NORTHPARK CENTER

'NorthPark Center' is an upscale shopping mall located in north Dallas, Texas (USA) with over 205 stores and anchors. The mall is located at the intersection of Loop 12 (Northwest Highway) and US 75 (North Central Expressway).

Contents

History

Art in the mall

Architecture

Anchors and stores

Anchors

Previous anchors and stores

Trivia

See also

Notes

External links

History

'NorthPark Center' opened in 1965 as the largest climate-controlled retail establishment in the world.^[2] Originally developed by Raymond D. Nasher, the center is now owned, managed, operated and leased by husband and wife David J. Haemisegger and Nancy A. Nasher. After a three-year, $235 million expansion that doubled its size, NorthPark Center is expected to surpass $1 billion in sales in 2007.

Art in the mall

From its inception, NorthPark Center has made world-class art an integral part of its interior landscape. NorthPark received the American Institute of Architects Award for "Design of the Decade - 1960s" as one of the first commercial centers in the United States to create space for the display of fine art. NorthPark was honored again in 1992 with the A.I.A.'s 25-Year Award for Design Excellence. NorthPark’s tradition of showcasing major works by world-renowned artists from Andy Warhol and Frank Stella to Jonathan Borofsky and Jim Dine continues with three recent acquisitions by NorthPark’s owners, David J. Haemisegger and Nancy A. Nasher: the monumental ''Ad Astra'', 2005, a 48-foot-tall, 12-ton, orange steel giant sculpture by internationally renowned New York artist Mark di Suvero; the enormous, 21-foot-tall, large-scale, stainless steel and aluminum sculpture ''Corridor Pin, Blue'' (1999), by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; and ''20 elements'' (2005), Joel Shapiro’s vividly painted sculpture of 20 wooden blocks of varying sizes joined together.

Architecture

Over the years as NorthPark Center has remained true to its original design. For the most recent expansion, NorthPark’s owners returned to Omniplan, the architectural firm that originally designed the center with clean, modern lines, signature white brick and highly polished concrete floors. The expansion turned NorthPark’s original U shape into a unique square design surrounding a 1.4-acre landscaped garden known as "CenterPark". Featuring a series of lawns, 41-year-old live oaks and red oaks, and the art for which NorthPark has become famous, CenterPark doubles as a peaceful area for all to enjoy and an exciting new venue for private and community events. For more than 40 years NorthPark Center has maintained its popularity as a comprehensive asset to its community and has not suffered the dead mall fate of others its age.

Anchors and stores

With over 25 million visitors annually, NorthPark Center has consistently been named the top attraction in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex by the ''Dallas Business Journal'', keeping NorthPark’s anchors at the top of their respective brands in sales volume.

Anchors

★ AMC Theatres 15 (88,500 sq. ft.)

★ Barneys New York (88,000 sq. ft.)

★ Dillard's - Flagship store (299,500 sq. ft.)

★ Macy's - Macy's North Texas flagship store, in former Foley's space (250,000 sq. ft.)

★ Neiman Marcus (213,800 sq. ft.)

★ Nordstrom (203,000 sq. ft.)

Previous anchors and stores

★ Lord & Taylor

★ FAO Schwarz

★ Façonnable

★ General Cinema NorthPark I & II - contained 2 wide screens and special sound system; was so influential in its day that it hosted many local and national movie premieres. It was located in a free-standing space between Lord & Taylor and Comerica Bank before being demolished, sadly, in the 1990s in preparation for NorthPark's expansion. The theater occupied what is now part of Nordstrom and its new wing.

★ JCPenney

★ Rand McNally Store

★ 2 Texaco stations, 1 each on the northwest and northeast corners of the mall property
A Comerica bank branch occupies a detached building on the northwest corner of the mall property; the bank originally opened as NorthPark National Bank.

Trivia

★ NorthPark's interior can be seen in 2 movies:

★
★ Dr. T and the Women, the Robert Altman film, has 1 scene with 'Kate' (Farrah Fawcett) visiting stores in the area of the Neiman Marcus court, then later seen around the Dillard's court fountain--which she eventually finds herself in, frolicking and splashing.

★
★ True Stories, a 1986 movie co-starring David Byrne, with 1 scene of a fashion show held at a mall in Virgil, Texas (the movie's setting) during a town celebration; the interior portion of the scene was filmed in a mid-court area between Neiman Marcus and Dillard's. Amusingly, the exterior of Virgil's mall wasn't of NorthPark -- the producers used the outside of the former Big Town Mall in nearby Mesquite.

★ In the mid-to-late 1960s, the mall played host to ''Sump 'n Else'', a live afternoon teen dance program that aired on local station WFAA-TV (Channel 8, ABC).

See also

★ List of shopping malls in Dallas, Texas

Notes

1. International Council of Shopping Centers NorthPark Center. Retrieved Mar 26, 2007.
2. NorthPark Center Facts and Demographics. Page 3. Retrieved Feb 15, 2007.

External links

★ Northpark Center home page