Dallas city leaders said Wednesday they reached a deal that could keep the downtown Neiman Marcus flagship open.
The deal involves the transfer of some property to the city from the landlord, thereby ending disagreements between the landlord and Neiman Marcus involving the land lease.
The group of city officials, known as the Dallas Consortium for the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus, has been working to save the flagship. It issued the following statement Wednesday, a copy of which was obtained by WWD: “We have reached an agreement for the land in question to be donated to the City of Dallas. This transaction secures the continued operations of the flagship Neiman Marcus store in downtown.”
They also said Saks Global, which owns Neiman Marcus, will send a representative next week to meet with them. It’s not clear yet whether Saks will reverse its recently disclosed decision to close the flagship.
“Given our role in the Dallas community, we are working to schedule a meeting with the Dallas Consortium, however, at this time, our plans to close the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus remain in place,” a Saks Global spokesperson told WWD.
The consortium stated that it held conversations over the past 24 hours with Stephen Rogers, the manager for the Slaughter family that has owned the parcel of land that was disputed. Conversations were held late into Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning — which, according to the consortium, culminated with a meeting with city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert during which the Slaughter family confirmed their intention to donate the land to the City of Dallas.
“The City of Dallas will then commit this parcel for the continued operations of the downtown Neiman Marcus flagship store,” the statement indicated.
With the flagship, there are several land leases. When Neiman Marcus went bankrupt in 2020, all the leases were affirmed for long terms, except the one parcel, said to be about 2,500 square feet in size, that was disputed. According to the consortium, that parcel’s 99-year lease ended on Jan. 31 this year but was extended to March 31.
“We can now report that issues Saks leadership had perceived were beyond [Saks’] control, as expressed by CEO Marc Metrick, relating to issues with terms and conditions on the ground lease under the escalators are now ‘under control’ and will be secured going forward,” the consortium stated.
On Feb. 17, Saks indicated that it would close the store, stating, “After more than a decade of negotiations, we received a notice from a landlord to terminate our occupancy, forcing us to close the Neiman Marcus downtown Dallas location effective March 31, 2025.”
But on Tuesday, the coalition, which includes Dallas politicians and local economic leaders, held a press conference outside the flagship, located at 1618 Main Street, urging Saks Global to keep the Neiman’s flagship open. Officials said it was historically important to the city, a pillar of Dallas culture, and that business downtown would benefit by 2026, with the convention center being redeveloped and with some FIFA World Cup soccer games to be held in Dallas that year.
Neiman Marcus in downtown Dallas has operated there for more than a century and long served as the headquarters for the luxury retailer. However, many executives on the Neiman’s team began working remotely during the pandemic and continued to do so in subsequent years, including some senior executives working in New York City.
While an important and historic location, the Dallas flagship has not been a top-volume producer for the Neiman Marcus luxury chain in recent years, though Saks did peg the impending closing of the Dallas flagship on a real estate issue, not its business performance. The Neiman’s unit in NorthPark Center in Dallas, for example, generates much greater volume, and it’s where Saks Global plans a $100 million overhaul.
Wednesday’s statement was signed by Jennifer Scripps, president and chief executive officer of Downtown Dallas Inc.; Linda McMahon, CEO, Dallas Economic Development Corporation; Tolbert, city manager, City of Dallas, and Shawn Todd, chairman, founder, Todd Interests.
