Henderson Avenue project lands first restaurant tenant, reaches 60% complete

As seen in the Dallas Business Journal: Henderson Avenue project lands first restaurant tenant, reaches 60% complete

Construction has gone vertical on a highly anticipated addition of new retail and office space to Henderson Avenue and the project is still on track to open by the end of 2026, developers recently shared.

The 10-building collection, aimed at revitalizing the eastern half of Henderson Avenue, is now around 60% complete, Tristan Simon said. Construction began on the quarter-mile of land between Glencoe Street and McMillan Avenue in October 2024.

“The idea is that we’re just going to keep building our following, sort of one new place after another, and let the customer guide us into what the next place should be until we’re kind of out of good ideas that have enough market support to justify them,” Simon says.

Simon and Mark Masinter, founders of real estate firm Ignite-Rebees, last year described their vision to bring an elevated, hospitality-driven office experience for workers, and it appears their vision is starting to come to life. The two friends partnered with New York-based Acadia Realty Trust as a financial backer.

“We want to restore the glory of Henderson as a dining street while also making it as compelling as anywhere in the city in terms of walkable, open-air retail and shopping,” Simon said.

The majority of the project’s office space is housed in two buildings and Romy will be on the ground floor of one of these buildings. An office tenant club will sit on the second and third floors, directly above Romy, which will make it easy for restaurant staff to service. This space will also house bespoke meeting rooms, lounges and a bar meant to feel like a high-end private club. The addition of the all-day bakery and cafe also marks the project’s first major tenant announcement. Simon has a history as a restaurateur in Henderson Avenue’s dining scene and was part of the restaurant group Consilient before it was acquired in 2010. At one point, he owned six restaurants along the busy strip, including a handful of lively Dallas eateries such as Cuba Libre, Hibiscus, Fireside Pies and Victor Tangos that have since shuttered.

“I just couldn’t resist the opportunity of doing another restaurant on Henderson after 15 years,” he said. He added there’s been a lot of momentum on the leasing front and that he expects to announce a flurry of new leases in the coming months, for restaurant and office space.

Over the past year, a few establishments have opened in the area and Simon said he’s determined to make his project stand out from the rest. These include a cocktail bar and restaurant called Hendy’s on Henderson, Canada-based pub concept Local Public Eatery and home-turned-ice-house Lawnie’s.

“Unabashedly, we’re going to try to make Henderson the most compelling dining street in Dallas, which at one point it was — back in the aughts, you could make an argument that it was the best restaurant street,” Simon said.

He aims to distinguish his restaurant with a focus on food in line with the culture and appetites of East Dallas.

“We want to bring smaller format restaurants that are truly food- and chef-driven with a raison d’etre that starts on the plate,” Simon said.

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