The Shops at Willow Bend are seen on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Plano.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
PLANO — Long before the Dallas Stars emerged as a potential tenant, The Shops at Willow Bend was already searching for a new future.
The 1.4-million-square-foot mall, the last enclosed mall built in Texas, opened in 2001. But despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent by previous owners, the property struggled to attract enough shoppers and stores.
The most recent redevelopment plans called for transforming the site into a mixed-use project with less retail space, but the mall’s challenges only intensified in recent years.
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The Neiman Marcus department store at the property is scheduled to close by the beginning of 2027. Another anchor, Macy’s, backed out of the mall last year, and Dillard’s closed earlier this year.
By the time Dallas-based Centennial Real Estate became involved in the property through its 2022 acquisition, the question was no longer how to revive the mall, but what would replace it.
Steven Levin, founder and outgoing CEO of Centennial, said he and business partner Bill Cawley were discussing the site’s future when a meeting with Dallas Stars team president and CEO Brad Alberts changed their thinking.
“After this conversation, in my mind, I went back and thought there really isn’t anything more dynamic and better as an anchor than a sports anchor of the caliber of the Dallas Stars and the NHL,” Levin said.
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“That became really one of one to us.”
Levin said the idea offered an opportunity to do something unique in North Texas.
“We weren’t going to do something that was just like other projects that were out there,” he said. “There is no sports-anchored mixed-use development in Dallas-Fort Worth. This is an opportunity to do something that is absolutely unparalleled.”
A rendering for the proposed new development for the planned Dallas Stars arena and entertainment complex.
Courtesy of Centennial
Under the proposal, which saw a $700 million public funding plan unanimously approved Monday night by Plano city council, a new Stars arena would anchor a roughly $3 billion mixed-use district on about 90 acres at the former mall site.
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The project would combine the arena with other surrounding development, creating what project leaders envision as a long-term destination rather than a standalone sports venue.
The ownership structure also differs from a traditional arena project. Under the proposed agreements, the city would own the site and the arena, and enter into an initial 30-year lease agreement with the team. The terms are to be negotiated, according to city documents.
As for the area’s surrounding development, Stars owner Tom Gaglardi will become a co-owner alongside Levin and Cawley. Gaglardi’s real estate development company, Northland Properties, will participate.
Centennial will manage the real estate outside the arena, while Waterfall Asset Management is serving as a financial partner.
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“It’s going to be very collaborative,” Levin said. “It has to feel like it is one integrated, well-thought-out, well-designed project. That’s why it’s important for Northland to be a part of it and for us to work together.”
The physical transformation of Willow Bend would be extensive.
According to city documents, the property owner has proposed demolishing the mall’s inline retail space, theater, Dillard’s building and Crayola building as part of the redevelopment effort.
The project is still in its early stages. The Stars, developers and city officials are entering the design phase and planning the infrastructure needed to support the district.
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Project leaders say their goal is to break ground on the arena in 2028 and open it for the 2031-32 NHL season.
If completed, the development would represent the latest reinvention of a property that spent years searching for an identity and could become one of the largest sports-anchored mixed-use projects in North Texas.