Dallas

Demolition Permit Granted for North Oak Cliff Staple El Corazon

Construction is booming in parts of North Oak Cliff in Dallas.

But some say, economic development is coming at a cost.

One possible project could push a neighborhood symbol out.

El Corazon Tex-Mex restaurant is located at North Zang Boulevard and West Davis Street.

It used to be the old El Chico restaurant.

A company is eyeing the property for a project that could tear down the decades-old building.

“They need to keep this place,” said customer Jerrry Lopez.

Those who run the restaurant are hearing from loyal clientele after JR’s Demolition filed a demolition permit with the city of Dallas. This week, the city approved the permit.

One idea would be to build a CVS Pharmacy in its place.

However, it is up to the restaurant’s owners, the Cuellar family, to decide if they will sell their property.

So far, there is no definitive answer.

The demolition permit is good through mid-June.

Nick Gonzalez is the director of operations of El Corazon. He told NBC 5 on Friday that they have no plans to move from their current location. Gonzalez added the Cuellar family business is doing so well, they are looking at adding a third El Corazon location, potentially in Oak Cliff.

Neighbor Lisa Hennen is not only worried about increased traffic but also in the changing look and feel of North Oak Cliff.

We don't want it to look like Uptown,” she said. “We don't want it to look like cookie-cutter.”

Preservation Dallas executive director David Preziosi says this historic part of Oak Cliff is in the middle of an important transition.

“We don’t want to become anywhere USA,” he said. “We want to see that interesting buildings and character are still preserved along with new buildings.”

Preziosi says it’s possible a new owner could opt to re-purpose the building into a pharmacy store.

The restaurant is just outside of Oak Cliff’s demolition delay area.

“We hate to replace it with what I call anywhere architecture where we have the same store like CVS in Dallas, Houston or Washington anywhere we want to keep things that are unique to our history,” he said.

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