(somewhat OT) Dallas: demolition of Prestonwood Mall

[HoustonFreeways]

Since freeways and malls almost always go hand-in-hand, and MTR patrons seem
to take an interest in mall demolition, I posted some photos of what is
perhaps the nation's youngest mall to fall victim to the wrecking ball. (If
anyone knows of newer major malls that have been demolished, let me know.)

The mall photos are near the bottom of this page
http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2004-07_update.aspx

Prestonwood Town Center opened in 1979 as a state-of-industry upscale mall
including anchors Niemann Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Dilliards. It was one
of Dallas' hottest upscale areas in the early 1980s.

Serious decline began around 1997 when major stores began to close. The mall
itself was closed was closed in 1999, with only two anchors remaining.

Plans to convert the property into a telecommunications office center
collapsed with the high-tech bust. By late 2003 new plans were formulated
which required the demolition of the remaining parts of the mall (some of
the mall had already been demolished.)

Final demolition took place in May and June 2004, when I took the photos.

The mall is now gone.

[Jeff W]

Post by HoustonFreeways
Since freeways and malls almost always go hand-in-hand, and MTR patrons seem
to take an interest in mall demolition, I posted some photos of what is
perhaps the nation's youngest mall to fall victim to the wrecking ball. (If
anyone knows of newer major malls that have been demolished, let me know.)
The mall photos are near the bottom of this page
http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2004-07_update.aspx
Prestonwood Town Center opened in 1979 as a state-of-industry upscale mall
including anchors Niemann Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Dilliards. It was one
of Dallas' hottest upscale areas in the early 1980s.
Serious decline began around 1997 when major stores began to close. The mall
itself was closed was closed in 1999, with only two anchors remaining.
Plans to convert the property into a telecommunications office center
collapsed with the high-tech bust. By late 2003 new plans were formulated
which required the demolition of the remaining parts of the mall (some of
the mall had already been demolished.)
Final demolition took place in May and June 2004, when I took the photos.
The mall is now gone.

Interesting timing. A mall in St. Pete just closed last week and will
be demolished for one of these mixed urban town centers. Should look
nice, as long as they don't make a shopping center i'm fine.
And in todays paper, a struggling mall a few miles to the north was
just bought by Super-wal-mart.
I've been trying to get pictures of both since it's generally
impossible to get pics of old malls when they are gone.

[swissJohn29]

Post by HoustonFreeways
Since freeways and malls almost always go hand-in-hand, and MTR patrons seem
to take an interest in mall demolition, I posted some photos of what is
perhaps the nation's youngest mall to fall victim to the wrecking ball. (If
anyone knows of newer major malls that have been demolished, let me know.)
The mall photos are near the bottom of this page
http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2004-07_update.aspx
Prestonwood Town Center opened in 1979 as a state-of-industry upscale mall
including anchors Niemann Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Dilliards. It was one
of Dallas' hottest upscale areas in the early 1980s.

The original anchors were Neiman's, Lord & Taylor, Joske's (which
Dillard's bought in 1987), Montgomery Ward (they left their mall spot
(but kept their auto center running for a while longer) and Mervyn's
took it, only to be the first of the major retailers to leave when the
mall was in it's last days), and JCPenney (which opened another store
in the former Bloomingdale's spot at Valley View, and after a while
decided to leave Prestonwood)

Post by HoustonFreeways
Serious decline began around 1997 when major stores began to close. The mall
itself was closed was closed in 1999, with only two anchors remaining.
Plans to convert the property into a telecommunications office center
collapsed with the high-tech bust. By late 2003 new plans were formulated
which required the demolition of the remaining parts of the mall (some of
the mall had already been demolished.)

An apartment complex located in what was most of the east side parking
lot along Prestonwood Blvd.

Post by HoustonFreeways
Final demolition took place in May and June 2004, when I took the photos.
The mall is now gone.

It's really strange to see the mall gone. Actually an outbuilding
remains, the aforementioned Wards Auto Center, now separated from the
old Mall property by the new Montfort Drive connection to where Knoll
Trail intersects Arapaho. It now houses Plaza Salons (a glorified
multi-operator beauty salon) and a Jewish organization's office.
There are also 2 free-standing restaurant spots on the SE side of the
property, one of which, Copeland's (seafood), is still open.

