[August 04, 2011] Plano's Shops at Willow Bend still searching for its role Tweet Aug 03, 2011 (The Dallas Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- On its 10th anniversary, Plano's Shops at Willow Bend is still trying to find its niche. The center's developer and owner, Taubman Centers Inc., believes it has hit on a formula that will redefine the 1.5 million-square-foot shopping center beyond its blessing-and-a-curse reputation. Willow Bend is known as an attractive mall that's easy to park and shop in because there are no crowds. "Our goal is to make Willow Bend the dominant upscale home furnishings center in the market," said William "Bill" Taubman, chief operating officer of Michigan-based Taubman Centers. Crate & Barrel opened a 25,000-square-foot store in March where a vacant Lord & Taylor department store was demolished. Restoration Hardware is under construction next to it. Fall openings include one of three new H&M stores and Texas' first Vineyard Vines shop. The former Saks Fifth Avenue space, vacant since last year, may be leased soon. And business at the mall, anchored by Dillard's, Macy's and Neiman Marcus, is better, with comparable sales up from a year ago in each of the last 11 months, according to Taubman Centers, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns or manages 26 U.S. shopping centers. Another leasing emphasis is restaurants, which have been a struggle from the day the mall opened Aug. 3, 2001. The mall's list of failed restaurants includes Mercury and Wyland's Ocean Blue. In 2001, Willow Bend's proximity to other shopping centers was a drawback. It's five miles south of Frisco's Stonebriar Center, five miles north of Galleria Dallas and just west of the Preston Road and Park Boulevard intersection, which has as much retail as a mall. Just up the Dallas North Tollway, the Shops at Legacy, which started construction the same year that Willow Bend opened, has attracted 35 restaurants and an Angelika Theater. But today, Taubman is selling Willow Bend's location to home furnishings retailers. "We're trying to combine stores that are closing around the [Dallas-Fort Worth] market and consolidate them to Willow Bend," he said. Restaurant rivalry Conceding that the Shops at Legacy has attracted a strong roster of restaurants, including the Capital Grille that opened Monday, Taubman said, "There are plenty of other concepts that would do very well at Willow Bend." Greg Cavanagh, managing partner of Capitol Grille, said the Shops at Legacy, with its hotel, offices and apartments, has "the energy" the company wanted in a second location. "We looked at several Plano locations. Once we said we were opening there, we were surprised how many of our Crescent Court location regular customers drove in from Plano," he said. Taubman said he expects to announce plans for the former Saks Fifth Avenue location by year-end and said it could be demolished to make room for a couple of restaurants. Saks left Willow Bend after only five years and kept its Galleria store as its only North Texas location. A sampling of Willow Bend stores said their sales have improved in the last year. General manager Marcus Wyss said the Willow Bend Neiman Marcus store has bounced back from the recession at the same rate as the entire Dallas-based luxury chain. "So our business has been healthier the last couple of years, too. Since Crate & Barrel opened this spring, it's driven more traffic to the mall," he said. Some Willow Bend regulars say they shop there because they "don't want it to go away." "This mall isn't as packed as Stonebriar and still has the department stores I want, Victoria's Secret and Anthropologie," said Brenda Lizzi, 47, of Lewisville. "I wish it had more restaurants," she said. "You want to get a decent meal when you're shopping." A coup for the center Getting the Crate & Barrel store is a coup for the center. It closed its Dallas Alpha Road and Southlake Town Center locations to open at Willow Bend. Restoration Hardware also closed stores on Alpha Road in Dallas and at Stonebriar Center, keeping only its Dallas Knox Street store open here. At Willow Bend, a 12,000-square-foot store with an outdoor patio furniture area is in the works, Taubman said. Restoration Hardware has been consolidating stores in several markets and coming back in with fewer but larger stores, said Mark Masinter, founder of Open Realty Advisors of Dallas and real estate broker for the chain. "We're hoping to expand the Knox Street store as well, so between the two stores we'll completely cover the metroplex." Z Gallerie, a home decor and furniture store, plans to open a 10,000- to 12,000-square-foot store in Willow Bend next spring and has no plans to close other stores in the market, said Marilee Annala, a broker for the furniture chain's real estate adviser Corritore Co. "Crate & Barrel is the most important co-tenant for us. Add a third or fourth store such as Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn, and that creates very good shopping synergy for us." Taubman declined to comment about whether Williams-Sonoma and its multiple brands, including Pottery Barn and West Elm, are prospects. He also wouldn't disclose the mall's occupancy rate, but it continues to have large vacancies, especially on the second level, and a number of temporary tenants. H&M will take up a huge swath of the second floor near Macy's, and its rival Forever 21 is planning to expand its Willow Bend store, Taubman said. As he describes how the broader market is evolving, it's clear that Taubman is in it for the long haul. After 10 years, the company's investment in Willow Bend is inching toward $300 million, and the property has no debt attached to it. "We think Willow Bend has found its position and can continue to evolve," Taubman said. Changes in the market will benefit Willow Bend, he said. "Stonebriar has been a successful, solid moderate mall with a clear customer image and will continue to be successful. Others are diminishing over the next few years," Taubman said. He believes the Galleria and Valley View area will struggle the next five years during the double-decking of LBJ Freeway. His prediction: Willow Bend will complement Stonebriar as the more upscale of the two malls, and together they will dominate mall shopping to the north. Dallas' NorthPark Center will become stronger south of LBJ Freeway, and the distance between NorthPark and Willow Bend is the "right spacing for the long term," he said. "For now, we're going to focus on food and home to create a critical mass." 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