Valley View Center is a super-regional shopping mall located at Interstate 635 and Preston Road in north Dallas, Texas, USA. It is owned and managed by Dallas-based Beck Ventures. The mall has an AMC Theatres, the only anchor remaining in operation.
Originally developed in 1973, the mall flourished and expanded in the 1980s, but began to encounter financial difficulties in the 1990s. Bloomingdale's closed its location in 1990, which triggered a court battle when Montgomery Ward attempted to acquire the anchor space once occupied by Bloomingdale's, which resulted in the space remaining empty until JCPenney opened there in 1996. The original movie theater closed in 1991, stayed empty for over a decade, and was eventually renovated and replaced with studio spaces for radio stations KBFB and KZMJ. A new, larger AMC movie theater later opened in 2004. The addition of the new theater slowed, but did not halt, the mall's falling fortunes. Macy's (who acquired the department store Foleys only blocks away) and Dillard's closed their locations in 2008 and JCPenney later closed its location in 2013. All three respective anchor spaces have remained vacant despite differing proposed plans for renovation.
The 2010s saw the mall change ownership and management multiple times. Nearby demographic shifts and the continuing decline of occupancy led the owners to announce plans to redevelop the mall and surrounding area. In mid 2012, the mall began a new effort to create an artistic community. Dubbed "The Gallery at Midtown and Artists Studios," the wings remaining open were occupied by local artists' studios, galleries, and other creative groups.
Beginning December 2016, the mall site would be slated to begin demolition (with a few exceptions noted below) and the surrounding real estate would be set to be redeveloped into a mixed-use development that would be called Dallas Midtown. Much of these plans, however, have been indefinitely stalled due to ongoing legal conflicts, zoning, and the loss of public sector incentives from the City of Dallas.
As of June 2018, the former sites of JCPenney, Macy's, Dillard's, and the corridors to each are closed off from public access, and the first floor, which includes the former food court, are also inaccessible. Only AMC Theaters and the corridor to the former Sears site remain publicly accessible.
Video Dallas Midtown
History
The mall was originally developed around 1973 when Homart Development Company, the real estate development subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck & Co. at the time, added a Sanger-Harris and several smaller stores to the existing Sears store that had been built in 1965. In August 1973, as part of the mall's grand opening celebration, the Thom McAn Shoe Store offered a free 8-ounce steak with any purchase of $5 or more. This promotion drew local and national media attention.
LaSalle Street Fund bought the mall in the early 1980s and oversaw continued expansion, including the addition of a fourth anchor store. September 1, 1985, marked the first legal Sunday shopping day in the State of Texas. It, like other area malls, celebrated the end of the state's 24-year-old blue law with entertainment and special promotions. Some smaller retailers objected to the new hours but mall officials informed them in writing of their contractual obligations to operate while the mall is open. January 1, 1987, was the first New Year's Day that the anchor stores were open for business on the holiday. Many smaller stores in the mall followed their lead, although it would be a few years before every store would be obligated to be open on the first day of the new year.
The Macerich Company, a Santa Monica, California-based shopping center operator, purchased the mall in 1996 for a reported $85.5 million in cash and debt. Beginning around 2000, the neighborhoods near the mall became notably younger, poorer, and more ethnically diverse. According to the 2010 census, the surrounding neighborhood was 60% Hispanic with the percentage of white residents dropping from about 35% in 2000 to just under 25%. Around 2003, Steve & Barry's opened in a junior anchor space next to Foley's, which closed in 2008. In 2010, LNR Partners, Inc., of Miami, Florida, took possession of the mall when Macerich defaulted on $125 million in debt. Jones Lang LaSalle became responsible for mall management. The former space of Steve & Barry's reopened as Bontera Bazzar circa 2011, was renamed El Mercado the following year, and later closed in early 2017. With the 2012 change in ownership, Jones Lang LaSalle ended their management involvement as Beck Ventures took management in-house. With exceptions for AMC Theaters, Sears, and the then-current studios for radio stations KBFB and KZMJ, the rest of the mall site was slated to be demolished beginning in December 2016, with the mall site space and surrounding properties being redeveloped into a mixed-use development called "Dallas Midtown." But as of June 2018, much of these redevelopment plans have yet to come to fruition due to multiple, ongoing conflicts.
Maps Dallas Midtown
Current Anchors and Features
AMC Valley View 16
In 2000, as part of a general redevelopment of the mall, Valley View Center announced the addition of a 20-screen AMC movie theater as a fifth anchor. After several delays, construction for a 16-screen AMC movie theater began in June 2003 and officially opened on May 14, 2004. The grand opening was marked by a ceremonial "ticket-tearing" featuring Dat Nguyen and Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys. The stadium-style seating theater complex was built on top of the Sears anchor store so that no parking or retail space would be given up for the addition. As a result, this addition created a third, and even an unused fourth, floor of the mall.
