Community eager for news on restaurants at Lakeside

Jimmy Archie expects The Shops at Lakeside to offer the environment and mix of restaurants that people will want to visit regularly.

Who’s coming to The Shops at Lakeside?

“That’s a question we are hearing a lot,” laughed Jimmy Archie, managing partner of Realty Capital, master developer of Lakeside DFW.

The interest is coming from those moving into the new homes at Lakeside as well as from the 60,000+ who daily drive by the corner of Lakeside and FM 2499.

“Anticipation is growing as the mixed-use buildings go up,” Archie said. “People are not shy about sharing their likes and dislikes in person and through our dining survey.” (The number of responses to the on-line dining survey has grown to nearly 700 so far. Look for a story on this in the coming weeks.)

“With four to five months to go before the first business in The Shops open,” he emphasized, “we are not prepared to make any official announcements. Some of the prospects we are recruiting have not had a chance to make it out to the site to see and feel what’s special about Lakeside.”

Archie and his team have been spending countless hours contacting prospective tenants from around North Texas.

“We are trying to make all the best prospects aware of this opportunity,” Archie said. “Almost everyone who visits now (since the buildings are nearing their final form) can feel the sense of place and understand what will make Lakeside so appealing.”

“Add to that a really good collection of restaurants and we’ll have that magic you see only occasionally at places like Legacy Town Square and Bishop Arts.”

A variety of food categories are being considered for Phase I’s three signature restaurant locations (see sidebar).

The categories include specialty hamburgers, tavern, Italian/pizza, Mexican/taco, American grill, international cuisine, and/or seafood.

“We have only a finite number of restaurant spaces available in Phase I,” Archie acknowledged, “so we want to make sure we get the right ones for each location.”

Smaller spaces also are available for a number of speciality/fast-casual restaurants and dessert-only establishments.

“We are working to group the right combination of restaurant owners with a blend of food categories that offers a range of settings from formal to informal, from adult and family-oriented, from small chain to unique concept.

“We have one unique restaurant concept committed and others negotiating terms. We also have a number of prospects we are still pursuing.

“The key to all the businesses’ success will be to place the restaurants in the locations that will best serve them as well as the project as a whole.”

“Ultimately, however, success is not about one restaurant or one location,” Archie said, “it’s about the collection. That’s what will make The Shops at Lakeside truly successful.”

“Once we finalize the right mix of initial businesses,” he added, “we will make an announcement.”

Archie believes that announcement will come this fall, if not sooner.

You also might be interested in these stories:
Urban spaces emerging at The Shops at Lakeside
3-D fly-through of The Shops at Lakeside
Lakeside retailers to capitalize on FM 2499 visibility
Demographics del lago
Moviehouse and Eatery to locate in The Shops at Lakeside
Shaping the Lakeside dining experience

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