Prestonwood Town Center

Prestonwood Town Center was a two-level enclosed shopping mall located at the northeast corner of Belt Line Road and Montfort Drive in Dallas, Texas that opened in 1979 and was demolished in 2004. The mall contained a central ice rink. Prestonwood Town Center was replaced by a 62-acre (250,000 m2) retail shopping center of the same name that opened in 2006. The new center includes Barnes & Noble, DSW, Michaels, Office Depot, Petco, Ulta Beauty, and Walmart as well as various restaurants and services.

Prestonwood Town Center
LocationDallas, Texas, United States
Coordinates32.95574°N 96.81691°W / 32.95574; -96.81691
AddressBelt Line Road
Opening date1979
Closing date2000 (Mall demolished late 2003, Neiman Marcus demolished may 2004)
No. of stores and services0
No. of anchor tenants5 (0 open, 5 closed)
No. of floors2

History

The current property occupies the site of a former, enclosed shopping mall that was also officially named Prestonwood Town Center, but was informally known locally as Prestonwood Mall. A two-level mall opened in 1979 featuring anchor stores Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, JCPenney, Joske's, and Montgomery Ward. Wards closed its location in November 1984 and was replaced by Mervyn's in April 1985.[1][2] In 1987, Joske's was changed into Dillard's as a result of a buy-out.[3] A central ice rink was used by skaters and after hours by local hockey leagues.[4]

While the mall remained near full occupancy into the 1990s, two problems arose in the 1980s that eventually contributed to its demise. First, local competition increased steadily over the years as many nearby malls opened or extensively renovated their spaces for new stores. In 1982, the Dallas Galleria opened with anchor stores Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Field's, and later in 1985 with Macy's. In 1983, Bloomingdale's opened at nearby Valley View Center. Second, the opening of the nearby DART Transit Center in 1985 (see below) allowed local teenagers to travel by bus to and from the mall with little to no parental supervision, giving them ample opportunity to loiter at the mall or close by for hours, which soon led to incidents of criminal mischief that would harm the mall's reputation for years.[5] Major renovations that were planned to start in 1996 never materialized and the anchor stores soon began closing. Citing poor sales, JCPenney closed its location in September 1997 and was quickly followed by Mervyn's. With Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor as the only two anchor tenants remaining by 1999, they each announced plans to relocate to The Shops at Willow Bend, a new mall in nearby Plano, which opened in 2001.

Archon Group bought the mall in 2000 with major plans to renovate it into a telecommunications-based development called "Genisus Dallas North." After extensive remodeling and only limited use, Archon announced in October 2003 that they would demolish the enclosed mall structure instead and replace it with an open-air retail shopping center.[6] By summer 2004, it was completely demolished.

Anchor tenants
Name No.
of floors		 Year
opened		 Year
closed		 Notes
Dillard's 2 1987 1998 Replaced Joske's
JCPenney 2 1979 1997
Joske's 2 1979 1987
Lord & Taylor 2 1979 2001
Mervyn's 2 1985 1997 Replaced Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward 2 1979 1984
Neiman Marcus 2 1979 2001

Former features

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.[7] This dispute lasted for several years,[8] 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.[9]

References
  1. Hansard, Donna Steph (1984-11-03). "Montgomery Ward to close Prestonwood outlet". The Dallas Morning News. 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.
  2. Simnacher, Joe (1985-04-21). "Mervyn's plotting eastern expansion". The Dallas Morning News.
  3. Hansard, Donna Steph (1987-04-14). "Dillard to buy out Joske's". The Dallas Morning News.
  4. Sanz, Cynthia (1988-10-27). "Suspended Fanimation". The Dallas Morning News.
  5. Edgar, Mark (1985-11-10). "Shopping malls to beef up security for holiday season". The Dallas Morning News.
  6. "Retail center planned for former Prestonwood Mall site". Dallas Business Journal. 2004-02-23.
  7. Maxon, Terry (1985-12-06). "DART stop causes friction". The Dallas Morning News.
  8. Wade, Norma Adams (1986-09-22). "Park and Ride Problems: Passengers' cars trespass on private parking". The Dallas Morning News. 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.
  9. Hartzel, Tony (1999-05-25). "DART boosts service in Addison, elsewhere". The Dallas Morning News.
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