Grapevine approves $14M for Mills mall improvements

Steven R. Thompson - Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

The Grapevine City Council approved $14 million in incentives Tuesday night for expected improvements to the Grapevine Mills mall.

The incentives, allocated from a tax increment financing district, will go toward an estimated $40 million upgrade, according to the Star-Telegram. The council agreed on $10 million in interior upgrades and $4 million for the exterior.

City officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday morning, but City Manager Bruno Rumbelow spoke with the Dallas Business Journal about the need for improvements earlier this month.

Rumbelow said the mall, which opened in October of 1997 and is now owned by Simon Property Group, needs a series of physical upgrades such as better lighting and flooring.

“We’ve been talking to them about a renovation project, basically making the inside of that mall new again, for the last two years,” Rumbelow said.

And Grapevine officials have even made trips to other Simon malls to see what could be done at Grapevine Mills. In April, city officials traveled to Opry Mills in Nashville to tour a recent renovation after a flood in 2010. It was something Indianapolis-based Simon wanted to show off as a possible renovation of Grapevine Mills.

“They really wanted us to take a look at it, because in terms of what that mall will be, that mall is a nice template,” Rumbelow said.

The biggest change that would take place in a Grapevine Mills renovation would be an upgrade to the tenant base.

“There need to be stores that draw a higher demographic shopper with a higher spend per person,” Rumbelow said.

Rumbelow mentioned brands like Michael Kors and Brooks Brothers, which are in the Opry Mills, as possible tenants in the new Grapevine Mills.

The higher tenant base leads to higher sales tax revenue for the city, Rumbelow said. Grapevine Mills is the city’s largest source of sales tax revenue.

But will customers who like the current tenant base at Grapevine Mills be driven away by higher priced luxury items? Rumbelow wasn’t sure, but was more concerned with attracting those customers that spend more at the mall.

“The customer base that the premium stores cater to is here in large numbers,” Rumbleow said. “We just have to get them specifically to our center."