Prestonwood Town Center

Prestonwood Town Center is a 62-acre retail shopping center located at the northeast corner of Beltline Road and Montfort Drive in Dallas, Texas. The center opened in 2006. Major tenants include Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, Office Depot, and Wal-Mart. [cite news |first=Maria |last=Halkias |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=Retailers waiting with open doors |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/112306dnbusshopping.25ced2a.html |date=2006-11-27]

History

The current center occupies the site of a shopping mall that was also officially named Prestonwood Town Center, but which was informally known in the area as Prestonwood Mall. The two-level mall opened in 1979 featuring anchor stores Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, JCPenney, Joske's (later Dillard's) [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=Dillard to buy out Joske's |date=1987-04-14 |first=Donna Steph |last=Hansard] , and Montgomery Ward. (Wards departed in November 1984 and was replaced by Mervyns in April 1985. [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=Montgomery Ward to close Prestonwood outlet |date=1984-11-03 |first=Donna Steph |last=Hansard |quote=The two-story Prestonwood store -- which will close at the end of business on Nov. 17 -- will be occupied by California-based Mervyn's, according to real estate sources.] [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=Mervyn's plotting eastern expansion |date=1985-04-21 |first=Joe |last=Simnacher] ) The mall featured a central ice skating rink that was used after hours by area hockey leagues. [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=Suspended Fanimation |date=1988-10-27 |first=Cynthia |last=Sanz]

In 1982, Galleria Dallas opened nearby with anchor stores Macy's, Marshall Field's, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The next year, Bloomingdale's opened at nearby Valley View Center. The competition and the reputation of being a notorious teen hangout hurt Prestonwood, but it remained near full occupancy into the 1990s. [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=Shopping malls to beef up security for holiday season |date=1985-11-10 |first=Mark |last=Edgar]

Renovations planned in 1996 never materialized. Then the anchors began exiting the center. In September 1997, citing slow sales, JCPenney closed its store, followed shortly by Mervyns. By 1999, Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor were the only two tenants remaining in the center, and they had already announced plans to relocate to The Shops at Willow Bend, a new mall under construction in nearby Plano.

Archon Group bought the mall in 2000 to turn the mall into a telecommunication center called "Genisus Dallas North." After extensive remodeling and only partial usage, that failed too, and by October 2003, Archon dropped its plans for Genisus and announced that they would demolish the mall structure and replace it with an open-air retail shopping center. [cite news |work=Dallas Business Journal |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2004/02/23/daily7.html |title=Retail center planned for former Prestonwood Mall site |date=2004-02-23] By summer 2004, the mall had been completely demolished.

Former features

DART Transit Center

In 1985, Dallas Area Rapid Transit opened a major bus transfer station on a street bordering the Prestonwood Town Center parking lot. Mall officials warned commuters that this was not a park and ride facility and that their cars would be towed. [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=DART stop causes friction |date=1985-12-06 |first=Terry |last=Maxon] This dispute lasted for several years [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=Park and Ride Problems: Passengers' cars trespass on private parking |date=1986-09-22 |first=Norma Adams |last=Wade |quote= And at Prestonwood Town Center in far North Dallas, property manager Louis Canakes said the issue is a question of a public entity looking the other way while its customers infringe on private property rights.] but by 1988 a compromise had been worked out to use a limited parking area for park and ride commuters. Disputes between the transit agency and mall management closed the park and ride lot for a time in the mid-1990s but it eventually reopened. In 1999 this facility was closed and operations were transferred to the purpose-built Addison Transit Center nearby. [cite news |work=The Dallas Morning News |title=DART boosts service in Addison, elsewhere |date=1999-05-25 |first=Tony |last=Hartzel]

References

External links

* [http://www.archon.com/retail/projects_detail.asp?ID=10# Archon Group: Prestonwood Town Center]
* [http://www.archon.com/retail/images/projects/siteplans/Prestonwood_Site.jpgPrestonwood Town Center Site Plan]
* [http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/prestonwood_town_center.html Dead Malls: Prestonwood Town Center]
* [http://www.dallashistory.org/cgi-bin/webbbs_config.pl?read=29899 Prestonwood Mall Clock]