During a time when shopping malls are increasingly appearing on the open real estate market, the Dillard’s department store chain has plunked down $34 million to purchase a mall in Longview, Texas.
The Longview Mall was opened in the spring of 1978 and with more than 70 stores has been a popular retail destination for residents in northeast Texas.
The 646,000-square-foot mall has seen some loss in tenants and customers in recent years, but not enough to dissuade Dillard’s, in a joint purchase with the Fort Worth-based mixed use developer Trademark Property Company, from buying the property.
In comments appearing in the publication Retail Dive, Trademark’s chief executive officer Terry Montessi expressed faith in the future of the Longview Mall, noting that it is a “vital part of region’s retail landscape.”
The new owners have promised a general upgrading of the property, which last saw renovation work in 2016.
The challenge of selling such large shopping spaces has been constant since the advent of the pandemic economy in 2020, according to several reports.
At the same time have come indications that formerly busy or even closed malls have become attractive to investors for reasons well beyond their original purpose.
“Once the epicenter of suburban life, these sprawling shopping centers are now being transformed into mixed-use hubs, combining housing, retail, and entertainment in a bold bid to stay relevant in a changing world,” notes the New York Post of the aging malls.
The $240 million repurposing of the 25-acre Flatiron Crossing Mall in Broomfield, Colorado has received national attention for transforming a one-time strictly retail operation into a mixed-use space with housing, dining, and entertainment.
So, too, with the Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix, which is undergoing a $2 billion redevelopment that includes the building of 400 upscale residential units and a mixed-use community center, after several earlier attempts to repurpose the mall failed.
One reason for the new interest in purchasing older malls and modernizing them, notes the CoStar News: “The development of new retail properties is at a virtual halt.”
August 28, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Old Longview Mall advertisement
