Reply With QuoteI believe the mall is being built in a loop. The backs of all the stores face the parking lot, and the storefronts are actually inside the loop. This is the way the outlets in Round Rock and Houston are built.
Yes exactly.Originally Posted by cowboyeagle05
I believe the mall is being built in a loop. The backs of all the stores face the parking lot, and the storefronts are actually inside the loop. This is the way the outlets in Round Rock and Houston are built.
There is really no parking lot in the part facing I-20, its all small doors and maybe some delivery bays. It looks like Sara Jane Parkway on the north side will be the primary route in and out of the center.
So far, Bing Maps isn't showing activity, but Google Maps has an aerial of dirt work going on--no foundations or specific building shapes yet.
http://maps.google.com/?ll=32.679046...h&z=16&vpsrc=6
I tried looking for Google Street View angles but the last pix there (looking from the I-20 service road) still showed the land uncleared.
NBC5 video Paragon Outlets Grand Prairie to Open August 2012
Bloomingdale's Outlet will open a nearly 25,000 sq. ft. anchor store in Grand Prairie.
And still no layout for this place. I am trying to get a better look as I drive by each day. It looks like there is some parking along the I-20 frontage road and they are starting to paint the exterior. Can not tell if there is a road going around the entire center, I would be curious to know if there will be additional retail development after this opens.
In the vicinity, there's not a lot of room (it would have helped tremendously if that Cardinal Health plant/warehouse weren't where they are at I-20/TX 360). It looks like there's a creek just north of Sara Jane Road so not much can be done there. There's empty land across I-20 at the SE corner of TX 360 and some between Great Southwest and TX 161 along the I-20 westbound service road but I don't know how much room the new 161 interchange is going to take up when it gets finished.
I saw the Ch.5 video and they did show a quick pan down a piece of paper of an initial tenant list but they didn't pan all the way down the sheet; no blueprints or schematics though.
OK, wanted to check something before I hit "post", and after some digging::::
http://www.gptx.org/planningmaps/doc...ns/S080801.pdf
This is a general layout of what was filed with the city of Grand Prairie. No specifics on which store will be in what spot. The map shows 1 opening to/from the I-20 service road, and 2 openings to/from Sara Jane. Nothing drawn in the parking lot as far as outparcels for restaurants or other pad sites on the property. Unless something has changed from the date of this map, it looks like the outlet center will have a Grapevine Mills/racetrack -type layout, but open-air.
Wow! Good find! That looks about right from what I see every day. They really could use some road improvements along the frontage road to I-20 and GSW parkway. The intersection of GSW and Sara Jane looks to me like it will be bad.
not sure if these pictures are worth posting but did try to grab a few this evening.
It would be nice if that u turn under 20 at Great Southwest had a dedicated lane when heading back west. It's going to be a pain to get to coming from west of 360.
Not sure you could find a worst spot in Grand Prairie to put that thing in the first place. On 20 or 30 GP is just now even getting service roads but getting out of this place will cause you to work your way back to Mayfield or Great Southwest to have any access to a freeway. That's not counting the traffic that Traders Village brings in.
This will be a pain for sure, the road behind will help some and connect to GSW on the east side and the 360 frontage road on the west side and there is one entrance on the I-20 service road but still....this interesction is a major log jam even today without the addition of this mall. I am not sure I would even try on a weekend. Its possible.....possible, that when they open up 161 people trying to go north or south on GSW will use 161 instead since that will open up a new route into those areas, especially going south since 161 turns into Lake Ridge Parkway.
@SandraBakerFWST: Grand Prairie outlet mall to open Aug. 16 fully leased says developer
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06...all-to-be.html
Grand Prairie outlet mall to be fully leased for August opening
GRAND PRAIRIE -- With a little more than two months until its grand opening, executives with Baltimore-based Paragon Outlets Partners gave a sneak peek of their new Grand Prairie shopping center Tuesday and announced that it will open fully leased.
"We know people can't wait when they see something," said Bob Brvenik, a Paragon principal. "We have people already coming here and trying to start shopping. That's just wonderful."
Paragon Outlets Grand Prairie, with more than 100 retailers, will hold its grand opening Aug. 17.
Grand Prairie officials have waited for the shopping center since 2008. That's when the project was announced for the 56 acres at the northeast corner of Interstate 20 and Texas 360, just as the recession made loans for commercial developments hard to come by.
The project's original developer, Prime Retail, was bought by another shopping center company. Paragon Outlets was formed by former Prime Retail executives who stayed on the project.
