As development continues to move vertical in the Knox neighborhood, one small business owner is keeping her feet on the ground.
Donica Jimenez opened Cafe Madrid, a tapas restaurant known for its cozy setting, Spanish classics, and unique wine list, in the 4500 block of Travis Street in 1990.
The business combined two of her longtime passions — food and Spain. She studied Spanish and Iberian Culture and History at SMU, but her interest in the region began years earlier while she was a student at The Hockaday School.
“I had an incredible high school Spanish teacher, and she used to bring us back her slides of her trips to Spain, and she brought the country to life for me,” Jimenez said. “I fell in love with (Spain) before I ever went there.”
The Cafe quickly proved that Jimenez, who lives in University Park, wasn’t the area’s only aficionado of Spanish cuisine.
“On day one, I had 11 people, and then on day two, I had 55 people,” she said. “It just took off.”
Meanwhile, a Houston-based developer had been buying property in the neighborhood.
One day, Jimenez’s landlord came to her about selling the building.
“I said, ‘Well, you know I have right of first refusal in my lease,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, but this is for a lot of money, there’s this big developer, they’ve been buying all this land since the 1980s,’” Jimenez said. “This piece of property was the last one that they were trying to get.”
She bought Cafe Madrid’s building 12 years ago.
“To me, it was worth it because I’m in it for the long term,” Jimenez explained. “Even with all the construction going on, we’ve definitely seen an uptick in business because so many people are moving not just to the neighborhood, but to Dallas in general.”
More than three decades after she installed Cafe Madrid’s brand-new commercial kitchen, Jimenez’s homage to Spanish culture still stands in its original spot. Other restaurants and businesses, meanwhile, have come and gone.
At the start of April, the former Chuy’s restaurant on McKinney Avenue near Knox Street was demolished to make way for a future 12-story tower.
That project is expected to include 280,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of ground floor retail and dining space. The building by BDT & MSD Partners, Trammell Crow Company (the owners of Highland Park Village) and The Retail Connection, dubbed Knox & McKinney, is scheduled for completion in 2028.
In February, the same joint venture partnership topped out on a mixed-use project that includes a 27-story apartment tower, 100,000 square feet of retail, 150,000 square feet of office space, a park, and the Knox Hotel and Residences operated by Auberge Collection.
The 27-story multifamily rental tower, dubbed The Lora, is expected to open this summer, and the Knox Hotel and Residences is set to debut later this year.
Jimenez attributed her business’ staying power to the support of its customers, who have championed Cafe Madrid for the past 36 years.
“People, customers are very appreciative of the fact that we’re still there,” Jimenez said, “and that we’re keeping some of the original history and the charm of the neighborhood.”
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