Gillon Property Group To Expand Highland Park Village

The owners of the Dallas landmark shopping center Highland Park Village plan to spend $11 million to renovate two buildings.

Highland Park Village LP, managed by Gillon Property Group, filed plans with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to renovate two buildings in the outdoor center at 47 Highland Park Village. The project would renovate 3,500 square feet in Building C and 7,000 square feet in Building D, and Highland Park Village LP estimated that the changes will cost $11 million altogether.

The company filed the plans on Thursday, originally estimating a cost of $25 million. The cost estimate changed on Monday. TDLR filings are preliminary and subject to change.

The seven-building complex covers the block formed by Preston Road, Mockingbird Lane, Livingston Avenue and Douglas Avenue in Highland Park, one of the state’s most expensive neighborhoods. The shopping area spans about 259,000 square feet, with the original 1931 structures accounting for 231,000 square feet, according to public records. Building C faces Douglas Avenue, and Building D is at the corner of Douglas and Mockingbird Lane, according to plans by architecture firm Omni Plan.

The property’s website shows two spaces in Building C as vacant, marked “Coming Soon.” Highland Park Village management occupies Building D. Tenants in the buildings include Dior, Beretta, Oscar de la Renta and the restaurant The Honor Bar.

Gillon Property Group, a Dallas-based commercial real estate company, was formed last year. Gillon consolidated the portfolios of the Washburne and the Hunt-Hill families, two prominent dynasties in Texas real estate.

Ray Washburne, founder of the Mi Cocina restaurant chain, bought Highland Park Village in 2009 for $170 million with his wife, oil heiress Heather Hill Washburne, and her sister Elisa Hill Summers and Elisa’s husband. Heather Hill Washburne is the granddaughter of Margaret Hunt Hill and great-granddaughter of Hunt Oil founder H.L. Hunt.

Gillon Property Group declined to comment.

Highland Park Village was one of the country’s earliest outdoor shopping centers, according to the Texas State Historical Association.