickey’s yet. Despite the fact the landlord is now demanding the rent for that space go from $9,200 where it is now to $15,000.00 (with prop tax) per month plus four months (2 up front and two at the end) as a deposit….and despite four bartenders jumped ship and went to the Brick, Mickey has a real estate company looking for a new space and in my opinion the staff still at Mickeys is actually the best of the people they had before. Mickey says nothing happens until after Jan 1. I don’t know what these landlords are thinking. Any business person can tell you that this is not the time to be jacking the rent on a tenant that has paid you over half a million in rent of the past six months. The current economic climate just won’t support it. If someone does rent it for that, they may have to charge $6.00 for a well drink to be able to pay the rent
I meant half a million dollars in rent over the past six YEARS…not months. Sorry!
Don’t worry someone will snatch up that space for lease (Mickey’s) and turn it into what it should have been all along, something bigger and better. If all of the best bartenders and management moved to new locations then it’s obvious that there’s no hope until a new business moves in. Mickey’s closing down will only serve to renovate the strip and bring a breath of fresh air down there. For a bar that consistently stayed as busy as it did for 6 years, there’s obviously something going on behind the scenes recently. There are plenty of other new and innovative hot spots that have opened to keep us entertained until that location gets new ownership.
Ilume is an excellent addition anyway you look at it. New and CLEAN is what customers want and some of the older locations, nostalgia aside, could be renovated and still keep their original charm.
Cedar Springs isn’t and shouldn’t go anywhere as the premier gay community, but one only needs to spend time there and ask the general population what they are looking for to know that everyone is happy with the changes in effect.