Crews begin work on Skillman-Abrams center, Alamo Drafthouse

The long-awaited Alamo Drafthouse and surrounding restaurants at Skillman-Abrams is becoming a reality.
That flurry of activity you may have noticed at the shopping center surrounding the old Tom Thumb (the even older Simon David) is the work of landlord, Retail Plazas, Inc. (RPI). The company’s contractors, which moved onsite this week, are beginning redevelopment of the center, which they are renaming Creekside.
“It’s not always the case that landlords and neighborhoods work this well together,” laughed Trey Hodge, VP of RPI as we stood in the center’s parking lot watching construction vehicles and work crews buzz about, “but lots of people from around here have contacted me to say they are excited about what’s coming. It’s been blighted and ugly for some time, and we get that. Neighbors want the Alamo Drafthouse, they want the new restaurants, and they are going to get them.”
RPI began refurbishment last week, working to get the façade ready for Alamo to begin “inside work” this week.
“The optimists say Alamo will be ready to open in four months,” said Hodge, laughing again. “The pessimists say it will be six. We will see.”
While Advocate readers in both East Dallas and Lake Highlands have debated in which neighborhood this project is located, movie buffs to the north and south will have a new option for cinema, not to mention the restaurant possibilities, coming soon.

​Article courtesy of Lakewood Advocate, written by Carol Toler