Dallas-based Cencor Realty Services has been slid in as property manager of the 15-year-old factory shops at 4321 N. Interstate 35, just five miles south of the Chickasaw Nation's WinStar Casino in Thackerville, OK. The first move was to hire the outlet mall's long-time general manager Michelle Shulfin and her team to continue their day-to-day duties with Cencor's Susan Steelhammer in the driver's seat, according to James Greenfield, senior vice president of property management for Cencor's Dallas/Fort Worth region. Now, he says he's jumped into meeting with brokers and the marketing department to create a development plan for the owner, which last week took back the shops, positioned on 41.7 acres, and an extra 40 acres of developable land.
"We are determining a marketing plan and hitting with it to see who we can pull back in," Greenfield tells GlobeSt.com. Despite its low vacancy, Gainesville Factory Shops has held onto retail giants like GAP, Reebok, VF Outlet, Izod, Zales and 75% Off Books.
"We want to do all we can to boost its recognition," Greenfield stresses. He says the focus clearly will be to fill the retail holes rather than develop the vacant land at this stage.
CabelTel International Corp. of Dallas owned the factory shops from December 2003 until December 2007, when the fiscally strapped owner transferred it to an unrelated third party who in turn sold it Jan. 21 to a partnership in Oregon, according to SEC filings. The Oregon partnership assumed a first-lien mortgage with Plano, TX-based ViewPoint Bank for $6.1 million plus accrued interest and $400,000 in additional liabilities.
Gainesville Factory Shops' interstate-fronting location has attracted two hotels, Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and a Cracker Barrel in the past three years despite its retail pull-outs and financial plight of its former owner. And, the reason is right across the border at the WinStar Casino, where the parking lot is full on most nights and an expansion is under way. Part of Gainesville's occupancy loss has been due to larger and newer outlets in North Texas like the 650,000-sf Premium Outlets in Allen, 1.5-million-sf Grapevine Mills Mall and other regional retail centers in Denton, Fairview, McKinney and Prosper.
"It's a great location and we are going to take advantage of all its attributes and bring everyone back," Greenfield vows. "Stay tuned. We're going to try and get it going again."
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