Crews broke ground on Anthem, a $135 million-plus redevelopment that will transform 70,000 square feet of the long-struggling Lincoln Square shopping center into a 404,000-square-foot destination of walkable restaurants, retail, and public gathering space, on August 3, 2026. Ten tenants have already signed on, nine of them entirely new to Arlington, signaling developers believe the city's north side is primed to catch up with the rest of the metroplex.
The project, led by Trademark Property Co. and Harrison Street Asset Management, is expected to be complete by early 2028 and spans 43 acres, according to Bisnow. Trademark has also obtained zoning for a future phase of the site that would add multifamily housing, office space, and a hotel, pointing to ambitions well beyond retail alone. The groundbreaking itself, held August 3, was structured as a public-private partnership with the Arlington Economic Development Corporation, according to the City of Arlington.
Monica Luera Kessler said Arlington is the place to do business in Tarrant County, per the same Bisnow report, a sentiment that dovetails with the city's broader push to close a retail square-foot-per-capita deficit that has left North Arlington trailing both the wider DFW region and South Arlington. Garret Martin said the corridor between the Entertainment District and Downtown Arlington is ripe for development, and he expects more projects to follow Anthem's lead.
Opportunity Zones and a Downtown Still Finding Its Shape
Part of that momentum could come from federal backing: several tracts along Collins Street have been nominated for a new iteration of the Opportunity Zone program, designed to spur private investment in underinvested areas. The stretch between the Entertainment District and Downtown Arlington remains underdeveloped, with walkability a focus of efforts to make it a destination.
That car-oriented layout traces back to the 1970s, when Arlington demolished much of its historic fabric during urban renewal, creating a city built around automobiles rather than pedestrians, per Bisnow's reporting. Arlington is now backing a wave of projects meant to reverse that legacy, including the 101 Center development, the expansion of the Urban Union district, and the revitalization of the Caravan Court hotel. Street Realty's Urban Union expansion along Front Street added 24 loft apartments, ground-floor dining, and plans for a 21,000-plus-square-foot office building, with accounting firm Sutton Frost Cary LLP set to occupy 11,000 square feet on its second story, connecting the district directly to Vandergriff Town Center, according to Dallas Innovates.
Division Hotel Management and Valencia Hotel Collection's $60 million overhaul of the historic 1961 Caravan Motor Hotel reopened in June as Caravan Court, a 143-room retro-style boutique hotel backed by municipal incentives. The project preserved the motor hotel's original neon sign while adding a rooftop lounge and resort pool, a nod to Arlington's mid-century roots even as the surrounding blocks modernize.
The Cowboys Eye Their Own Mixed-Use District
North of downtown, the Dallas Cowboys are weighing an even larger transformation around AT&T Stadium. Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones said last week that the franchise wants to build an area around the stadium similar to The Star, its 91-acre mixed-use campus in Frisco that includes more than 1.5 million square feet of office space, the 300-room Omni Frisco Hotel, a 170-unit luxury apartment tower, a 300,000-square-foot medical office building, and roughly 225,000 square feet of restaurants and retail, per Bisnow. Those Cowboys plans remain in early conceptual stages without formal city approvals or a committed budget, according to Hoodline's prior reporting on the team's stadium lease extension through at least 2055, which the Arlington City Council approved in April alongside $273 million in facility upgrades.
Those upgrades included raising the AT&T Stadium playing surface by nearly four feet and removing lower-bowl seating and suites to fit a regulation FIFA natural grass pitch, work completed ahead of nine 2026 World Cup matches hosted in Arlington, Hoodline previously reported. The stadium has anchored Arlington's economy since it opened in 2009, and the Entertainment District surrounding it now includes the Texas Rangers' home, a Six Flags theme park, and two Loews hotels, per Bisnow's account.
Residential and Cultural Anchors Reshape the Stadium Corridor
Housing has followed the stadium traffic, too. The Texas Rangers and The Cordish Companies opened One Rangers Way in February 2025, a $70 million, 300-unit luxury apartment community on Nolan Ryan Expressway that marked the first residential project built directly within the Entertainment District, according to the City of Arlington.
Cultural institutions have arrived alongside the apartments. The National Medal of Honor Museum, designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, opened near Choctaw Stadium and Globe Life Field, according to CBS News. Together with Anthem and the Cowboys' early-stage ambitions, the museum reflects a city trying to generate foot traffic that doesn't depend entirely on game days.
South Arlington Retail Faces a Different Kind of Churn
Not every corner of the city is adding square footage; some are retooling what's already there. Fairbourne Properties and AEW Capital Management are modernizing Arlington Highlands, a 747,000-square-foot open-air shopping center at Matlock Road and Center Street south of Lincoln Square, after occupancy dipped below 96%. David Harvey said the tenant departures generally stemmed from national retailers closing stores rather than any weakness specific to Arlington, Bisnow reported, and the turnover is now being treated as a chance to modernize the center and attract new retailers.
The Anthem groundbreaking, the Cowboys' early district talk, and the string of hotel, housing, and museum openings already completed underscore Arlington's push to be seen as a destination in its own right.
