City Supports Gap Financing for Retail Redevelopment including Sprouts Farmers Market Grocery

City Council recently approved an economic development incentive to support a retail redevelopment project by Vista Property Company that will include a new Sprouts Farmers Market at the northwest corner of Fort Worth Avenue and Hampton Road.

The project involves demolition of 2 existing buildings and the ground-up construction of 3 new buildings located at 1340 N. Hampton Road and 2045 Fort Worth Avenue in Council District (CD) 1. 

The anchor building (approximately 23,350 square feet) will be built-to-suit Sprouts Farmers Market. In addition to the grocery store, the development will include 2 other retail/restaurant buildings totaling approximately 9,200 square feet as well as a new publicly accessible green space (approximately 3,500 square feet). Site improvements will also include all new paving (including some permeable pavement), storm drainage (including some bioswales), landscaping, hardscaping, lighting, and perimeter streetscape improvements.

The development has been in the works for nearly 2 years and has been shaped by input from the community, the City Plan Commission, the Urban Design Peer Review Panel (UDPRP), the Fort Worth Avenue TIF District Board of Directors, and City Council.

After several months of underwriting, evaluating, and negotiating, the City’s Office of Economic Development reached agreement with Vista Property Company on a proposed incentive agreement. On November 8, 2023. City Council unanimously approved the incentive agreement with an amendment to source a local artist for artwork along the pedestrian staircase between Fort Worth Avenue and the project site.  

The project has an estimated total cost of $21.2 million. The economic development incentive will not exceed $6.3 million. The incentive has 2 components: (1) a Chapter 380 economic development grant not to exceed $1,175,189 from the City’s 2017 general obligation bond program (CD 1 discretionary allocation), and (2) a Fort Worth Avenue Tax Increment Financing (TIF) subsidy not to exceed $5,124,811. 

The Sprouts grocery store will bring healthy food choices to north Oak Cliff and approximately 100 jobs to the area. Construction is set to begin in April 2024 with an anticipated opening in Spring 2025. 

Vista Property Company, the developer, specializes in redeveloping vacant and/or underutilized retail properties. For the past 25 years, their portfolio boasts more than 150 successful projects in Austin and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Vista Property Company had most recently partnered with the City of Dallas on the revitalized shopping center at Buckner Boulevard and Peavy Road anchored by El Rio Grande Latin Market grocery store.