Dallas: The Can't Do City

Once again petty concerns from a handful of "neighborhood leaders" and the city's micormanaging zoning system has forced a development to be less than what it could have been. This time it's those capitalist pig, money grubbing, environmentally and socially questionable folks at Whole Foods that have given up trying to negotiate the city's developmental minefield. Instead of a swanky new store, like the one at Preston and Forest, Whole Foods had decided to just refurbish the existing Minyards at Gaston and Abrams.

The money quote from WF:

Ultimately, we decided to explore the idea of a new structure, and we recognized that this would mean navigating the existing restrictions and asking for neighborhood and city support on a new design that would serve the neighborhood and allow us to run an efficient store at the same time.

However, all current indicators, combined with our experience in building new stores in the past, have led us to believe strongly that we can expect a very long and complex process to acquire the Planned Development District amendment we would need to build a new store.

Strong work Dallas!