Proposed Dallas H-E-B at Hillcrest Stirs Up Potential Zoning Fight

A proposed H-E-B at the southeast corner of LBJ and Hillcrest Road has some neighborhood residents up in arms over the potential traffic implications.

Back in January, the San Antonio-based grocer announced it had purchased 10 acres of land where three sets of low-rise medical office buildings are situated. H-E-B hopes to replace the structures with a 127,000-square-foot store and two-story parking garage comprising more than 600 spaces.

While many fans of H-E-B have been clamoring for more stores in North Texas — particularly this one, which would be the first in Dallas city limits — neighbors are worried the big-box scale will significantly impact nearby neighborhoods already inconvenienced by traffic congestion. The proposed site has even spurred the upcoming launch of a new neighborhood civic activist group called Hillcrest Preservation Coalition.

Steering committee member Beryl George confirmed that the organization was forming in response to H-E-B’s rezoning application. The project site is currently zoned neighborhood office. H-E-B wants rezoning to regional retail, which would allow for 80% lot coverage and structures of up to 70 feet high.

According to the city code, regional retail is “not intended to be located in areas of low-density residential development.” That’s pretty much what makes up the neighborhoods less than half a mile away, which are mostly populated by upscale residences and townhomes.

The Hillcrest Forest Neighborhood Association posted about the project on its website, relaying some concerns that came up during a February community meeting and another held in June. In addition to the traffic implications, HFNA’s website cited unease over “a huge store in a setting of low-rise offices and single-family residential.”

“I know that H-E-B has many fans, but I’m concerned about the staggering amount of traffic that an H-E-B can draw — I believe in the range of 6,000 cars a day,” said Bruce Wilke, a former chair of the Dallas City Plan Commission.

Wilke is president of HFNA, but he told CandysDirt.com he was not representing the organization or its leadership in his comments, only himself.

“[The H-E-B] would definitely affect the homeowners closest to it, and anyone else who drives Hillcrest Road in that area,” he added.

Representatives of H-E-B said the store would likely draw between 40,000 and 45,000 customers per week during the community engagement meeting in June. They also pitched a traffic mitigation plan that includes adding a new right-turn lane at Hillcrest and I-635, creating a slip lane entrance from the interstate’s frontage road, and modifying the Hillcrest Plaza Drive intersection with Hillcrest Road to allow for two left-turn lanes. Meanwhile, office park traffic south of the site will be built a new roadway to allow for access to I-635.

Truck deliveries (approximately 6-7 per day, not including box trucks) will have to come off the eastbound frontage road and take a sharp turn onto Hillcrest Plaza Drive before winding down and turning left at the light at Hillcrest Road. They’ll access the property through a “delivery only” entrance at the southwest corner of the property.

The property is also located near a flood plain, where a man died earlier this summer inside his vehicle during a flash flood. White Rock Creek snakes along just to the east of the project site.

The Texas Department of Transportation and the City of Dallas estimate approximately 23,000 to 26,000 cars travel Hillcrest at LBJ every day. Those unfamiliar with the area might drive around the site and the nearby streets at rush hour to get an idea of what detractors are worried about.

“Why would you come in and suddenly put essentially a shopping mall in the middle of an area where they don’t have good access?” said Kathy Coffman, another member of the Hillcrest Preservation Coalition. “It’s not a transitional zoning situation. It’s ‘we’re going to come in and put the most intense retail zoning we have on that corner.’”

Still, plenty of people are excited for the prospect of an H-E-B in the area. Openings across the Metroplex have been received with a lot of fanfare.

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Last summer, the company unveiled its second Frisco location and announced plans for its first Irving store at State Highway 183 and Story Road. H-E-B has two other locations planned for Murphy and the Mid-Cities area, both expected to open in 2026. In total, H-E-B has stores in Plano, Allen, McKinney, and Frisco on the east side of the Metroplex, and Alliance, Hudson Oaks, Mansfield, Burleson, and Granbury on the western front.

A social media post publicizing another Hillcrest community engagement meeting scheduled on September 8 at Westin Park Central got a number of excited comments.

“I drive from Dallas to Plano every week to shop at H-E-B. Still holding out hope they can make it happen,” wrote one commenter.

Another expressed excitement, but also implied — for better or worse — that store opponents may be limited in what they do to stop the store from being built.

“I honestly believe by the time HEB announces a store the land has been purchased and the permits are on someone’s desk. They may be ‘allowing feedback’ but the train has already left the station. I can’t wait!” the social media user wrote.

There’s been plenty of frustration expressed from single-family neighborhood residents over the last few years regarding their perceived marginalization when pitted against the interest of developers (just check out the comments from this city council election story).

City approval of ForwardDallas 2.0, parking reform, and a number of flashpoint zoning cases have all spurred, at one point or another, the accusation that officials are more inclined to side with development at the expense of legacy neighborhood residents.