Developers Pull Out of Fashion District Dallas Project
Fashion District Dallas (FDD), the proposed apparel market in downtown Dallas that was to challenge the Dallas Market Center for a piece of the Southwest wholesale market, apparently has been scrapped.
Marsha Timson, president of the FDD, confirmed that developers Paul Stell of Stellar Development and Luke Crosland of Crosland Investments have pulled out of the project due to lack of support from prospective tenants.
The project was to take over the downtown Mercantile Bank tower. The vision was to create a more contemporary market downtown and offer an alternative to the Dallas Market Center, which in January 2004 is relocating tenants from the International Apparel Mart to the nearby World Trade Center (WTC). DMC president Bill Winsor said the center had always maintained the vast majority of support from the Dallas apparel community with at least 75 percent of tenants intending to move to the WTC.
Despite the hiring of former California Mart executives like Timson and Pam Roberts as well as the support of Stell and Crosland, well known on the national development front, FDD never gained enough steam to support following through with the project, which would have required a major investment.
“People want to move in today not two years from today,” said Timson. “It didn’t have the critical mass needed. They couldn’t see the vision of [leasing] temporary space for a year.”
Nevertheless, there appears to be continued support for a contemporary market in downtown Dallas, which is undergoing an urban renaissance with new residential lofts and a more contemporary flavor in retail.
“This particular project may be dead in the water, but there will be other things in the works,” said retailer Rory Frisco, owner of Sussies, a Dallas women’s clothing store. “Dallas needs a downtown fashion district. This city used to be a powerhouse in apparel. It’s not any longer.”
Frisco said a downtown apparel market would suit buyers better with more restaurants, entertainment and hotel options. She said buyers in Dallas want to see more lines from Los Angeles and New York and a downtown market would be more attractive for such companies .
“Everybody saw the vision of a redeveloped Dallas—that was going on before this project started and it will continue to happen,” Timson said. —Robert McAllister
