Montgomery Ward Store May Come to Arlington, Texas, Mall

Three years after the loss of anchor J.C. Penney dealt a heavy blow to Six Flags Mall, the mall's owners say they are close to signing a new tenant for the former Penney's building. Real estate and retail sources have said that Montgomery Ward & Co. has been negotiating to lease the 150,000-square-foot space, which Penney sold to the mall's owners. Six Flag's owners said yesterday that they are under a confidentiality agreement and can't say who the tenant will be. "I can't discuss who it is," said Tom Morris, who said he represents Six Flags Mall LP, which bought the mall in 1999. "The final terms and conditions of the lease are being negotiated and I think within two weeks the lease should be signed." Yesterday, Ward's spokesman Chuck Knittle said only, "We have made no decisions to lease any new stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area." Ward has a store several miles south of Six Flags Mall at Festival Discount Mall. Getting a Montgomery Ward outlet would be a coup for Six Flags, which like Festival is older and has been struggling against intense competition from newer, more upscale malls and shopping centers. Festival general manager Bob Cesare said he also has heard that Ward will open a store at Six Flags. Montgomery Ward is a main traffic driver for Festival, and the mall doesn't want to lose it to a mall near enough to be a competitor, he said. "We have a great relationship with Montgomery Ward's." Ward, whose Festival store has 155,000 square feet, asked Festival about leasing as much as 30,000 square feet for a pilot project, a clearance center, in addition to its anchor store. Cesare said Festival's owners told Ward the space wasn't available but asked Ward to consider converting its Festival location into a clearance center. Dillard operates its only area Dillard's Clearance Center at Festival Mall. Morris said that in addition to finding a tenant for the Penney's building, Six Flags Mall has other deals in the works. A longtime tenant, the Gym, is moving from next to Sears to several buildings nearby that were occupied by a movie theater and a restaurant. Morris said a Dallas development group is converting the Gym's space into a 12,000-square-foot women's day spa, Salons of Six Flags. Morris said Six Flags also plans an 18,000-square-foot food court within the mall with space for 10 tenants. The mall has three food court tenants.