BEHIND THE REDEVELOPMENT VISION FOR SOUTHWEST CENTER MALL IN SOUTH DALLAS
Dallas-based Corinth Properties has been hired to help redevelop the 90-acre Southwest Center Mall site into a mixed-use development that will serve as a centerpiece to the community.
Southwest Center Mall, located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 67 and Interstate 20, is the only mall in the southern half of Dallas, but it’s been on a decline since the early 1990s and multiple past owners gave up on the property.
Large chunks of the 1970s-style mall are empty. Its tenants are a collection of mostly locally owned businesses with a few national chains and departments stores that haven’t been updated in decades.
Mihalopoulos and Maiden will help Brodsky come up with a plan for the site and oversee its redevelopment. It’s not going to be an easy project, and it’s going to take time, Brodsky said. But from talking to area residents, he has a vision of what they want.
“We don’t have all the exact ideas yet, but we know it will be walkable and there will be green spaces instead of a big open concrete parking lot. There will be places that people want to be in and there’s a big residential opportunity. It will be a quality development that people who live in this community will be glad to call their own,” Brodsky said.
The neighborhood has a lot of pride and is supportive of a redevelopment, said Maiden. Many still call it Red Bird Mall, as it was known in its heyday.
'Diamond in the rough'
Maiden grew up in Oak Cliff and went to Carter High School and has worked with Mihalopoulos on other southern Dallas projects, including the Glen Oaks Crossing shopping center on Interstate 35 and Ledbetter that is anchored by Wal-Mart and opened in 2014. Mihalopoulos, founder of Corinth Properties, has had success fixing malls in other states.
“Corinth has been investing in the southern Dallas community for years with great success,” Mihalopoulos said. “This property is a diamond in the rough, with all of the characteristics needed to be turned into a first-class asset for this city.”
Brodsky acquired the mall in September 2015 with the intention of redeveloping of the mall and its surrounding properties. The timing is right, Brodsky said. He not only owns more of the mall than multiple prior owners ever did, but he also has the cooperation of the three stores he doesn’t own: Macy’s, Sears and Burlington Coat Factory.
Brodsky, a private equity investor, said he has no prior retail or shopping center experience. But he has become familiar with southern half of Dallas over the past five years through his work on the board of Dallas-Fort Worth KIPP, a network of charter schools.
Since he bought the mall, Brodsky has had to dispel many myths about it. First of all, the mall is profitable, he said. It’s 70 percent leased with 100 businesses. He also points to reduced crime around the mall with better security.
“People hear about my investment and automatically believe it’s philanthropic,” he said. “I have to tell them no, this is a for-profit investment.”