Owners of The Shops at Willow Bend plan to start tearing down the mall within the next year — even if the Dallas Stars opt against building a hockey arena at the 90-acre site.
Centennial CEO Steven Levin and Bill Cawley of Cawley Partners said the ownership group is moving forward with plans to redevelop the site.
“We’re working on the [demolition] plans and timing. Exact timing is probably within 12 months,” Levin told The Dallas Morning News. “We’re ready to go. We have nothing that is preventing us from starting the execution on the vision that we set out to create at the beginning.”
Demolition was always part of the redevelopment plan.
The project, renamed The Bend, was approved by Plano City Council February 2025. Initial plans called for 800,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, up to 965 residential units, a high-rise hotel and a midrise office building.
D-FW Real Estate News
At the time, just over a third of the suburban mall was to be leveled after Macy’s announced it was closing.
Related
The group has had to pivot its plans once again after two other anchor tenants announced they’d shut down. Neiman Marcus will close by January, and Dillard’s shuttered late last year.
The plans for the site are flexible. The group owns all 90 acres and additional zoning changes won’t be needed, the duo said. Cawley said up to 2 million square feet of office space could be built at the site depending on market demand.
Cawley and Levin declined to comment on negotiations between the Stars and Plano officials regarding a new arena at the property. The News first reported in October that the hockey franchise was eyeing Willow Bend as the site for a more than $1 billion arena.
City leaders acknowledged they’ve had “earnest discussions” with the Stars ”regarding a potential arena district” where the mall sits.
However, Cawley and Levin said a roughly 20,000-seat entertainment venue could fit at the site without impeding their plans.
“Everybody is having this big debate if … the Stars are coming or if they’re not. Whether the Stars come or not, this is going to be a fabulous redevelopment,” Cawley said. “We are giddy to redevelop the site. This is going to be the best mixed-use site available in North Texas.”
It will take six to eight months to finish demolition. Some surrounding structures will remain. This includes the parking garages, the restaurant district, retailer Crate & Barrel and the Equinox gym.
The first phases of the project will likely be residential and retail.
“Retail and residential are going to lead the day. We could be building residential today,” Levin said. “The demand is there for it, but we need to demolish the mall so we are doing this the best way. … The only thing that does not work well on the site is the mall that’s sitting on it.”
The Shops at Willow Bend covers 1.4 million square feet and was the last enclosed mall built in Texas. It opened in 2001.
Dallas-based investment firm Centennial, Dallas-based real estate company Cawley Partners and New York-based Waterfall Asset Management bought the center in 2022.
Other tenants have left the mall in recent months. North Texas Performing Arts is making plans to move out, and Crayola Experience has closed.
The Dallas Stars have played in downtown Dallas since their relocation from Minnesota in 1993. The Stars’ lease at American Airlines Center is set to expire in 2031.
Dallas project wins initial bid for Elon Musk company’s drilling project
The Boring Company selected a University Hills project, along with 2 other winners.
FIG, Dallas Art Fair to remain in downtown home
The owner of the fashion gallery renewed the lease on Ross Avenue.