Could March 31 see the end of a 120-year era for the downtown Neiman Marcus in Dallas
After 120 years, it’s nearly all over. Despite Dallas city officials announcing earlier this month that the local government had secured the deed for the Downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus property, the retailer’s parent company shows no signs of turning.
City officials admitted that they would now let the situation “play out” ahead of the proposed March 31 closing, bringing to an end the historic Neiman Marcus flagship as the global group repositions.
Despite a campaign to keep the famous department store alive, parent company Saks Global dismissed those efforts as “unproductive”, citing an unresolved lease dispute 10 years in the making that set off a city effort to try and find a mutually acceptable agreement.
But after Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said that she and members of the Dallas Consortium for the Downtown Neiman Marcus were slated to meet Saks Global executives over its plans to extend the opening of the store while a longer term solution was discussed, Saks Global criticized officials for making “inaccurate claims” to the media.
A Saks Global spokesperson said: “The Dallas Consortium’s ongoing tactic of using the press to pressure us into changing our strategy in Dallas is highly unproductive. Our decision to close the Neiman Marcus Downtown Dallas store is final and we are moving forward as such.”
Neiman Marcus Dallas Closure
Saks Global first announced Feb. 18 that it would bring down the shutters on its famous depsrtment store after receiving a notice from its landlord to terminate its occupancy, with the Slaughter family, which had signed a 99-year ground lease with Neiman Marcus in 1926, subsequently pledging to donate the land the store sits on to the city of Dallas.
But Saks Global has held firm and instead has promised a planned $100 million renovation of the brand’s other Dallas location at NorthPark.
The Neiman Marcus retail department store at NorthPark shopping center in Dallas, Mwhich Saks Global … More
“Dallas continues to be a top market for the Neiman Marcus brand,” Saks Global CEO Marc Metrick said in a statement to real estate publication Bisnow. “Based on customer data, we know that the overwhelming majority of our Dallas customer base prefers to shop at our NorthPark store.”
The city now holds the ‘special warranty deed’ that Saks Global had claimed was necessary in order to keep the downtown Neiman Marcus store open, however city officials said that they are now holding off on any pledges as they await the final, and what incresingly seems inevitable, outcome.
Neiman Marcus Part of Saks Global
For its part, Saks Global said that the situation had been going on for more than a decade and described it as “far more complicated” than had been publicly disclosed.
On July 4 last year HBC first announced that it had reached a $2.65 billion deal for Neiman Marcus. Amazon also invested an undisclosed amount into the new entity, renamed Saks Global upon completion in December, alongside Salesforce and software investing firm Insight Partner, which also agreed to be minority partners.
Saks Global also owns and operates Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Bergdorf Goodman and the total Saks Global real estate portfolio is worth around $7 billion, with 39 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 95 Saks Off 5th locations, 36 Neiman Marcus stores, two Bergdorf Goodman locations and five Last Call stores at the time of the acquisition.
Meanwhile, HBC’s Canadian business and real estate assets became separately financed from Saks Global, including Hudson’s Bay stores and TheBay.com, which were recapitalized. However, HBC has subsequently gone into the Canadian version of Chapter 11, citing tariffs as one of the reasons for it moving into bankruptcy protection. Earlier this month it began liquidating all but six of its stores.
