Trademark lays out plans, stops short of commitment on DFW mall makeovers

Trademark Property Co is back with more redevelopment plans for ailing retail centers… or is it?

The developer is circling a new potential mixed-use project— this time in its home territory of Dallas-Fort Worth. A big chunk of Galleria Dallas and Arlington’s Lincoln Square Mall could be demolished for a mixed-use redevelopment, the Dallas Morning News reports.

“Take down 20 percent of the mall, add a multifamily tower, an office tower, a boutique hotel and public space,” Trademark Property CEO Terry Montesi said of the company’s plan at a meeting of the National Association of Real Estate Editors. “That’s what people want now — mixed-use.”

Montesi also announced plans for a 16-story boutique hotel with about 180 rooms as part of the Galleria project. Following the presentation, Montesi clarified in an email to the Dallas Morning News that he was not announcing the project start, just the planning.

“I did not say we were moving forward,” he said. “I was sharing plans as requested.”

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Trademark has been working since 2018 with Galleria owner UBS Asset Management on a new design for the 1.4 million-square-foot shopping mall at the Dallas North Tollway and LBJ Freeway. The firm is set to close on the ‘functionally obsolete’ Lincoln Square in Arlington sometime next week. The city of Arlington is expected to provide Trade with somewhere between $250 million to $300 million in incentives for the project.

Montesi says his firm has done 18 retail project transformations across the country. Earlier this year, the company announced the redevelopment of North Point Mall, 25 miles North of Atlanta. He further expects big shopping centers across the country to opt for major redevelopments.

“There is too much retail in this country,” he said. “Many centers are too big. Where the stored-up value is in this market is multifamily.”

The problem, according to him, is that many of these properties have too much debt.

“If you are over-leveraged, you can’t attract capital,” he said, adding that some communities don’t want to rezone their retail properties for new uses.

“There is a somewhat pervasive no-to-rental-multifamily-in-my-backyard mentality,” Montesi said. “But urban amenitized multifamily in a mixed use project is a big difference.”

— Maddy Sperling