There is some neighborhood opposition to a possible Super Wal-Mart
that wants the north end of the property. One opponent is concerned
that W-M's presence would mean that other retailers catering to
high-end customers wouldn't want to locate there.

It's amazing that all 3 malls (Prestonwood, Valley View, and the
Galleria) co-existed as long as they did (the Galleria opened in 1982,
Prestonwood gave up in 1999); at first each mall had individually
different retail anchors. But over time, with bankruptcies and
mergers in the dept. store biz, so many malls around here ended up
being a cookie-cutter lineup. Combined with the apathy of
Prestonwood's last owner (before the 'telecom hotel' was tried), and
the opening of newer malls to the north, it really meant curtains for
Prestonwood.

A PS: a 4-sided clock inside the mall near the Dillard's
entrance...it was featured in a recent where-are-they-now article in
the Dallas paper. Apparently it was dismantled and stored in 2
different storage spots, one of which was a former cleaners building
near downtown Dallas. The cleaners building was recently sold and
torn down. And **of course** nobody apparently knew the clock parts
were in the building at the time (another case of the TPTBs and
friends' lack of interest in historic preservation) so, those parts at
the other storage spot are incomplete and orphaned. The clock
originally came from L.A., where it was housed in a building damaged
by a 1971 earthquake. The clock was painstakingly dismantled
afterward and it ended up at Prestonwood, where at the mall's opening,
a contest was held to 'name' the clock; the history and the nickname
were etched on a plaque which was placed outside the clock area.

[Aaron of Minneapolis]

Post by HoustonFreeways
Since freeways and malls almost always go hand-in-hand, and MTR patrons seem
to take an interest in mall demolition, I posted some photos of what is
perhaps the nation's youngest mall to fall victim to the wrecking ball. (If
anyone knows of newer major malls that have been demolished, let me know.)

Not exatly a _major_ mall, but a trendy upscale mall in downtown
Minneapolis, called The Conservatory, was built in 1987 and torn down in the
late '90s. About the only good thing about The Conservatory was an old
office building that had been incorporated into it, which had fireplaces in
all the offices. More info at James Lileks's downtown Minneapolis pages:
http://www.lileks.com/mpls/conserv/index.html

(James Lileks is a columnist for the Star Tribune, and writes a popular
humor column called Backfence.)

-- Aaron of Minneapolis

============================================================================
~ "But it's got SPAM in it! I don't LIKE spam!" ~
============================================================================

[DanF]

Post by HoustonFreeways
Since freeways and malls almost always go hand-in-hand, and MTR patrons seem
to take an interest in mall demolition, I posted some photos of what is
perhaps the nation's youngest mall to fall victim to the wrecking ball. (If
anyone knows of newer major malls that have been demolished, let me know.)
The mall photos are near the bottom of this page
http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2004-07_update.aspx
Prestonwood Town Center opened in 1979 as a state-of-industry upscale mall
including anchors Niemann Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Dilliards. It was one
of Dallas' hottest upscale areas in the early 1980s.
Serious decline began around 1997 when major stores began to close. The mall
itself was closed was closed in 1999, with only two anchors remaining.
Plans to convert the property into a telecommunications office center
collapsed with the high-tech bust. By late 2003 new plans were formulated
which required the demolition of the remaining parts of the mall (some of
the mall had already been demolished.)
Final demolition took place in May and June 2004, when I took the photos.
The mall is now gone.

Landmark Mall (which was enclosed in 1990), at the corner of I-395 and
VA 236 in Alexandria, VA, will be demolished in 2007 to be rebuilt as
a town-center outdoor mall. All that will remain are two of the three
anchors (Hecht's and Sear's) which have been at the mall since the
1960s.

Kind of odd considering...
* Landmark Center opened in the 1960s as an outdoor mall.
* Extensive construction took place to enclose the mall into a 3-level
mall in 1990 and is one of the most attractive looking malls in the DC
area.

However, the mall's been gradually losing stores and there are several
areas of the mall that have been walled over because there are no
stores (esp. by Sear's).

There's a brief history at www.deadmalls.com.