Dillard’s Helps Buy Texas Mall

In a variation of the classic man-bites-dog story, a department store chain is kicking in to help buy a mall it’s based in. Dillard’s Inc. (Little Rock, Ark.) has teamed with Trademark Property Co. (Fort Worth, Texas) to acquire the Longview Mall in east Texas.

In its coverage of the deal, CoStar News pegged its price tag at $34 million; the partners did not disclose how much of that total each had invested. (The seller was WPG, the news service reported.)

Dillard’s is one of the 646,000-square-foot Longview complex’s anchor tenants, along with Dick’s Sporting Goods, HomeGoods and JC Penney. The partners say their goal is to upgrade the property to make it more attractive and relevant to today’s shoppers.

“Longview Mall is a vital part of the region’s retail landscape, and we see strong potential to elevate both the customer experience and tenant roster,” said Terry Montesi, Trademark’s founder and CEO said in a news release.

In an interview with CoStar News, Montesi said deal “debunks the myth that malls are falling by the wayside,” with tenants such as Dillard’s proving the profitability of a mall tenant. Since 2009, there’s been limited new retail construction outside of grocery-anchored retail centers, he added.

“It’s a good time to invest in retail,” Montesi said. “The fundamentals are so strong, and institutional capital is still limited. We are actively looking for new retail.”

In the release on the deal, Dillard’s CEO William T. Dillard II said: “Longview is a strong market for Dillard’s, and we look forward to building on our successful, long-term relationship with the Trademark team.”

In addition to its anchors, the mall’s tenant mix includes Bath & Body Works, Foot Locker, H&M, Kay Jewelers, Auntie Anne’s, Chick-fil-A and Chuck E. Cheese. Patronized by an estimated 3.7 million visitors a year, it is the only enclosed regional mall within a 45-mile radius.

This is not Trademark’s first rodeo when it comes to working to improve a Dillard’s-anchored mall. Its inaugural effort along those lines took place 2008-10, when it redeveloped the 1-million-square-foot La Palmera in Corpus Christi, Texas.