With the closure of the historic downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus flagship just around the corner, the Dallas city manager is expected to meet with the store’s parent company Saks Global next week.
In a statement, Saks confirmed the meeting with City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert but added its decision to close the flagship is still definitive.
“We’ve always been open to speaking with the City Manager of Dallas, and we look forward to doing so next week,” a Saks spokesperson said in an email. “Our plans for the Dallas downtown store have not changed, and we maintain that the media is an unproductive medium for our discussion.”
A Dallas spokesperson referred KERA to a statement from Tolbert on March 3.
"I want to thank the Dallas Consortium for the Downtown Neiman Marcus for their continued efforts to ensure ongoing operations of the Downtown flagship store," she said at the time. "The City of Dallas now officially holds the special warranty deed for the parcel that Saks Global Properties said was needed to keep Neiman Marcus’ Downtown store open."
The meeting comes after Tolbert and other members of a group of local city and business leaders called the Dallas Consortium for the Downtown Neiman Marcus sent a letter to Saks Global requesting a meeting within the next 10 days, The Dallas Morning News reported last week.
The letter included opportunities to discuss potential financial benefits for Saks if Neiman Marcus were to remain open, according to The News.
This is the city’s latest and possibly last attempt at negotiating with Saks to save the iconic luxury store.
Saks first announced the store’s closure in February, citing issues with its landlord and a notice to terminate its occupancy. Since then, the city and company have gone back and forth on the future of Neiman Marcus over the last 30 days.
The city, Dallas Economic Development Corp., Downtown Dallas Inc., and real estate acquirer Todd Interests in February said within 24 hours they had reached an agreement with the landowners — but despite those efforts, Saks said its decision to close the store was final.
The battle to keep Neiman Marcus open is one that’s been going on for more than a decade, according to Saks, and is “a far more complicated situation than what the public is being led to believe.”
The store is still set to close March 31.
Penelope Rivera is KERA’s breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope at privera@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
