Tale of Two Cities
Preston Hollow People - Mar. 23, 2007 - by Paige Phelps
Preston Center West battles for parking while The Plaza at Preston Center literally takes the cake.
On any given day in Preston Center West, a slew of necktied diners crowd Chipotle, Pei Wei, Einstein's Bagels, and California Pizza Kitchen, or for more local fare, Sonny's BBQ, Flying Fish, and Snuffer's - all good for a quick meal or a juicy burger.
Other staples in the area include popular nail salons, discount shops, and a smattering of boutique retailers, all situated around the square parking garage at the center.
On the east side of Preston Road, it's a different story.
Saleswomen at Tootsies offer shoppers a glass of champagne while they browse for exclusive labels like Lela Rose; and Bachendorf's windows shine with diamonds and expensive watches. Even Sprinkles, the newest retailer imported from L.A., opened its doors to an air of exclusivity, and they only make cupcakes.
Today, the two sides of Preston south of Northwest Highway are examples of rejuvenation and entropy - it's what happens when you pit limited ownership against a collective of landlords - and the struggles of private developers arguing with the city of Dallas over 70-plus years of deeds and restrictions versus the relative ease of small town government in University Park.
At one time, Preston Center East, now known as The Plaza at Preston Center, was considered "the sleepy side of town," according to leasing agent and Venture Commercial real estate partner Mike Geisler, who has been repping the east side for 17 years.
"When I started leasing The Plaza...the west side had the traffic, and they had their own business associations that we asked to be a part of, and they said ‘No, you're not Preston Center,'" he recalled.
The building that now houses Tootsies was once a Neiman Marcus. When Neiman's left for NorthPark Center, times were tough. Geisler remembers a travel agency, a title company, an office products store, and not much else.
"We didn't have a very interesting mix," he said. "So what we started to do was take our retail tenants and our nonretail tenants, like the title company and the bank, and only put them in certain parts of the center. Retailers like to be next to other retailers."
The changes to the east side, which sits in the city of University Park, have come while turmoil has visited the west side, which is inside Dallas city limits.
One need only look at leasing rates to see the distinction. Geisler said the Plaza routinely gets $28-$65 per square foot, compared to the west side's $18-$30.
"The general consensus is that [Preston Center West] is in a slow, downward trend," said Clayton Elliott, vice president of Hines Interests.
Hines has proposed a mid-rise condo building that has, so far, been tabled by the city and has stirred up the argument, once again, of how the city and business owners can improve PC West.
The main problem: The west side has been divvied up among owners since it was converted from a dairy farm in 1933. The Plaza side has had several owners through the years, but now they have just one, the Caruth family.
"On the west, you have fractured ownership, something like 35, 36 property owners within 30 feet of just our property," Elliott said. "Anytime you have that many people owning that much property, it's going to be hard to reach a collective decision."
So far the city has not jumped at new residential development ideas. And parking, it seems, continues to be the albatross of the shopping center.
Luke Miranda, with Lobello Properties, spent months digging up deeds to compile a detailed history of the area, "A guide to understanding parking in Preston Center West."
According to Miranda's research, parking was decided for Preston Center West back in the 1930s, back when Lobello Properties owner Sam Lobello Sr. bought Lot 1 of 11, with space set aside for streets and parking, all situated on 25.36 acres, from speculator Rhea Smith.
What was then called "Tract A," would later be known as Preston Center West. Lobello's granddaughter, Marguerite Archer, for one, said that she feels the public parking was part of her grandfather's deed.
Chris Caso, assistant city attorney, disagrees. He said that two Preston Center West owners, a Mr. Love and a Mr. Costa, deeded the parking area and the streets to the city in 1955. Currently the city of Dallas is seeking a declaration from a judge that the city owns the land.
"We really don't know where [Preston Center West owners] are getting this, that they own the land," Caso said. "The Smith deed just set aside area for parking. Then he sold off the lots, but he never sold off ownership in that parking land, just the land around it."
Luke Crosland of Crosland Investments is among the largest property owners in Preston Center West. He has proposed building a 23-story condo building at Preston Center West, on the current site of 24-Hour Fitness. The plan is still under consideration by the city of Dallas.
Thought he was unavailable for comment on this story, Crosland told Park Cities People in an earlier interview that he and the Preston Center West Parking Corporation "are unified in their stance claiming rights to the land" and feel that any development on the parking garage would "greatly diminish the availability of parking at the shopping center."
Mrs. Archer, one of 15 directors of the Preston Center West Parking Corporation, said she and her organization hope to gain ownership of the parking garage, redo it, and add another level and landscaping to the property. The city, she speculated, wants to sell the structure to a developer who might build on the property and actually reduce the number of parking spots available to the center.
Meanwhile the Plaza at Preston Center recently restriped the parking lot to add 30 parking spaces, and there was no legal wrangling necessary.
Geisler said another advantage for the east side is dealing with a small town like University Park rather than the government of one of the nation's largest cities.
"We report to a completely different city and you know, because it is such a small town, there's a lot of accountability to that neighborhood," Geisler said.
But with all the legal trouble, zoning debates, and fractured ownership, why don't the Preston Center West owners sell out now and move their businesses elsewhere?
Mrs. Archer said in the past, there was a developer who offered to buy all of Preston Center West, but many owners didn't want to sell.
Geisler meanwhile isn't worrying about upgrades needed at the Plaza. He's just helping pick and choose the tenants.
"Several people want to get in," he said of spaces at The Plaza. "The challenge is sometimes the people who want to get in the center like the way it looks, but they're not retail owners we want. We want a specific tenant mix. ... We target who we want and go after them and wait until we get them."