The Gallery at Midtown and Artists Studios
As part of a cultural experiment, Beck Ventures began talks in mid 2012 with key local artists about creating a thriving, artistic community, along with North Texas' largest local artist cooperative gallery, later known as "The Gallery at Midtown and Artist Studios," located at the center of the western portion of Valley View Center. By 2014, this comprised over 90% of three upstairs wings of the mall. Surrounding the main gallery are several artist-run studios and showrooms, experimental galleries, private galleries, work spaces, a movie school, an actor's studio, and other artist groups. Every third Saturday of the month from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., the Gallery at Midtown and Artists Studios is open to the public for an "Art Walk."
Former Anchors and Features
Sears (1965-2017)
The 235,055 square feet (21,837 m2) Sears, Roebuck and Company anchor pre-dates the mall itself having been built in 1965. This Sears was built as a freestanding store on what was then the far north fringe of Dallas County and the location was largely surrounded by pasture land. Eight years later, the Homart Development Company would add a Sanger-Harris department store to the site and connect it to Sears with a corridor of specialty retailers to create Valley View Center.
In April 2017, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 30 stores nationwide. The store officially closed in July 16, 2017; but, unlike the other closed anchor sites, the interior corridor to the former store remains publicly accessible.
In December 2017, New York City-based Seritage Growth Properties, in partnership with Dallas-based KDC, announced plans to build two towers with up to a combined one million square feet of office space on 23 acres of the former Sears site.
Sanger-Harris (1973-1987) / Foley's (1987-2006) / Macy's (2006-2008 & 2011)
The mall's second anchor (300,196 square feet (27,889 m2)) opened in August 1973 as a two-level Sanger-Harris department store as part of the original Valley View Center development. A third floor was added to the store circa 1976. Sanger-Harris was merged with Foley's and renamed in 1987; then, the combined company was sold to May Department Stores in 1988. The store was renamed Macy's in September 2006 as a result of Federated Department Stores' purchase of the May Company in 2005. This location closed on March 15, 2008. The front parking lot was later fenced off from public access for automobiles April-December 2016. In September 2011, the building's owner at the time, Montfort Mall LLC, announced plans to fill the building with a "general merchandise" store. This particular plan never materialized.
In February 2017, the mosaic murals remaining from Sanger-Harris were removed and demolition on the site was officially commenced by the site's owner, EF Properties, with plans to redevelop the site for mixed-use redevelopment in partnership with Ross Perot Jr.'s Hillwood Urban. Total demolition, however, was not completed after Beck Ventures sued to prevent the site from being demolished completely. A trial on the fate of this particular plan is set for August, 2018.
Valley View Cinema 1 & 2 (1975-1991) / Radio One (2002-2017)
In 1975, a twin-screen movie theater owned and operated by General Cinema Corporation was added to the northeast corner of the mall. The theater, formally known as Valley View Cinema 1 & 2, closed in 1991. The facade of the movie theater was then boarded up and the interior furnishings were stripped out. The 13,240 square feet (1,230 m2) space remained empty until it was renovated in late 2001 by Radio One to house radio stations KBFB and KSOC. Renovation included leveling the sloping floors in the theater and installing new air-conditioning and heating units. Officially opened in January 2002, the broadcast studios, located on the mall's second level, are in what were originally the former theater's projection rooms. The area that originally housed the box office counters became the reception desk and part of one movie theater was retained as a 150-seat auditorium. The facility also includes a small basketball court, two production studios, a mix room, a newsroom, and office space.
Dillard's (1979-2008)
Dillard's department store, the mall's third anchor (302,268 square feet (28,082 m2)), opened in 1979 as a two-level store accompanied by further expansion of the mall. In October 1985, A third sales floor and a fourth floor storage room and penthouse was added to the Valley View Center store. Linens, furniture, electronics and housewares were relocated to the new third level and several clothing departments on the original two levels were expanded. A candy and cookie department as well as a juniors' department were added. On July 2, 2008, Dillard's announced that it would close this location effective August 30, 2008. After the store closed, the Dillard's signage on the building, and on the mall's road sign, still remained for a few months until they were removed by management, respectively. The entrances were shuttered and the mall's parking deck has been fenced off twice since closing: once from 2009 to 2013, and once again after November 2016.
Bloomingdale's (1983-1990) / JCPenney (1996-2013 & 2016)
LaSalle Street Fund purchased Valley View Center and expanded the mall again with more interior stores, including a fourth anchor store in 1982-1983. This (220,378 square feet (20,474 m2)) anchor location was for a Bloomingdale's, which opened its doors in 1983.