"We're one of eight large retail projects nationwide actually opening this year," Brvenik said. "That's pretty significant."
More significant to city officials, though, is that the 420,000-square-foot center will have about 1,700 full-time employees and generate $2.5 million to $3.5 million in annual sales tax revenue.
"We're very fortunate to have a retail project this size," said Bob O'Neal, Grand Prairie's economic development director. "They're saying this is going to be one of their biggest malls in the nation. We're hoping to generate sales tax something close to the equivalent of three or four Wal-Marts in one location."
Crowds are expected to reach 20,000 each day during the opening weekend, which is also the state's annual sales tax holiday. Brvenik said shoppers can expect retailers to offer special deals that weekend.
O'Neal said Grand Prairie will investigate ways to improve traffic flow into the center from I-20. Sara Jane Parkway, on the north side, has been extended around the center, with plans to extend it east to Texas 161.
The outlet mall will include iconic names, such as Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tommy Hilfiger and Banana Republic. As of Tuesday, the developers said all the anchors and 30 stores are under construction, with work on 50 more expected to begin this month. Most are anticipated to be open by the grand opening.
Sandra Baker
They are making quick progress now, lights are on, trees planted and the signs are going up. It looks great, especially at night.
It looks like they are almost ready, still doing some last minute landscaping but it looks ready. I may be going on Friday, hope its not a complete madhouse.
Are you kidding? That's exactly what its going to be. People are always braking on the feeder road trying to get a good look at it. Kinda annoying tbh.
From behind the wall.......
GRAND PRAIRIE — Texas is becoming a shopping destination for tourists from around the world.
No smirking. It’s already happening, and word is getting around that Texas is set up to refund state and local sales taxes to foreign visitors.
Paragon Outlets Grand Prairie, which opens Thursday, is trying to become a magnet for foreign tourists by selling itself to tour operators outside the U.S. and creating marketing partnerships with airlines.
A big part of its draw will be its Texas TaxFree Shopping refund office, the third one in North Texas. (The other two are at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and NorthPark Center.)
The service gives international shoppers instant refunds of the sales taxes they just paid.
Carolyn Petty, president of Addison-based TaxFree Shopping Ltd., says the company contracts with U.S. retailers to refund sales taxes to foreign shoppers. Texas and Louisiana are the only two states that allow the practice, she said, and retailers have to opt in. Shoppers who don’t use its service have to find a customs broker to get the refunds.
TaxFree has 12 refund offices around the state and a staff of 60 people. “We’re customs brokers, and we follow the laws of the state of Texas,” Petty said. “The state refunds these taxes to the local cities.”
In recent years, TaxFree has signed up about 250 major retailers with 4,500 stores in Texas, including Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Dillard’s and Nordstrom. Specialty stores include Tory Burch, Tiffany & Co. and Polo Ralph Lauren and local chains Bachendorf’s, Sam Moon and Richardson Bike Mart.
TaxFree also works to promote Texas shopping overseas. When Petty attends travel industry gatherings, she wears a tiara and markets herself as the “shopping queen” of Texas. “They don’t forget me. They call and ask for the shopping queen,” she said.
She and her husband, Benjamin Petty, a retired airline pilot, founded the company the day before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“We were practically dormant for several years,” she said. In 2005, TaxFree Shopping processed refunds for 900 foreign shoppers. This May and June, its offices handled 4,400 customers.
Tour buses
The tour buses parked outside Allen Premium Outlets and NorthPark aren’t necessarily filled with folks from East Texas and Shreveport, La., anymore. For years, the Gallerias in Dallas and Houston, San Marcos Outlets and NorthPark Center have been regular shopping destinations for big spenders from Mexico. But newer efforts reach even farther away.
“In the last 10 years, there’s been some shift from the key ports of entry of New York, Los Angeles and Miami,” said Karen E. Fluharty, a partner in the marketing firm working with developer Paragon. “Now cities like Dallas are ranking higher as airlines open more routes.”
Last year, Texas saw more visitors from several markets, including Mexico, Canada, the U.K., Germany and China. Growth was especially high from Brazil and Australia, with visitation and spending more than doubling over the previous year, according to the Texas governor’s office.
“Shopping is an important part of our efforts to increase travel to the state, with most international travelers to Texas indicating they went shopping on their visit. Last year was a strong year for Texas with overseas visitation increasing by 25 percent,” said Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for the Texas governor’s office.
Total spending from international travelers to Texas was $4.8 billion in 2011, but Nashed couldn’t break out spending just in stores.
