new mixed-use building rises on Richardson’s Main Street

A former printing shop on Richardson’s Main Street is being cleared for a three-story mixed-use building that could change how downtown feels at street level, from lunchtime traffic to evening business. At 100 E. Main Street, demolition began in early April, and owner Mohammad Asmar expects the new building to be finished by the end of 2026.

The project will bring 12,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space to a block that already sits inside the city’s broader CORE District revival effort. Asmar has not named tenants yet, but he said he wants a thoughtful mix of dining and retail uses. That matters on Main Street, where each new storefront can affect which pedestrians linger, which businesses catch spillover traffic, and how much pressure nearby property owners feel to upgrade their own spaces.

The site was once home to A to Z Printing & Signs, which moved in February to 1002 N. Central Expy., Suite 610, in Richardson. That relocation underscores one of the tradeoffs of downtown redevelopment: one small business made room for a larger mixed-use project, but the move also marked another step in turning a long-established commercial block into a more walkable destination. For longtime residents and merchants, the change looks like both revitalization and disruption, with construction activity now replacing a familiar storefront.

Richardson city leaders have spent years laying the groundwork for that shift. The city says its long-term downtown vision for The CORE District began with redevelopment ordinances adopted in 2015 and 2016, and since 2016 it has pushed Main Street reconstruction, drainage improvements, parking solutions, branding initiatives and community events. The two-year, $21 million Main Street Infrastructure Project added wider walkways, new landscaping, decorative lighting, public art and community gathering spaces, while the current Main Street Reconstruction Project covers Greenville Avenue to Abrams Road with pavement, utilities, pedestrian access, landscaping and streetscape work.

The private investment at 100 E. Main Street arrives alongside other nearby projects that reinforce the same direction. Belt + Main includes 15,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, 350 residential units and 7,000 square feet of amenity space, while Interurban Common gives the area another pedestrian-oriented public space. The city has also highlighted Soulcraft BBQ at 107 E. Main St. as another locally driven reinvestment in The CORE District. Taken together, those projects point to a downtown corridor where storefronts, apartments and public space are increasingly designed to feed one another, and where Main Street’s next chapter is being written block by block.