Gosh, Grandscape is big.
On a dozen trips I took to The Colony to check out this sprawling restaurant and shopping destination at State Highway 121 near the Dallas North Tollway, I kept finding new corners.
“We wanted it to have this footstep-by-footstep sense of discovery,” says Jeff Lind, president of Grandscape and chief strategy and development officer for Nebraska Furniture Mart.
It all started with the 560,000-square-foot NFM, which opened in 2015. Five years later, two dozen restaurants have opened in a sprawling area they’re calling Phase 1. Pedestrians will also find Scheels sporting goods, a Galaxy movie theater, an Andretti indoor go-kart track and a 180-foot-tall Ferris wheel.
But hop back in the car and take a short drive around the perimeter, and Grandscape has more to discover, like a brewery named Windmills, the food truck park Truck Yard, a Mi Cocina and more.
“We really wanted it to have this meandering feeling,” Lind said during a Dallas Morning News interview in February 2020, when some of the first restaurants were expected to open a few weeks later. It was going to be a grand spring for Grandscape, which had been in the works for nearly 10 years. But then the coronavirus pandemic swooped in during the last mile of the race.
Lind put on the brakes: “We thought it would be irresponsible to try to drive traffic in the midst of this week-to-week change [during the pandemic],” he says now.
More than a year after its planned debut, Grandscape is welcoming droves of visitors to its indoor-outdoor spaces in 2021. The company is in a rare spot; it has “extremely patient capital,” Lind says, financed in part by billionaire Warren Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway, which owns 80% of Nebraska Furniture Mart.
Eventually, the $1.5 billion project could cost an additional $2 billion, depending on development plans.
Here are five things to know about North Texas’ biggest restaurant park, Grandscape.
No. 1: It’s big.
What you see at Grandscape so far — 26 restaurants and 13 stores — is the first of three phases.
“Just as excited as we are about what we have, we’re excited about what’s to come,” says Katie Wedekind, campaign and media relations manager for Grandscape.
The project will span 433 acres, built on land purchased in 2011. Lind has been working for the company since 1983, and he first visited the vacant property in 2008 or 2009.
In Phase 2, new buildings will connect the movie theater to Nebraska Furniture Mart with new retail and a hotel.
In Phase 3, Lind and his team will focus on the east side of the development, near Spring Creek Parkway. It is not in active construction right now.
How big is 433 acres? Compare it to other large-scale restaurant and retail complexes in North Texas:
- Highland Park Village: 9.9 acres
- The Star in Frisco: 91 acres
- Trinity Groves in West Dallas: nearly 100 acres
- The Village in East Dallas: 307 acres
- Shops at Legacy in Plano: 168 acres
- Legacy West in Plano: 240 acres
- Legacy West + Shops at Legacy: 408 acres — still smaller than Grandscape
No. 2: Look for local.
Plano-based Velvet Taco has plans to open a new restaurant at Grandscape in April 2022.
Another local restaurant company moving into the grand development is Radical Hospitality, which operates Denton’s Barley & Board (open now) and LSA Burger Co. (expected in late 2021). Other brands from the North Texas area with restaurants now open at Grandscape are: Stephenville-born restaurant Hard Eight BBQ; live music venue Lava Cantina; Liberation Coffee, which is also in Coppell and Lake Dallas; and Mi Cocina and Truck Yard, both of which originated in Dallas.
The presence of homegrown restaurants helps legitimize the development in their own backyards, says Clay Dover, president of Velvet Taco.
“We’ve kept our eye on that development for the last several years,” Dover says. He lives close enough to see Grandscape from his neighborhood.
Given Grandscape’s size, Dover considered opening two Velvet Tacos in the development: “It’s that big,” he says.
“We think the draw of that area is ridiculous,” he says. “There’s great residential growth right around there, there’s that giant apartment complex being built right in the center. It’s just a development unlike anything else that we’ve ever seen.”
Velvet Taco has grown to 29 restaurants across the U.S., with 11 more expected to open in 2022. Beyond Grandscape, Velvet Taco will open D-FW-based restaurants in Allen in July 2022 and in Grapevine in November 2022, Dover says.
Lind traveled all over the world to scout for tenants, including to Bangalore, India, to talk with the operators of Windmills, a brewery, restaurant and live music venue that is now open in The Colony.
Before signing leases, his team “secret shopped” every restaurant they took interest in. They said “no thanks” to at least 150 restaurants.
No. 3: Take your kids.
After parking in one of the free lots, walk to the turfed area with a live music stage, outside of Scheels. Kids can dance and run while parents sip a latte from Liberation Coffee Co. or snack on ice cream from Kilwins.
My family especially likes the patio at Parry’s Pizzeria & Taphouse. It’s on the edge of the lawn, which means a great view of the fun on the green.
Older kids might enjoy a spin on the Ferris wheel, a trip to “Jurassic World: The Exhibition” or a thrill at Andretti Indoor Karting & Games.
No. 4: Date night works here, too.
An under-construction area of Grandscape called the Grotto will soon feel like the spot for adults.
Right now, there’s Seven Doors Kitchen & Cocktails and Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux. A two-story Thirsty Lion Gastropub is expected to open in March 2022; Italian spot Quartino is coming sometime next year as well.
The most upscale restaurant in Grandscape is Davio’s, an elegant Northern Italian steakhouse. Here, dinner could include a seafood tower with Maine lobster, lump crab, blackened tuna and more; pastas like butternut squash agnolotti or gnocchi with mushrooms and truffle butter; or a 55-day aged rib-eye.
Davio’s has seven private dining areas that can seat groups that range from 10 people to 140. And the restaurant schedules fun events, like a gingerbread house workshop on Dec. 14, hosted by KISS-FM’s Kellie Rasberry, and a Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve.
Another restaurant that foodies will want to know about is Akira Back, a modern Japanese and Korean fusion place named for its chef, who hails from Michelin-starred restaurants. Akira Back is expected to open in January 2022.
No. 5: My favorite spot? Truck Yard.
Drive away from the epicenter of Grandscape and you’ll find Truck Yard, an outdoor bar that looks hidden. But the secret’s out: Hundreds of people hang out there on weekends, lounging on mismatched patio chairs and listening to live music.
This Truck Yard is better than the original in Dallas. It’s more spacious and more charming, but it maintains that do-it-yourself vibe. You deliver your own dinner from trucks parked on-site. You go get your own beer. Fans of sour beers might want to check out Beard Science, a funky brewery on-site selling weird flavors like pickle-infused beer and a pumpkin spice Belgian ale.
After hours of shopping, eating and entertaining kids at Grandscape, Truck Yard is a laid-back oasis, away from all the fuss. It’s a great spot to finish the day.
The Grandscape Wheel, at 5740 Grandscape Blvd., The Colony, is a good center spot to park, between Nebraska Furniture Mart and Scheels, with access to well over a dozen restaurants. For other Grandscape restaurants or bars a short drive away, map to Truck Yard at 5959 Grove Lane, The Colony; or Windmills at 5755 Grandscape Blvd., The Colony.
