Dallas Gets Meeting with Saks to Save Downtown Neiman Marcus

Dallas officials secured a meeting with Saks Global as they make a final push to keep the Neiman Marcus flagship open downtown, but the retailer insists its decision to close remains unchanged.

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert will meet with Saks executives next week following the city’s latest attempt to pitch what it describes as a “financially beneficial” offer, the Dallas Morning News reported. Where the meeting will take place wasn’t reported.

The meeting comes after Tolbert and the Dallas Consortium, a coalition of business and civic leaders, sent a letter to Saks Executive Chairman Richard Baker and others, urging a discussion before the store shutters on March 31.

Saks has “always been open to speaking with the city manager of Dallas,” it said in a statement, but reaffirmed that its decision to close the downtown Neiman Marcus location, which it made in February, has not changed.

The letter to Baker claimed that keeping the store open for a few more months would allow Saks to “capture the opportunity we wish to discuss.”

The city has not publicly disclosed details of its proposal but previously worked to remove a major barrier to keeping the store open by securing the deed to a disputed portion of the property earlier this month.

Saks, which acquired Neiman Marcus for $2.7 billion last year, has pushed back on the city’s efforts, arguing that the situation is “far more complicated than what the public is being led to believe.” The company, which is owned by Hudson Bay Company, has also claimed that some of its previous attempts to engage with Dallas officials were rejected.

The meeting is the latest development in an ongoing effort to preserve the store, which has been a landmark in downtown Dallas for over a century. The closure threatens to leave a major void in the city’s retail core, as Neiman Marcus also plans to vacate its 82,000-square-foot headquarters at Cityplace Tower.

While Dallas officials hold out hope for a deal, Saks is already moving forward with plans to invest $100 million into its Neiman Marcus location at NorthPark Center, suggesting its focus is shifting away from downtown.

— Judah Duke