Walnut Hill and Audelia Works Because One Corner Got Smaller

"What (CPC Commissioner Tipton Housewright) did was shrink the retail on the southwest corner," District 10 council member Kathy Stewart told the Lake Highlands Advocate last October. "That opened up the opportunity for the southeast corner to be a bigger, more successful retail center."

That planning decision explains a lot about the intersection today. Walnut Hill Lane and Audelia Road is where Lake Highlands has the most independent places to eat and drink in one spot. It didn't get there by adding as much retail as possible. Half of one shopping center became homes, and the remaining storefronts on that corner turned out to fit the neighborhood's best-known restaurants. The next project at the intersection takes a 1970s fast-food hut and swaps it for patios.

Two corners, two jobs

Starting in 2011, close to half of Lake Highlands Plaza on the southwest corner was redeveloped as single-family housing. In 2017, SHOP Companies bought Lakeridge Village on the southeast corner and started a major renovation. The Advocate notes the center had become more attractive as the Plaza got smaller.

The two corners grew into different roles, and the current tenants show it.

The southwest corner is a compact row of locally owned restaurants. The Advocate describes Resident Taqueria and Cedar & Vine as doing well in the newly refreshed Plaza. The southeast corner is the larger center. Its newest restaurant took a space that had already cycled through The Koi Way, Hei Hei, and Atomic Pie.

The corners also feed each other. Vector Brewing owner Craig Bradley told the Advocate he and his wife, Veronica, opened the brewery for three reasons: Lakeridge Village was being redeveloped, Andrew Savoie's Resident Taqueria had shifted the neighborhood's dining scene across the street, and the area needed a neighborhood watering hole. One corner's success helped convince the next owner to open on the other.

Six where there were two

The Advocate's October 2025 dining history counted six independent restaurants at Walnut Hill and Audelia. In 2008 there were two. The same series noted that the four restaurants at Lake Highlands Town Center on Skillman are often full, and that Olive Garden is the only one left on Vantage Point Drive.

The intersection is also open across more of the day. In July 2026, Vector Brewing launched Vector Brewing A.M., a breakfast-and-coffee menu with espresso made from Noble Coyote beans plus breakfast plates and pastries. By late September, the Advocate reported Vector was on DoorDash for breakfast, lunch, and what it calls "linner." A brewery that serves coffee in the morning brings people to the intersection hours earlier than its taproom does.

There's staying power too. Shady's Burgers & Brewhaha marked ten years at 9661 Audelia with an anniversary week of daily specials in September 2026. In January, Resident Taqueria, Vector Brewing, Goldie's, and Cedar & Vine closed for winter weather and reopened together on January 27.

The 1976 hut is next

The intersection's next change is on Walnut Hill itself. On September 23, 2026, the Dallas City Council approved a tax increment financing agreement with TyGra Walnut Hill, LLC for Highlands Village at 9715 Walnut Hill Road at Audelia.

Here's what the agreement covers, according to the city's release:

• Demolition of the existing Lake Highlands Car Wash
• A new two-story building with about 7,200 net leasable square feet
• Retail on the ground floor and professional offices on the second floor
• A TIF subsidy capped at $1,188,662, toward a project estimated at about $4.75 million
• Public infrastructure work, including water, wastewater, storm drainage, lighting, paving, and enhanced sidewalk and streetscape improvements

Put another way, the city's share is capped at roughly a quarter of the estimated cost. The site sits in the Skillman Corridor TIF District, which the Advocate says roughly follows Skillman Street from I-635 to Southwestern Boulevard.

The building being torn down has a longer history than most people realize. It opened in 1976 as a Hardee's Hamburgers, and the red, carnival-style tent roof is still on it. It became a Southwest Savings Bank in 1978 and a car wash in the early 2000s. In 2019, Melissa and Trey Chapman bought JC's Car Wash from Jose Carbajal and renamed it Lake Highlands Car Wash.

Stewart has described what she expects the replacement to do to the street.

"This will create a more pedestrian friendly environment with patios and café style outdoor seating, street furniture, planters and landscaping."

That's the main difference from what's already at the corner. Today the dining here happens inside two shopping centers set back behind parking lots. Highlands Village is planned with seating and landscaping facing Walnut Hill. The city's release says the project supports the TIF district's goal of reinvesting in aging commercial sites to create walkable neighborhood centers where people can walk, gather, and dine.

When the Advocate first reported the plan, readers wanted to know about the tire shop next door. Writer Carol Toler added an aerial map to the story showing the tire shop is not part of the proposal. The only construction date in print so far is "as early as March of 2027." That estimate ran in August, before the council vote, and the city's approval release didn't include a start date.

Braum's, still waiting on a date

Highlands Village isn't the only project planned for Walnut Hill. In May 2025, the Advocate reported that Braum's plans to come back to the intersection with a new store at 9855 Walnut Hill, next to AAA Vacuum. The old Braum's operated for decades in Lakeridge Village, on the spot where Taco Bell is now. The new site is just across the street.

At the time, Braum's hadn't announced when construction would start or when the store would open. We haven't found a later public update, so for now it's a plan without a timeline.

What happens when a center loses its draw

Another Lake Highlands shopping center shows what's at stake. In June 2026, Rooster Home & Hardware closed after ten years at Northlake Shopping Center. Owner Sharon Anderson, who is also CEO of Half Price Books, told the Advocate the store struggled after the center's grocery store closed in 2017, two months after Rooster opened. Business costs, competition from big-box stores and online retailers, and uncertainty about the center's future all added to the pressure. Her original lease ran out in 2024. She extended it in six-month increments and eventually went month to month, which she said made long-term planning hard.

Walnut Hill and Audelia doesn't depend on any one tenant. Restaurants on both corners have been open for close to a decade or longer, a brewery now serves three meals a day, and a city-backed building is set to go up on the site of the old car wash.

On the calendar this month

• October 6, 5 p.m. The Lake Highlands PID's National Night Out at Forest Audelia Park, 9759 Forest Lane.
• October 10, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Vector Brewing's Hausfest Oktoberfest and market at 9850 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 405, with local vendors, festival food, music, a dachshund parade, and a stein-hoisting contest.
• October 31, 2 p.m. The PID's Trunk or Treat in the LH Village Shopping Center parking lot, 8676 Skillman St.

When a corner like this gets a TIF-backed rebuild, the effects reach past the construction fencing. New sidewalks, outdoor seating, and new tenants can change how the streets around it feel day to day. If you'd like help thinking through what Highlands Village and the Walnut Hill corridor could mean for your own plans, Janell Branch can walk you through the timeline and what to watch for. Schedule a Consultation.