OVERVIEW
This project entailed the acquisition of a 458,000 SF power center on 25.8 acres, positioned directly across from the newly developed Prestonwood Town Center. Built in 1980, Village on the Parkway’s diversified tenant mix combines restaurant and specialty retailers, generating maximum traffic and promoting cross-shopping. It combines anchor, restaurant and specialty retailers.
It was 94% leased with notable anchor tenants such as Bed Bath & Beyond and 24 Hour Fitness, as well as other national and local restaurants. It’s located at the intersection of Beltline Road and the Dallas North Tollway. Proximity to major thoroughfares provides steady exposure and accessibility to this large trade area — approximately 200,000 cars pass the property each day. The project serves a densely populated trade area with income levels exceeding the national average.
OPPORTUNITIES | CHALLENGES
Upon completion, the redevelopment of VOP was the largest adaptive re-use and rehabilitation of retail space in decades. This project impacted the DFW retail real estate market and economy in a number of significant ways, including transforming a highly visible vacant 145,000 square foot building and half vacant shopping center into a highly productive operating enterprise.
The economic impact was over $100 million in added sales within three years, significant added property value, and over 1,000 added jobs. The redevelopment corrected a design that has undermined the project from its inception and has led the shopping center to underperform for its owners and community, at this major quadrant in North Dallas.
The key to the strategy was to provide major anchors in both the southern and northern zones of the project to drive customer traffic into the heart of the property. Specifically, the Town of Addison wanted a specialty grocer and a movie theatre, which they felt were the highest and best uses for the center. Whole Foods and AMC were the clear choices. The new ownership team—The Retail Connection, Lincoln Property Company, and Long Wharf Real Estate Partners—was successful in securing both.
Meeting the requirements of improved access and additional parking was next, as well as design and infrastructure updates. The team demolished half of the buildings on the underperforming 30 acre asset, reconfigured its layout, built new construction, added new access off one of the highest trafficked roads in the DFW metroplex, remodeled existing buildings, included landscape upgrades, added density with substantially higher quality retailers, as well as totally repositioned the project for its long term success.
The anchor spaces were positioned to book end and energize the activity for the interior shops. A pedestrian-friendly environment was being created with a unique ambiance. The former Bed Bath & Beyond was demolished and relocated, and Whole Foods was constructed—opening during the summer of 2013 along with other new retailers in the north zone. AMC’s Super Lux theater anchor opened in the south zone in 2014. Village on the Parkway’s development plan came together as projected.
RESULTS
The partnership successfully repurposed one of the most complex retail redevelopment challenges in the history of Dallas real estate, complicated further by the economic environment that Dallas and the country were facing at the time the deal was structured.
Only with the retail real estate experience, financial savvy, creativity and market knowledge of the team—along with the support provided by the Town of Addison—was this transformation of a Dallas retail icon possible. As one of the first lifestyle centers ever built in the US, it was made once again into a premier shopping destination in North Dallas. Village on the Parkway became the most high profile major redevelopment of a shopping center in DFW in 25 years.