Very Cool Neighbors

Your guide to what's hot now and on the horizon at Dallas' Victory Park

Victory Park is a neighborhood on the rise, with a roster of cool new restaurants and entertainment options slated to join the already bustling area. If you're lucky enough to live at Ascent Victory Park, then you have a front-row seat to all the amazing additions that are coming before year's end.

The chic high-rise apartments provide residents with hard-to-match amenities (think day and night concierge service and an onsite dog park and wash) and unique design touches (floor-to-ceiling windows, Nest thermostats, and reclaimed wood walls, to name a few). But a huge draw is the building's proximity to downtown, especially the American Airlines Center and Dallas Arts District. Take a look at what else is on tap for the up-and-coming area.

Restaurants galore
First up is a wood-fired pizza joint that's guaranteed to delight Ascent residents — mainly because it will be located on the building's first floor and offer room service delivery. Yes, beginning in August you can just pick up the phone and pizza will magically appear at your doorstep. Mio Nonno's menu is inspired by central and southern Italian cuisine; in addition to pizza, there are salads, antipasti, pasta and grilled meat. You can host a pizza party in your own apartment (many are outfitted for entertaining, with built-in wine fridges and butler's pantries), or head up to one of the cool common areas, where you'll find a demonstration/catering kitchen and an outdoor sky lounge with 360-degree views of downtown Dallas. Other property perks include a game room with a Texas Hold 'Em-style poker room and two giant TVs and a JLJL golf simulator, the same kind that's used by the pros.

Tristan Simon's hot new saloon, Billy Can Can, opened to great fanfare in June. Fashioned after a 19th-century dining saloon, the restaurant is led by Matt Ford (Americano, CBD Provisions, Craft Dallas) and bar manager Zach Smigiel (Midnight Rambler, Victor Tangos, The Porch), a 2017 Tastemaker Awards nominee for best bartender. The menu is modern Texas with a French influence and some Mexican dishes, utilizing Texas-raised beef and game, Gulf seafood, and locally grown produce, including some from Ford's personal garden. At the bar, there are 11 beers on draught, a good mix of Texas and French wines, and a house-made sarsaparilla.

Kent and Tracy Rathbun recently deduted a new upscale Asian restaurant called Imōto, which means "little sister" in Japanese. The exotic eatery serves favorites from various Asian cultures in a contemporary style, with sharable plates and a traditional sushi bar. On the weekend, a DJ and extensive cocktail menu help turn the restaurant into a hip lounge.

Burgundy Swine is doing a modern take on the traditional wine bar, with an ever-evoling glass, bottle, and on-tap list created by a group of local sommeliers. As per its name, there will be an emphasis on the Burgundy region of France, but the wine will span all of Texas and Europe. A special perk that Victory Park residents will surely want to take advantage of: all wines will be available for retail purchase.

Those with a sweet tooth have their choice of Popbar and It'sugar, two decadent dessert shops. Popbar serves gelato, sorbetto, and yogurt on a stick, with a menu that includes 40-plus rotating flavors, along with dippings and toppings. It'sugar has more than 100 locations around the world, and specializes in outrageous and novelty sweets and merch.

Out and about
Coming this summer is Cinépolis, a luxury cinema that will have eight screens and be the first location in Texas. The swanky theater has fully reclining leather seats, state-of-the-art sound and projection technology, and a gourmet menu with in-theater waiter service.

For those who choose sweating it out to kicking back in the movie-theater AC, Orangetheory Fitness is open a new health studio location the same building as Cinépolis. The popular workout features interval training backed by excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.

Coming this fall
Dallasites love a good patio, and Dibs on Victory is going to give it to them. The team behind Tastemakers Best New Restaurant winner Ferris Wheelers and High Fives, Hays and Phil Schanbaum, are planning to turn the second floor of this new restaurants into a gigantic patio, where they'll spotlight brunch and happy hours in addition to regular service.

Billet, meanwhile, is banking on the novelty of its parking garage location. The woman behind Beauty Bar and Barcadia, Brooke Humphries, is designing this casual hangout to have an '80s vibe, and it will serve late-night food and have two patios of its own.

Another location of local Tex-Mex fave Mesero is gearing up to set down in Victory Park. The new flagship location will join the other four Dallas branches, and expand owner Mico Rodriguez's reach with reimagined Mexican dishes.

If you're ready to be in the middle of it all, call 214-504-3515 or go here for more info about lease options and availability.

Popbar is soothing sweet tooths all over Victory Park.

Photo courtesy of Popbar

Popbar is soothing sweet tooths all over Victory Park.

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Mixed Use News

Mixed-use East Dock will revive 1915 building in Dallas' Oak Cliff

Courtesy rendering

East Dock

A century-old property in Oak Cliff Dallas is getting a makeover: Called East Dock, it's a former industrial site located at 900 E. Clarendon Dr. that is being restored into a retail and studio space.

The project is being led by Proxy Properties, an Oak Cliff real estate group famous for breathing new life into vacant and often historical buildings. The project is supported by the City of Dallas through their Tax Increment Financing program (TIF), which reinvests property tax revenues on under-performing real estate.

Proxy Properties' prior 50 projects in Oak Cliff include the Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, rebranded as Oak Cliff Assembly, an arts and theatre space with offices and co-work studios; and the Madison Hotel, a building from the 1920s which was restored and opened in 2024.

"For us, it is important to buy buildings that have been vacant for a long time, ignored, or forgotten about," says Proxy founder AJ Ramler. "East Dock fit in that box. It was not contributing to the neighborhood."

East Dock is intriguing both for its history and its location. Built in 1915, it has served over the decades as an ice factory, book manufacturing site, and producer of airplane parts, but has been vacant for more than seven years.

The 62,000-square-foot-retail and studio space is fortuitously located in an area currently under heavy development: near the future Southern Gateway Park and Tenth Street Historical District, and a 7-minute walk from the DART Zoo Station.

Ramler envisions the space as "an 18-hour campus," with coffee and athletic businesses open in the morning, followed by daytime operators such as offices, studios, and restaurants, then bars and entertainment in the evening.

East DockRendering courtesy of JQAQ Atelier, LLC

There's room for at least 15 businesses, with a few already secured including Barro, a Latin-American restaurant and market from Robert Ramirez, part-owner at Nova restaurant in Oak Cliff, who is partnering with chef Eric Spigner to bring Barro to life.

“Our vision is to create a rustic, family-style restaurant with a rotating menu every three months, featuring cuisines from different countries in Latin America," Ramirez says.

In addition to the restaurant, Barro will include a market with fruits & vegetables, imported ceramics, bakeware, and blankets.

Other tenants
Local artisans who've already signed include Brazilian-American artist Daniela Flint, who will open a studio there. "I want to surround myself with my community and can see myself bringing in clients to Barro and other places in East Dock," she says.

Evan L. Court Woodwork, an artisan furniture maker, will take a 3,000-square-foot space and transform it into his personal studio where he’ll be creating custom handcrafted furniture and fine woodworking pieces. The space will have room for multiple projects, as well as an apprenticeship program to train new woodworkers.

And Carlos Araujo Neto is relocating his Jiujitsu studio from nearby Beatrice Street to East Dock. "I liked the idea of having multiple businesses that everyone can have access to and hang out," he says.

There'll be parking for 140 cars. The project will be finished in phases, with the first openings in early fall. They're sharing updates on their construction progress on Instagram.

Rather than work with a broker, Proxy Properties is doing community outreach to find tenants, all from the southern sector: in Oak Cliff, the Cedars, or West Dallas. Soliciting input from the locals is part of their DNA.

“We want the property to serve the community and also represent the community," Ramler says.

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