When Jack Waldie purchased the 30-acre tract on South Broadway Avenue in 1968, it was an empty field. When he opened a steakhouse on the site, friends told him he was making a big mistake.

“They thought he was crazy,” his daughter, Angie Waldie Hines, said. “There was nothing that far south – there was no mall, no loop. It’s a testament to his vision, that everything has developed around it and now the land on Broadway is so valuable.”

That site, which included the Little Red Schoolhouse for 30 years, is being redeveloped by the family. The old schoolhouse is being demolished and a restaurant and retail stores will be constructed in its place.

Ms. Hines said she grew up at the Red Barn Steakhouse, and spent three decades running the Little Red Schoolhouse. Last summer, the schoolhouse moved to St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church and was renamed the St. Mary’s Early Childhood Education Center.

The family still owns the land, she said, and will construct high-end retail and restaurant space to lease.

“My father passed away in 2011,” she said. “I wish he could have seen it – this was his vision.”