1. Valley View to become Dallas Midtown
The first step in revitalizing Valley View Center is wooing local and national tenants back into the mall, says Scott Beck of Beck Ventures. The development company bought the center in April with plans for a walkable, urban village called Dallas Midtown, but that won’t happen for the next seven to 10 years. “What we’re talking about is not a demolition,” Beck says. “It’s a repositioning. The mall is 55 percent leased right now. The first thing is to get it back to 100 percent.” The long-term goal is to essentially turn the mall inside out. The parking lot along makes up 40 acres, so that’s where construction will begin on the “urban village,” which will resemble the Shops at Legacy in Plano or the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff. Eventually, he says, tenants inside the mall will start to relocate to the outdoor structures. Beck says portions of the original mall may remain intact. Beck Ventures is a local, family-owned developer. Most of the partners live within one and a half miles of Valley View. “I want a pedestrian-friendly, walkable urban village that I would want to go to,” says Beck, who lives in Preston Hollow. “I feel like we know what the neighborhood wants because we’re part of it.”
2. Theater, restaurant complex coming to Prestonwood, Belt Line
The struggling shopping center at Prestonwood and Belt Line is getting a do-over. The area, which included the Prestonwood Studio Movie Grill, is being demolished to make way for a new movie theater and a couple of restaurants. LOOK Cinemas is bringing in an 11-screen, 1,900-seat stadium-seating theater, which will be accompanied by Nick & Sam’s Grill on one side and Coal Vines on the other side. It is all scheduled to be up and running by the end of 2012. “We had been looking at that spot for over a year,” says Tom Stephenson, president of LOOK Cinemas. “We’ve always thought there was a big hole between NorthPark and the Dallas North Tollway.” However, the developers at Village on the Parkway just down the street at Belt Line and the Tollway recently announced plans to include a 12-screen movie theater as part of that center’s redevelopment. Construction won’t start until the summer of 2013, though. “Our theater is already going to be open long before they start on that one,” Stephenson says. “I don’t think they will keep it in their plans. We don’t need two movie theaters that close to each other.” A few businesses in the shopping center are being relocated nearby. Stephenson says the new theater and restaurant complex will include family-friendly areas as well as 21-and-up lounges. Nick and Sam’s Grill is an upscale steak and seafood house. Coal Vines is a more casual pizza and wine bar. Both concepts come from Dallas restaurateur Joe Palladino.
3. Four Corners project
The city council last summer approved Billingsley Company to develop the four corners of the area where the Dallas North Tollway and the George Bush Turnpike intersect. The project encompasses 32 acres and includes plans for four, 16-story office buildings at each corner, creating the “gateway to future development northward.” It’s expected to be much like the interchange at the Tollway and LBJ Freeway. However, no leases have been signed yet, so there still is no timeline on when the buildings will finally go up.
