Highland Park Soda Fountain on Knox Street in Dallas will become a new restaurant

The restaurant group behind The Charles in the Dallas Design District and Sister on Lower Greenville plans to open three new restaurants in 2022, including one at a historic Dallas address.

The site of the former Highland Park Soda Fountain on Knox Street in Dallas will become a new restaurant that preserves the facade of the old building. Customers are unlikely to order a grilled cheese and milkshake while sitting on dining room stools – although what exactly they will do instead is unclear. Chas Martin, Benji Homsey, Corbin See and Ross See, who operate a group of restaurants called Duro Hospitality, did not say what type of food they will sell or what their name will be.

An Italian menu would make sense in the former Highland Park Soda Fountain space, given Duro Hospitality’s runaway success with The Charles and Sister, at a time when Italian food has never tasted better in Dallas. But time will tell.

Martin says his restaurants create “organic, memorable experiences that transport guests out of the daily grind and into a place that’s welcoming and comfortable.”

The soda shop was 106 years old when it closed in 2018. The block has been washed away by a series of construction projects that are turning the neighborhood into an even bigger magnet for foodies and shoppers. The new HR is open (with a trendy restaurant on its roof), and the Weir building is under construction.

Pizzana, a pizzeria with celebrity owners, is set to open on Knox in the spring of 2022. These high profile spots join existing restaurants Georgie, Le Bilboquet, Toulouse, Taverna and others.

Beyond the Highland Park Soda Fountain project, Duro Hospitality is expected to open two more restaurants and a three-bedroom hotel in Dallas in 2022.

Duro Coffee is an Italian market and cafe next to Sister on Greenville Avenue in East Dallas. It’s a tiny place, at 900 square feet. After it opens in the next few months, customers can expect to find sandwiches, coffee, and wine. Those who enjoy the food at Charles and Sister will also be happy to find prepared pastas, cold cuts, cheese and pastries from these restaurants.

A unnamed restaurant at Cole Street and Riverfront Boulevard in the Dallas Design District is expected to open in mid-2022. It will be around the corner from the Dallas Contemporary and a 400 meter walk from the Charles. We don’t know much more, except this: it won’t serve Italian cuisine.

The group is also opening what could be the smallest hotel in Dallas. Above Sister and Cafe Duro in East Dallas are three apartments called Casa Duro are available at night. All three have kitchens and are fully furnished; two have two bedrooms and one has one bedroom.

It’s not a leap for Duro Hospitality to get into the hotel business, as founding partner Homsey worked at the ZaZa hotel for 20 years and the See brothers are interior designers.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.