What Should They Build on the Site of Valley View Mall (R.I.P.)?

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John F. Rhodes/Staff Photographer In today’s Dallas Morning News (staff photograph here by John F. Rhodes) is a great story about the fate of  Valley View Mall. As you may know, there is a five-year expansion project underway for LBJ and the 38-year old shopping center, which is in default and up for sale by its creditors, will be razed to make better economic use of the property.

What do you think will be built in ValleyView’s place? Tall office towers? Apartments and condos? Perhaps a planned urban living area where residents could walk to everything within a one or two mile radius?

I remember Valley View Mall as the Queen she once was: Sanger Harris which became Foleys, and Bloomingdales chose Valley View for its only store in Dallas. Of course, that didn’t last long. As the giant department stores folded one into the other, and as shopping centers became the wastelands of America — gathering spots for snotty, loitering teenagers, magnets for crime, Valley View added in a movie theater which may have generated some income while the stores continued to drop off. As I learned at the Urban Land Institute, Gen Y cannibalizes American shopping centers: they shop and spend money on line, but hang out with friends at shopping centers where they consume nothing but A/C and toilet paper.

Valley View’s owner, Macerich Co., walked on a $125 million note a year ago, and word is the lot will be son for less than what’s owed the creditors.

So let’s steer forward ten years: that dusty LBK expansion is finished, we have stopped re-routing ourselves to DFW on Royal Lane, what do we see in the place of Valley View Mall?

Candy Evans, founder and publisher of CandysDirt.com, is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters.

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  1. Grace on July 19, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    I happen to know that JCPenney owns their building and has no plans to close their doors. Not site who owns Sears. I believe that Dillards owns their building, but of course they closed their doors. Can they force JCPenney’s to sell?

  2. Grace on July 19, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    I happen to know that JCPenney owns their building and has no plans to close their doors. Not site who owns Sears. I believe that Dillards owns their building, but of course they closed their doors. Can they force JCPenney’s to sell?

  3. Scott M. on July 19, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    OH JESUS!! I hope not another outlet mall or “big box” store!! I’m thinking a “Southlake Town Center” type of development. Of course, the reason that, first Prestonwood, and then Valley View failed was The Galleria. Anytime you get two or more major shopping experiences that close together, at least one will emerge as the favorite and win out.

  4. Scott M. on July 19, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    OH JESUS!! I hope not another outlet mall or “big box” store!! I’m thinking a “Southlake Town Center” type of development. Of course, the reason that, first Prestonwood, and then Valley View failed was The Galleria. Anytime you get two or more major shopping experiences that close together, at least one will emerge as the favorite and win out.

  5. Ed Murchison on July 20, 2011 at 10:03 am

    I hope someone will save the mosaic mural on the old Foley's building…

  6. Ed Murchison on July 20, 2011 at 10:03 am

    I hope someone will save the mosaic mural on the old Foley's building…

  7. Lisa75229 on July 21, 2011 at 12:11 am

    How about a super Walmart with a kosher section?

    • Peter Stawicki on July 21, 2011 at 10:19 am

      Being that its no where near the rail lines, a "Stack & Pack" urban center wouldnt be a good fit. I would think something like what they did at Beltline & Montfort would be a much better fit. Though with the low economic issues in the area immediately north and west, I think you need something to promote future growth not just stagnation.
      Lisa I love the idea of a Kosher deli somwhere beyond Tom Thumb on Preston & Forest.

  8. Lisa75229 on July 21, 2011 at 12:11 am

    How about a super Walmart with a kosher section?

    • Peter Stawicki on July 21, 2011 at 10:19 am

      Being that its no where near the rail lines, a "Stack & Pack" urban center wouldnt be a good fit. I would think something like what they did at Beltline & Montfort would be a much better fit. Though with the low economic issues in the area immediately north and west, I think you need something to promote future growth not just stagnation.
      Lisa I love the idea of a Kosher deli somwhere beyond Tom Thumb on Preston & Forest.

  9. Kimberly on July 21, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    It's a great location, but not a great area… if that makes sense. It's hard to imagine a trendy commercial/residential complex doing well in that area.

  10. Kimberly on July 21, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    It's a great location, but not a great area… if that makes sense. It's hard to imagine a trendy commercial/residential complex doing well in that area.

  11. […] View Mall has apparently been purchased by the Jeff Beck family, who plans to turn the hollow, seemingly vacated, 39 year old mall into an outdoor complex called “Dallas Midtown.” According to WFAA-TV,  a press […]

  12. […] View Mall has apparently been purchased by the Jeff Beck family, who plans to turn the hollow, seemingly vacated, 39 year old mall into an outdoor complex called “Dallas Midtown.” According to WFAA-TV,  a press […]

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