One day, he instructed the truck driver to park in the H-E-B North Texas headquarter\u2019s parking lot. He was hoping they would come out and talk to the driver. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey played it well,\u201d Terry says with a big smile. \u201cThey didn\u2019t take the bait.\u201d But another day, he had the driver go to a Central Market, and that time they did ask him to leave, he says with a fair-is-fair shrug<\/p>\n
\u201cI live in 75203, which is on the east side of 35. I would not expect them to ever build over there. That median income is under $40,000, or it was under $40,000 in 2020. But where they built, where they own, the property that they own is 75208, that median income is right at $67,000,\u201d meaning the neighborhood could easily support a store.<\/p>\n
And he realizes that H-E-B\u2019s real estate team knows this, too, but he wants them to know people (like him) are watching.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not just going to tell me, \u2018Well, the median income doesn\u2019t work.\u2019 The median income works here because you\u2019ve built in places in San Antonio that even have a lower average median income. And you build a flagship store there.\u201d<\/p>\n
We have the money, he says, \u201cWe need a store. We need someone to build it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Butt Where? <\/p>\n
H-E-B owns two contiguous lots in the Bishop Arts District. One is at 111 East Davis St. and the other at 632 N. Beckley. \u201cThey cover 2.56 acres,\u201d Terry explains in an email. For now, this is a big empty lot surrounded by new apartments and some retail spaces. The Bishop Arts community has grown around it, but the cold, grey cement remains vacant.<\/p>\n
![\"H-E-B-owned](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Davis-and-Beckley-Lot-South-Dallas-Photos-byLauren-Drewes-Daniels.png\")
This spot could be great for an H-E-B. Plenty of space for smoked Gouda. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis lot is comparable to the lot size of the H-E-B at 5225 Buffalo Speedway in Houston, the store that is across Highway 59 from Joel Olsteen\u2019s church,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe appraisal district land valuation for the property in Oak Cliff is $4 million. That is the second-highest appraised value of any parcel they own in Dallas. And it\u2019s just a vacant lot,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
The only thing H-E-B is doing with this lot is protesting the taxes (and losing). <\/p>\n
\u201cIt [the Olsteen adjacent store] is a 90,000-square-foot store that sits on 2.49 acres.\u00a0Another store in Houston at 6055 North MacGregor Drive sits on what I believe to be 4.75 acres. It is in the Third Ward, a largely African American neighborhood.\u00a0The store opened in 2019 and is also a 90,000-square-foot location,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
A Case of Blight<\/p>\n