According to the Dallas Morning News, H-E-B’s Central Market recently purchased a parcel of land just blocks from the Bishop Arts District, which is fueling speculation that the specialty grocer may be setting up shop in North Oak Cliff. 

It makes sense: The neighborhood around Bishop Arts District has become an urban hotspot in recent years for people wanting to live near Downtown Dallas.

But Mabrie Jackson, director of public affairs for Central Market/H-E-B in Dallas, didn’t directly reveal the company’s plans for the land to the Dallas Morning News. Instead she said that the purchase was made “in anticipation of our future expansion needs.”

"We are evaluating our options for this evolving and unique location," Jackson told the paper.

Photo courtesy of Central Market

Though the company has no immediate plans for developing the property, she did say that the property was purchased with a Central Market store in mind and not an H-E-B store.

Located at the northeast corner of West Davis Street and North Beckley Avenue, the parcel of land once contained a transportation building for Dallas County Schools. More recently it was owned by Crescent Communities, a North Carolina-based development firm that’s constructing a mixed-use project across the street.

The neighboring Crescent Bishop Arts development will likewise fit the demographics of Central Market. Slated to open in 2018, the complex — which is bordered by Beckley, Davis, and North Zang boulevards and West Neeley Street – will contain 302 apartments in four-to-six story buildings, 23,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space on the ground level, and a parking garage.

Residents in the Bishop Arts area have long voiced concerns over the lack of nearby grocery stores. Though Tom Thumb, Kroger, El Rancho Supermarket, and Fiesta Mart operate stores in Oak Cliff, the Sylvan Thirty project expanded the options by adding a Cox Farms Market and CiboDivino. But a Central Market within walking distance would fill the neighborhood void.