As Cowboys Depart, Retail Planned for Dallas Stadium Site

Retail REIT Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. announced plans today for an upscale outlet shopping center at the site of the old Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas, soon to be the fomer home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. At the end of the 2008 season, the Cowboys will move to a new stadium in neighboring Arlington, leaving about 400 acres of land available for redevelopment. Tanger’s announcement makes it the first major project planned for the Texas Stadium Redevelopment Area. The new, 380,000 square foot Tanger center (pictured) will be located at the northwest quadrant of State Highway 114 and Loop 12, adjacent to the upcoming DART light rail line and station stop connecting Downtown Dallas to the Las Colinas Urban Center, the Irving Convention Center and the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Tanger purchased the land from the University of Dallas. The Tanger Outlet Center in Irving will feature 90 brand name and designer outlet stores in a racetrack layout that will function as an open air shopping center with both covered and uncovered walkways . The plan for the overall stadium site–being overseen by Forest City Enterprises, the City of Irving, Southwest Premiere Properties and the University of Dallas–calls for an urban mixed-use lifestyle center, with a Main Street development anchored by a variety of retail experiences. New civic buildings are under consideration, as well as residential neighborhoods, plazas and hotels. “This won’t look like an outlet mall. The racetrack design allows shoppers to get into the middle of the center and with a central plaza and stores all around,” Terry Clower, associate director of the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas, told CPN, today “This is going to be …  a good deal overall for the city of Irving versus having a football stadium.” Clower said the confluence of two major highways and the addition of light rail access made this a prime location because of the hundreds of thousands of vehicles that will pass by the property every day. Founded in 1921, Forest City Enterprises Inc. is an $8.5 billion publicly traded real estate company principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the United States.  Greensboro, N.C.,-based Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. a publicly traded REIT, presently has ownership interests in or management responsibilities for 31 shopping centers in 22 states, totaling approximately 9.1 million square feet, leased to over 2,000 stores that are operated by over 400 different store brands.