Shell Shack, a Texas seafood chain, closed its Denton location over the weekend. President and CEO Dallas Hale says he lost his lease on the building, located along South Loop 288 and I-35E, to eminent domain.
Reached by phone on June 19, the last day the Denton restaurant was open, Hale said he was “bummed out about it.”
“That was always the location I wanted to be at,” said Hale, who opened the first Shell Shack in Uptown Dallas back in 2013 and now has locations in several cities, including Fort Worth, Plano and Houston. “I just love Denton, and the fact that TxDOT came in with their eminent domain and forced us out is really depressing. We clawed through COVID, and business was going great for us.”
Hale said he knew about the construction project expanding I-35 from six to eight lanes when he opened the Denton store in 2018, but he said he was told he had at least nine years. With that in mind, he spent about $500,000 renovating the building, he said. But Hale said the Texas Department of Transportation told him he was losing his lease a year ago. He will not get any of those funds back because he does not own the property.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t have an eminent domain clause,” Hale said. “In all my 30 years in this industry, eminent domain has never been invoked. It’s not something that you come across very often. Now anything we do has an eminent domain clause.”
Emily McCann, a public information officer for TxDOT, said the construction project is expected to be ready in 2023. “Scope was added to the project to include the northbound frontage road from Brinker Road to Loop 288,” McCann said in an email. “TxDOT acquired the property in August 2020 as part of the added scope of work.”
Hale said he is already looking for a new building in Denton, where he plans to reopen Shell Shack as soon as possible. In the meantime, he has relocated many of his Denton employees to other locations.
Shell Shack in Denton closed on June 19. Find the 5 other North Texas locations at shellshack.com.
