An ambitious three-in-one eatery is taking shape in southern Dallas: Called Miss Eddie’s, it's a market and cafe designed to serve as the centerpiece of a new mixed-use development, with completion targeted for spring 2025.

Construction on the project, located at 4315 Riverside Rd. at the corner of Bonnie View Road, started in September.

The concept will be part of The Adaline, a 12-acre, $80 million mixed-use development from Onu Ventures, a real estate firm owned by venture capitalist and real estate developer Mikial Onu.

Final plans on the development include 198 apartments, 40 townhomes, outdoor amenity deck, jogging and walking trails, retail, outdoor commons, and a water feature with pond and fountains.

But it starts with Miss Eddie’s, a 4,100 square-foot market, cafe, and restaurant.

“We felt that we needed that anchor, whether it be restaurant, retail, whatever that could really reset the standard and redefine the quality that this area has been missing,” Onu says.

The culinary team for Miss Eddie’s will be led by Houston chef Kenny Ransom, with a menu of pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, and pastries. The grocery end will feature local produce, convenience items, and home goods.

Ransom, who studied at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, and Onu are friends who met in Houston in 2012. Onu says he “convinced him to move from Houston to Dallas” to join the project, which they've been working on together for about a year now.

Ransom fit the profile of both someone with a diverse ability to make food and also cater to the “needs of multiple communities.”

“He went to culinary school and worked with some of the best pizza places in the greater Houston area — Nancy’s Hustle, Tiny Champions — and then he went off on his own and had a really popular pop-up concept,” Onu says. "I went to a couple of his pop-ups, and he was very relatable with every single person. I felt like that's what we needed on this project."

Design is by Plan B Group, an architectural group known for their restaurant design and branding projects such as the Statler Dallas and The Mexican in the Dallas Design District, who also helped with consulting for Miss Eddie's.

According to Onu, the concept was inspired by matriarchal figures in close-knit communities. The name Miss Eddie’s is an ode to his grandma, Bertha “Eddie” Edison, who represented such a figure in his community when he was growing up.

“We wanted this to be the hub of the community, and the goal of that is when you walk into Miss Eddie's, you're walking into my grandmother's living room,” Onu says. “It's very inviting and soothing, but whatever you're doing outside of those walls, you leave it outside those walls. It's a safe place.”

"We felt that there are a lot of people working in the area, especially in the industrial sector and the transportation sector, and there'd be more people that would live here if they had the housing, grocery, and retail that we're trying to provide," Onu says.