String of new retail leases fill up Plaza at Preston Center

Apr 11, 2013

Dallas Morning News Biz Beat Blog - April 11, 2013 - by Steve Brown

A University Park shopping center has attracted new tenant attention along with a building addition at the blue-chip location.

The 4-block Plaza at Preston Center at the southeast corner of Preston Road and Northwest Highway is now almost fully rented following a flurry of leasing by retail property firm Venture Commercial.

A new 5-story building in the center is adding office space and a University Park Library. The office addition has already been leased by Cambridge Holdings and Morgan Stanley.

At the same time Venture Commercial as signed up more than a half dozen new restaurant and merchant tenants for the retail project.

Some of the additions include:

LUBLU Kira Plastinina, a fashion retail location from Russian-born fashion designer and Southern Methodist student Kira Plastinina.

Aftershock London, a British apparel retailer that's opening its first U.S. store in the shopping center.

Calypso St. Barth, a home and fashion retailer from the Carribean.

Bag'n Baggage, which has opened in a 3,419-square-foot location at Plaza at Preston Center.

Sprinkles Ice Cream and restaurant True Food Kitchen are also added to the Plaza at Preston Center tenant roster.

"A lot of these are very fresh and unique tenants – the first stores in the U.S. – and relatively new concepts," said Mike Geisler, founding partner of Venture Commercial and the project's exclusive broker. "I wish we had more space."

Geisler said the new office and library building will add 450 underground parking spaces which will free up additional parking for retail shoppers.

Plaza at Preston Center dates back to the 1950s when it was developed as the location of Neiman Marcus' first "suburban" Dallas department store.

The shopping center has about 180,000 square feet of retail space and has been substantially redeveloped over the years.