Brixmor Property Group, owner of Wynnewood Village in Oak Cliff, plans to sink at least $30 million into upgrading the 1949 shopping center according to the Dallas Morning News.

Located in a densely populated area along S. Zang Boulevard and Illinois Avenue just west of I-35, Wynnewood Village is one of the oldest shopping centers in Dallas. Per Brixmor’s data, more than 160,000 people with an annual household income of at least $50,000 live within a three-mile radius.

Rendering Courtesy of Brixmor Property Group

In the decade that Brixmor has owned the sprawling 65-acre center, the neighborhood around it has changed dramatically. North Oak Cliff evolved into an urban hotspot. Bishop Arts District, two miles from Wynnewood, emerged as a regional favorite for trendy shopping and dining. And three miles away, Glen Oaks Crossing, which is anchored by Walmart, was built two years ago at I-35 and Ledbetter and still offers plenty of new-shopping-center feel.

Though Brixmor is bringing Wynnewood Village up to speed with the neighborhood, its foundation for attracting shoppers and tenants remains solid.

The one-story, 443,681-square-foot shopping center contains 107 tenants and is 88 percent leased. The two anchor stores alone, Kroger and El Rancho supermarket, draw more than 20,000 customers a week. In addition to several national retailers and restaurants already in the center, Brixmor is currently negotiating two large tenant leases that will take up to 60 days to finalize.

Rendering Courtesy of Brixmor Property Group

Phase I of the redo will include demolishing and redeveloping an old 24,254-square-foot medical office building that Brixmor acquired earlier this year for $1.6 million. Upgrades to the core shopping center will consist of a new facade, parking lot, and landscaping. And a new focal point for Wynnewood Village will be constructed near the existing roundabout. 

According to Matthew Berger, president of the West division of Brixmor, Phase II will likely involve redeveloping a large vacant field in the center of the shopping center where a Montgomery Ward store once stood.

“There have been a number of plans discussed,” Berger told the Dallas Morning News. “Our feeling is that whatever we do [there] is community and tenant-driven.”