Cannon Village - Oak Cliff
Cannon's grocery was the only place I ever stole anything. I got caught by Mom, Paula Craig, and had to walk all the way back to hang my head, return the candy bar, and beg forgiveness. MEMORABLE. I'm glad that space will have the potential to be loved and used well again.
from http://oakcliff.advocatemag.com/2014/02/residential-retail-planned-historic-cannons-village/
photo courtesy of the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League
An Oak Cliff family has purchased one of the oldest commercial buildings in our neighborhood with plans to rehabilitate the ground floor retail spaces and live on the second floor. Cannon’s Village, at West Davis and Edgefield, was built in 1922 and made the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League’s list of at-risk architecture in 2012.
Kacy and Dana Jones of Kessler Park bought the building with Dana’s parents, Forrest and Molly Boyd, in December. They plan to create two apartments in the 6,500-square-foot second floor. The Joneses will live in one of them with their two daughters, 10-year-old Harper and 8-year-old Campbell. And the Boyds will live in about 2,000 square feet. They expect that project to take about two years.
The ground floor comprises 14,500 square feet, and they will use 3,500 for a residential garage. The remainder could be ready for restaurant or retail tenants as soon as April.
“We’re going to be very patient,” says broker Nathan Wood of CBRE, who is marketing the building. “We’re not just going to lease it to anyone. It has to be just the right tenant.”
Since the building lies within the Winnetka Heights Historic District, exterior renovations will consist of restoring it to its 1922 look, Jones says.
“It’s easy because we want it to look just like it did in 1922,” he says.
Kacy and Dana Jones moved to Oak Cliff in 2001. Kacy also is a CBRE broker. They started personally investing in neighborhood real estate with the purchase of a four-unit apartment building a few years ago.
Molly Boyd, Dana’s mom, grew up in Oak Cliff, and the whole family has admired the Tudor revival style building for years.
“I decided I was going to make it my mission to buy it,” Kacy Jones says. The building was not on the market, but he contacted the New York-based owner and came to a deal late last year.
They originally had planned to create apartments to lease on the second floor, but then decided to live there themselves. A 7,000-square-foot flat roof over half of the first floor will be turned into their outdoor living space.
“We’ve always loved this building,” Jones says. “It’s one of the oldest retail buildings in Oak Cliff, and it’s just a beautiful building.”
I am so grateful it is to be restored. Cannon's English Village was a fascinating general store full of inexpensive delights -- much beloved. When it had been on the market for awhile, I asked Mr. Cannon why he would sell it. He said he was retiring and selling off his properties (he had a few), and he couldn't imagine why it hadn't already sold because "it never did anything but make money". So glad it will be loved again.