DALLAS — The Dallas City Council has approved a plan to bring a full-service Tom Thumb grocery store to southern Dallas.
The council awarded the store's parent company, Albertsons, an incentive package to support the development of building the supermarket in The Shops at RedBird.
The proposed store will be a full-service grocery store with a pharmacy. Customers will also have the option to shop online and have their groceries delivered or ready for pickup at the store.
Councilmembers said opening the Tom Thumb will be beneficial to southern Dallas, which has been defined as a food desert, according to USDA standards.
Neighbors are applauding the efforts to bring a full-service grocery store to the Red Bird area of Southern Dallas.
“This community has expressed its desire to have a quality grocery store that offers fresh foods for so long and attracting a grocery store has been one of our biggest priorities ever since we started to reimagine RedBird,” said Councilmember Tennell Atkins, Chair of the City’s Economic Development Committee.
In addition to the store itself, the new Tom Thumb location is expected to create more than 90 permanent jobs, according to assistant city manager Majed Al-Ghafry.
“Red Bird is all about providing high quality amenities to a community that can afford them, desires them, and deserves them,” said Shops at Red Bird owner and developer Peter Brodksy.
The plan is for them to build a 50,000-square-foot store at the southeast corner of Camp Wisdom and Westmoreland Roads across from the brand new luxury Palladium Apartments.
The economic development incentive package would include up to $5.8 million in conditional grants, plus a five-year business personal property (BPP) tax abatement that equals the City's taxes assessed on 75% of the increased value from the grocer's BPP investment during the first five years of store operation.
“This will be a great, a great, improvement for this community,” said Victor Lewis, who works nearby.
Many neighbors are excited about plans for the new grocery store’s development, considering a significant number of residents are driving several miles outside the community for groceries.
”It would be very significant for this area. It helps out with the community, the employment opportunity as well. And also for those the elderly and disabled. They have some place real close to come to now and shop,” Lewis explained.
Neighbors believe the grocery store will be part of the momentum happening around Red Bird that’s already having a positive impact on the greater southern Dallas community.
The transformation around the Shops at Red Bird already include new retail, new restaurants, new medical facilities and plenty of possibilities.
“And this will help the economy for this community as well,” Lewis said.
Construction is scheduled to begin late this year and is projected to finish in 2025.
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