On August 18, 1990, Bloomingdale's closed this location due to declining sales and increased market competition. After the store's closure, the mall, which identified store locations by anchor store quadrants, furnished the former Bloomingdale's corridor with a grand piano, added landscaping and artwork, and branded the area as "The Conservatory." In August 1990, Montgomery Ward & Co. Inc. attempted to acquire the ground lease for this anchor space from Federated Department Stores Inc. through a bankruptcy court proceeding. The company had plans to buy the 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) building for a new Montgomery Ward location. Valley View Center's owner at the time, Chicago, Illinois-based LaSalle Street Fund Inc. of Delaware, filed an objection to this plan. In March 1991, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Cincinnati, Ohio, ruled that Federated may withdraw from its deal to sell the building in favor of a deal from the LaSalle Street Fund to "avoid further costs of litigation" and as it would be "a sound business decision." JCPenney opened a store at the location on October 19, 1996. The former Bloomingdales space was gutted in 1995-1996.
This location was the largest JCPenney store in the region from 1996-2012.
This particular store was the planned location of the "secret" prototype JCPenney store. The third floor was closed from public access in March 2012 and a new logo was placed on one side of the building four months later. In February 2013, JCPenney announced that this location would be closed on May 1, 2013, but did not actually undergo a liquidation sale because supposedly the store would reopen the next year. Everything on the second floor except the styling salon was closed off from the public in January and the store did close on May 1, 2013, as planned. This "store of the future" prototype was scheduled to open in the same space in 2014, but this never occurred because the company decided ultimately to not carry out their original plan. The north entrance was boarded up and the space was later used for storage circa May 2016.
The store closure signs were removed from the west entrance in early October 2016. Because of the failure to follow through with the "store of the future" reopening, from October 14-19, 2016, the location finally began its liquidation of the space's remaining items: furniture, office items, display cases, lighting fixtures, planters, shelving units, mannequins, holiday decor, and leftover merchandise.
However, the "JCPenney 1902" carvings on the mall entrances still remain and have yet to be removed or covered up.
Smart Shoppers Club (1994-2000)
In April 1994, Valley View Center added a frequent-shopper rewards program called the Smart Shoppers Club. Mall management said they planned to spend roughly $500,000 over the first two years of the program in a bid to increase mall traffic while collecting invaluable demographic data about mall shoppers. Within five months, 9,000 shoppers had joined the club and the mall announced a goal of 20,000 members by the end of 1994. Shoppers logged their visits by swiping their membership card and entering a personal identification number at one of the mall's three touch-screen kiosks. Member benefits included special discount coupons, free gifts, and the chance to win prizes. Club members also received a periodic Shopping Smart newsletter, a Valley View Center shopping bag, plus a birthday card and gift. The Smart Shoppers Club was terminated in late 2000 when it was replaced by a cardless web-based system called Centerlinq. Customers were then able to redeem their old Smart Shoppers Club cards at the mall's customer service desk for a Valley View Center T-shirt.
Dallas Children's Museum (2000-2006)
Originally opened in August 1998 at the Inwood Village shopping center, the Dallas Children's Museum relocated to Valley View Center in June 2000. The new museum, double the size of the previous location, was located on the second level of the mall between the former JCPenney and the space once occupied by the Disney Store. For six years, the museum hosted both touring cultural exhibits and permanent features, including a play hospital and kid-sized grocery store. In September 2006, the Museum of Nature & Science and the Dallas Children's Museum announced their merger and closed the Valley View Center location. The museum reopened in Fair Park as the Children's Museum at the Museum of Nature & Science in October 2006.
Current Status and Future Plans
Beginning in 2011, the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce become involved in an effort to coordinate the redevelopment of the mall and the surrounding area. In April 2012, then-new owners Beck Ventures announced a $2 billion redevelopment plan for the mall and surrounding property dubbed "Dallas Midtown" that will include retail, condominiums, and a "five star" hotel. To fill vacant spaces, storefronts were soon converted into artist studios and a gallery, which remain in place as June 2018. A mercado was set to be constructed in cooperation with a local Spanish-language radio station, and multiple food court restaurants would become home to test kitchens for local food trucks. Since 2012 however, various problems arose that have prevented much of the redevelopment plans from being carried out.
Approximately $36 million in tax incentives from the City of Dallas were rescinded when Beck Ventures failed to raze the original mall site in its entirety by the end of June 2016, as first planned. A later proposal in 2017 by Beck Ventures of $50 million in new incentives was rejected by the Dallas City Council.
In September 2017, 100 acres of the original mall site was proposed in a joint venture to be the location for Amazon HQ2.
Honors and awards
In November 2007, the International Council of Shopping Centers presented a Maxi award in the Community Relations category to Valley View Center for work with the Tejas Council of Girls Scouts.
See also
- List of shopping malls in Dallas, Texas
References
External links
- Valley View Center official website
- "AMC Valley View 16". AMC Theatres.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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