What’s missing for the empty nesters and Millennials returning to the urban core and paying premiums to be in the middle of everything, asks JLL SVP Mark Newman (here with his grandson, Porter, at a Rangers game last weekend). It’s the grocery stores. Forget the mix of museums, restaurants, bars, and walking/biking trails, there’s one basic need that has always seemed to be missing. (We can't all go to Rangers games to get our hot dogs like Porter.) The on-going surge of population in the urban core has forced the supermarket industry to reevaluate how it can serve customers without the traditional surface parking options, Mark says. The first one is on its way, he says, with the 40k SF Whole Foods in the Gables Residential project that will include 222 apartments and 17 townhomes at McKinney and Routh streets with a 2015 targeted opening.

By 2040 nearly 10.5 million people will live in and around DFW (not to mention all the robots), making our region the fastest-growing US metro in the country, he says. And, grocers are paying attention. “We’ve already seen the success of several projects that have figured out the delicate balance between designer produce and demographics," he says. Examples: The Shops at Park Lane where structured parking has been embraced; how Central Market at Preston and Royal scaled back its footprint to seamlessly slip into the Preston Hollow strip center; and the Trader Joe’s on Lower Greenville that's flourished in the counter-culture pedestrian-heavy streetscape. We just want to grab our organic rBST cheese and a bottle of wine stat!