If you live in Knox-Henderson, you already know the block is under construction. The scaffolding on Travis, the crane over the corner of Knox and Cole, the plywood where Chuy's used to sit. What's easy to miss when you're just trying to get to Village Baking Co. for a coffee is the scale of what's actually being built and how fast the neighborhood's center of gravity is about to shift.
Here is the thesis in one sentence: within an 18-month window bookended by Caffe Lucca's April opening and The Knox hotel's Fall 2026 debut, a four-acre stretch you've been walking past for years is turning into something you will not recognize. This is a dispatch on where things stand as of July, written for people who already live here.
The Block That's Rebuilding Itself
The Knox Street development sits on roughly four acres adjacent to the Katy Trail, and the numbers give a sense of the density. It will introduce more than 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, plus The Knox Residences featuring 48 ultra-luxury condominiums managed by Auberge Resorts Collection. There is also a 186-unit luxury multifamily building with up to four-bedroom units, and a 150,000 square foot boutique office building that's 100% pre-leased to ISN, Paul Hastings, and BDT & MSD Partners. The plan adds a new half-acre outdoor park directly connected to the Katy Trail, ringed by al fresco dining.
The joint venture behind it is BDT & MSD, Trammell Crow Company, the owners of Highland Park Village, and The Retail Connection. That ownership group matters. The Highland Park Village team does not chase national mall tenants, which is why the announced lineup looks the way it does.
Here is the rough opening calendar based on what's been publicly announced:
| What | Type | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| The Knox (Auberge Collection hotel + residences) | Hotel, 48 condos | Fall 2026 |
| Sant Ambroeus | All-day Milanese, 7,800 sq ft | 2026 |
| DÔEN, STAUD, TOTEME, TWP | First Texas storefronts | 2026 |
| Théa Mediterranean Rooftop | Sam Fox rooftop concept | Early 2027 |
| The Main House | Restaurant at former Mashburn space | 2027 |
Sant Ambroeus, the Italy-based contemporary Milanese concept, will take a 7,800 square-foot space with all-day dining and a patio overlooking the Katy Trail. Théa Mediterranean Rooftop is coming to Knox Street next to the Katy Trail and will open in early 2027. Its Dallas location will be a two-story layout with 8,600 square feet indoors and 3,000 outdoors, with guests entering at ground level for daytime dining before moving upstairs to the main restaurant featuring indoor and outdoor bars, a terrace, and a live-action kitchen. The Main House will take over the former Mashburn space at 3333 Knox St., Ste 145, at the corner of the Katy Trail, in 2027.
The Restaurant Everyone Is Trying To Get Into
If you tried to book Caffe Lucca in April, you already know the answer. Caffe Lucca is now open in the Knox-Henderson neighborhood. Jason Garrett partnered with longtime Dallas restaurateur Julian Barsotti, whose other restaurants include the Michelin-recommended Barsotti's, the Bib Gourmand-anointed Nonna's, the Tex-Mex spot Odelay, casual Italian Fachini, pizza and jazz lounge Bacari Tabu, and SMU sports bar Goodbye Horses.
For now, Caffe Lucca is only open four hours a day, from 5 to 9 p.m., seven days a week, at 4445 Travis St. That is the practical detail worth knowing. It is a dinner-only room with a small footprint and a former Cowboys head coach who has had a regular presence at previews and early dinners, though the odds of catching him are better outside of football season, as he moonlights as a studio analyst for NBC Sports.
What The Retail Lineup Actually Tells You
The four apparel names that got announced last winter are worth reading closely. Knox Street revealed that DÔEN, STAUD, and TOTEME will be opening their first standalone Texas locations, in addition to TWP. DÔEN and STAUD both originated in California (in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, respectively), and TOTEME is a fashion house rooted in Swedish sensibilities.
None of those brands have a Texas footprint yet. That is the tell. This is a leasing strategy aimed at the same customer who was already flying to New York or Los Angeles to shop, and it is why the sidewalk is going to look different than it did during the Chuy's era. Just up the street, Kith opened its first Texas store at the corner of Knox Street and McKinney Avenue in the former Anthropologie space, with an in-store Kith Treats bar serving cereal-infused ice cream.
The Trail Behind Your House Is Also Changing
The other quiet piece of news is on the greenbelt itself. The Katy Trail 2024 City Bond Projects will bring a new entrance to the Trail and landscape restoration north of Knox. If you walk or run this stretch daily, that is the update to watch. Maintaining the 3.5-mile Katy Trail comes with an annual cost of over $1.5 million, and the Spring 2026 campaign raised a record-breaking $170,000 in operations funds for the Trail for the first half of the year.
The signature event is still on the calendar. The 28th annual Katy 5K, billed as Dallas' favorite race disguised as a party, starts at Reverchon Park and takes over the Katy Trail for an evening. The Katy Picnic Party after the finish line pours from 35+ local restaurants. If you have out-of-town friends visiting in the fall and you want to show them why you moved here, this is the event to time it around.
The Stalwarts That Still Anchor The Block
Every conversation about "what's coming" tends to erase what is already good. A quick inventory of the places that will still be here after the cranes leave:
- Knox Bistro. In its first Texas survey, Michelin Guide commended the "experienced team of French émigrés" responsible for the abundant charm of this bright and breezy bistro. 3230 Knox St, Ste 140.
- Katy Trail Ice House. The Ice House sits right along the Katy Trail, considered by many to be the best patio in Dallas, an Austin-style beer garden with tree-shaded tables and 50 beers on tap.
- Village Baking Co. Freshly baked pastries and lattes to-go, or a sit-down al fresco dinner.
- The Georgie Butcher Shop. Sandwiches, pastries, and coffee, described as "everything you love about Georgie, just in a smaller package."
- Cafe Madrid. A neighborhood legacy from the pre-boom Knox-Henderson, still standing.
Knox Bistro shares an operator, Travis Street Hospitality, with Le Bilboquet, Georgie, The Georgie Butcher Shop, Rose Café, and Frenchie, which is why the French bench in this pocket runs unusually deep for a neighborhood this small.
What This Actually Means If You Live Here
The honest read is that summer 2026 is the last stretch where you can walk Knox at a pace that still feels like the old neighborhood. Once The Knox opens in the fall, the sidewalk math changes. Upon completion, the Knox Street project will feature 1 million square feet of space adding to the more than 70 existing shops and restaurants in the area. More density, more foot traffic, more valets, and, if the Highland Park Village playbook holds, a very different tenant profile than the Chuy's-and-Chili's stretch some of us moved in for.
Whether that trade lands well depends on which restaurant you were loyal to. What is not debatable is the pace. Caffe Lucca in April, hotel and residences in the fall, Sant Ambroeus and the first wave of retail through 2026, Théa and The Main House in 2027. Five years of restaurant news compressed into eighteen months.
The practical suggestion, from someone who watches this block for a living: pick two or three of the stalwarts you want to keep visiting, and get in the habit now. The patios at Katy Trail Ice House and Knox Bistro are not going anywhere, but the wait for a table will not get shorter.
If you have questions about how the Knox Street build-out is reshaping property values, rentals, or resale timing in Knox-Henderson, Sergio Cardoza and the Cardoza Real Estate Group live and work this market daily. Find Your Next Sanctuary — Request a Free Consultation.
