Rival Dallas Group Hires Former CalMart Exec
Dallas-based developers looking to challenge the Dallas Market Center (DMC) for a piece of the local wholesale market have taken some aggressive steps with their proposed Mercantile Bank Building project, including the hiring of former California Mart executive vice president of leasing and marketing Marsha Timson. Timson also held a similar position for 12 years at the DMC.
The developers group—led by Paul Stell, Henry Miller III and Luke Crosland—has hired Timson as president of Fashion District Dallas Downtown (FDDD), according to Nancy Harmann, executive director of FDDD.
The group plans to renovate the Dallas Mercantile Tower into a mixed-use property encompassing apparel showrooms and retail and residential space.
Aside from hiring Timson, the rival group has reportedly been approaching Los Angeles- based showroom owners with proposals to lease space in the new building, which is expected to open in 2005.
DMC executives recently announced they will shutter the existing Dallas Apparel Mart and move tenants into the more modern World Trade Center (WTC).
DMC executives have indicated that support for their WTC project—called Fashion Center Dallas—is favored by the local apparel community. DMC announced on Feb. 18 that it had expanded its original plans to include more showroom space on the 14th floor of the WTC, which it had originally designated as temporary space.
“The response by our exhibitors to Fashion Center Dallas has been outstanding,” said Bill Winsor, chief executive officer of the DMC. “We are clearly working as partners with our apparel exhibitors and manufacturers to invest in the future of the marketplace.”
Winsor reported that 90 percent of Dallas Apparel Mart tenants have contacted the center about reserving space in the WTC and have preliminary claims to more than 90 percent of the project’s square footage. In addition, DMC officials are meeting with Los Angeles showroom owners for other opportunities in Dallas.
DMC officials also oversee management of the California Market Center (CMC), as the California Mart is now called since the addition of new gift showrooms.
About 30 showroom owners in the CMC also have space in the Dallas Apparel Mart. Many of these Los Angeles-based wholesalers have said that they favor the WTC project but that they also have to evaluate the proposals from the Mercantile group, which has been pitching a centralized location across from downtown’s Neiman Marcus with the added elements of retail neighbors and residential space. —Robert McAllister
