HURST, TX-Two years after the announcement, Saks Inc. is ready to shutter a 100,000-sf store in North East Mall. The leased site opened in September 2000.
The New York City-based Saks plans to turn out the lights Sept. 16 on its only full-line, full-price store in Tarrant County. An Off Fifth Avenue shop appears firmly rooted at Grapevine Mills Mall about 12 miles to the northeast.
Saks officials couldn't be reached for comment about the upcoming box shutdown in the Simon Property Group Inc.-owned 1.64-million-sf regional mall at 1101 Melbourne Rd. In yesterday's press release, Saks CEO Steve Sadove says the 35 employees have been offered transfers to its Galleria store in North Dallas and suburban location in Plano or severance packages. He adds Saks, which remains "very committed" to Dallas/Fort Worth, plans to introduce merchandising changes at its other two stores as fill-in from the shutdown. Saks has 54 Fifth Avenue stores remaining in the portfolio.
"We have had great interest in the space," the Indianapolis-based Simon spokesman Les Morris tells GlobeSt.com. "Hopefully, we'll have a release in the not too distant future."
In October 2004, Saks said it planned to close 12 Fifth Avenue stores. The North East store, by virtue of traditional anchor retail leases, logically has several years left on its term, but it's a safe bet that a work-out has been cut or is in play. In its latest SEC filing, Saks reported it had $80 million in capital leases for properties and equipment on its disposition docket, requiring $6 million to $8 million annually in lease payments.
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