Surveys show that the No. 1 activity for all international visitors to the U.S. is shopping. While sought-after brands are fast becoming available in China, there’s still some cachet to saying “I bought this when I was in the U.S.,” she said. More important, “branded merchandise is much cheaper here than even in new outlet shopping centers springing up in Europe and Asia because of pricing and taxes.”
An outlet center leasing and marketing veteran, Fluharty will pitch the Grand Prairie center at two big shows in November, the Chinese International Travel Market in Shanghai and the World Travel Market in London, the largest business-to-business travel show in the world.
Paragon Outlets, a 420,000-square-foot center on the north side of Interstate 20 between State Highway 360 and Great Southwest Parkway, is totally leased, with 100 stores that include many high-end brands that overseas shoppers want, including Michael Kors and Hugo Boss and stores with high recognition overseas because of their New York flagships, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Off 5th.
The Grand Prairie shopping center has Texas’ second Bloomingdale’s Outlet. The first one opened in May in Dallas’ Shops at Park Lane.
Bloomingdale’s Outlet senior vice president Arnie Orlick said the retailer’s three stores in Florida outlet centers do a huge foreign tourist business.
“I can tell you 25 percent to 35 percent of the business in those stores is from tourists from Latin America, Canada, Germany and [elsewhere in] Europe,” he said. “If the Texas center is able to establish that kind of foreign traffic, it would be wonderful.”
Petty said many of TaxFree’s Mexican customers come to North Texas four times a year and spend an average of $2,200 a trip. Chinese shoppers spend an average of $3,800 on purchases. Sales taxes on restaurant and hotel spending don’t qualify for the state refunds, Petty said.
After the shoppers get their tax refunds, “most turn around and go back out into the mall and continue shopping,” she said.
Traffic building
Anecdotal evidence collected at The Parks in Arlington and the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau indicates that Japanese baseball fans traveling to the U.S. for other reasons are adding a stop in Texas to see Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish.
“We’ve noticed an uptick in Asian tourists in the mall,” said The Parks’ marketing director, Debra Martinez. “We’re trying to get them to guest services by giving away something free so we can count them.”
The Parks, which is seven miles away from Paragon Outlets, has been undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation in the past year and added Nordstrom Rack and Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2011. Arlington Highlands is next to the regional mall and also faces Interstate 20 with another 735,000 square feet of stores and restaurants.
“Arlington is already a big tourist designation with the Cowboys Stadium and the Rangers and Six Flags,” Martinez said. “Now with the outlet center, we may keep more of them here instead of losing them to Allen or Dallas when it’s time to shop.”
Follow Maria Halkias on Twitter at @MariaHalkias.
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/r...ion=reregister
...that's the way we're doing business nowadays, but it kinda sucks.
Just drove by, they opened up. Parking lot was full.
Simon Property purchases new Grand Prairie outlet retail center
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/20...l-center.html/
Simon will now own the center, which will now be called Grand Prairie Premium Outlets. They also own Allen Premium Outlets and Grapevine Mills.
I visited this place about two months ago and really liked it. Much better layout than the Allen outlets. In Allen, the parking lot is a mess and the stores are extremely spread out - you are forced to do a lap whether you like it or not (when marketing meets civil engineering, I guess...) but that also means you have to lug all the crap that you buy around (first world problem, I know) instead of being able to drop some off at your car. Worst, heavy pedestrian traffic creates bottle necks at the entrance points. That really screws traffic up since the cars always have to yield to the light but continuous stream of shoppers during the busy season. I'm equidistant between the two, buy considering they have pretty much the same stores (as far as I'm concerned) I don't think I'll be going to Allen anymore.
The layout is nice, wondering if GP may build a hotel nearby to serve the shopping center.
I've been a few times... Great collection of shops, but the layout in my mind is meh at best. Even with so many people on the inside- it just feels dead to me. I think they could have really enhanced it with some nicer landscaping and some water features. Maybe a central gathering point or something... And the awnings they put on top for shade are just dreadful- gives it a warehouse feel. You can see those in one of the photos above. But all in all, it is nice- much better than Allen Premium. Plenty of parking too if you know where to go. Thumbs up to the GP!
This outlet mall just changed owners again. It got bought by the original company that wanted to build here they attempted to buy the company that originally bought the land. Now they are buying the company that bought the outlet malls halfway through construction. If this is any indication I don't see it lasting very long
Don't see what lasting very long?
The outlet mall. It has changed hands so many times before its first year. But I think it's great if they can keep it going. Great for the area
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