Come-Back Plan In Works for Gainesville Outlets

GAINESVILLE, TX-Once a powerhouse drawing card near the Oklahoma border, the 315,512-sf Gainesville Factory Shops has rolled to its lender, ViewPoint Bank, which has put a repositioning plan into motion. The shops, now 40% leased, used to draw shoppers by the busloads to its interstate-fronting doors.

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.