Photo by Danny Fulgencio
We broke the news last week that redevelopment plans appear to be underway for a 4.5-acre tract that includes El Corazon de Tejas restaurant.
Today, City Councilman Scott Griggs posted that a demolition permit has been pulled for the restaurant at 110 W. Davis. The restaurant is still open and operating.
Alabama-based Orange Development LLC has requested to create one lot out of the tract bounded by Davis, Zang, Beckley and Seventh. This replat request is a sign that some big development is in the planning stages there.
The developer has built CVS stores in the past, but we don’t know what their plans are here. Neither Orange Development nor the restaurant’s owners has responded to requests for comment.
UPDATE: Restaurant owner John Cuellar told Culturemap today that he has has no plans of closing it “in the near future,” and that pulling a demolition permit “is a step by one of the many parties that have expressed interest in our property.”
The restaurant building, constructed in 1940, is zoned “community retail” and could be replaced with a new development of up to four stories. It lies outside of the Bishop/Davis zoning and outside the newly created zone wherein review is required before certain buildings can be demolished.
That means the owners have the right to demolish it any time.
From Griggs:
I am opposed to a standard construction CVS (the re-plat was filed by a CVS associated company) that will damage the character of our neighborhood at this location. While you can never legislate building and use, I don’t know why CVS couldn’t adaptively re-use the building as a CVS.
I am looking into all means to protect our neighborhood and I am open to suggestions.
