MIDLOTHIAN – Several Midlothian and Ellis County locals ask, “Now that City Hall and the Library have opened, what about the new restaurants?” Driving through downtown Midlothian, residents see several restaurants under construction that aren’t showing visible progress.
Logan Gaddis of Leasing Impressions, whose company is involved in a number of the incoming restaurants to downtown Midlothian, said there has never been an official opening date for restaurants like Tequila, Mi Casa, and El Primo’s. His sense is the dates will be in the first quarter of 2025.
Gaddis and Stephen Hidlebaugh have been part of the excitement promised in the future for downtown Midlothian for a number of years.
“The old Campuzano’s is getting a complete rebuild with a new bar, a completely new expanded bar,” Gaddis said. “It is going be Tequila, but there has never been an official opening date. We will have a completely new kitchen, a complete remodel, and it will be a much larger bar, new everything, so a brand new restaurant.”
As for Mi Casa (formerly Jimmy’s), Gaddis said he does not know the opening date since Leasing Impressions finished their part of the project, which only involved the restaurant’s construction. The restaurant owner, Oscar Garcia, will decide the opening date.
El Primo’s restaurant is owned by the same owner as The Vault in Mansfield. Leasing Impressions solely worked on the design of El Primos and did not have their hands in any other aspect of that restaurant.
“There is a lot of new stuff coming in with City Hall opening, and now there are a lot of new dining choices in Midlothian,” Gaddis said.
Gaddis and Hidlebaugh are both Midlothian residents and have a strong love for Midlothian, so with that comes their excitement at the new downtown possibilities.
Leasing Impressions owns several historic properties and have renovated and redesigned them for commercial use. The company specializes in commercial, multifamily, and senior living and is the same company that developed Midlothian’s Founders Row.
Founders Row was a project Hidlebaugh loved, and he has been investing in Midlothian since 1997. It is a unique development of historic buildings from the 1890s to the 1920s. They were rescued from the bulldozer to be wonderfully transformed into a unique and exciting in-town retail and restaurant destination.
“We are super excited about the growth of Midlothian, and we are super excited about the new City Hall downtown and the Library,” Gaddis said. “As Stephen, my partner, would say, and he is better at this than me, we really were excited to keep the City Hall and Library downtown because that is the heartbeat and the old historic downtown. We have seen so many historic downtowns that start to fail whenever City Hall moves off to the side of the highway because it does not have that downtown charm anymore. We are super excited going into 2025, the New City Hall is open, the Library is open, we are going to have more restaurant options, and downtown is going to finally be thriving again.”
Editor’s Note: Bearded Ax Brewery is experiencing delays with the developer and is aiming to open in the summer of 2025.
Current dining options in downtown Midlothian include Penn 2 Paper, Kim & Jenny’s, Twisted Sisters Tap House, Bovine Midlothian, Branded Burger, Villa Italiana, and Wilson’s Seafood, Porch Pour in Founders Row.
