With concerns that the Shops at Willow Bend would suffer an unsightly and painfully slow decline like Valley View or Collin Creek malls, the Plano Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously approved Dallas-based Centennial’s plans to redevelop the mall.
While area residents have expressed uneasiness about the addition of 965 apartments to the property, no citizens spoke in opposition of Centennial’s plans for the mall located on the northwest corner of the Dallas North Tollway and West Park Boulevard during the three-hour meeting Tuesday night.
The multi-million dollar and multi-year plans now move to the Plano City Council in February.
Centennial founder and CEO Steven Levin made the case that by shrinking the enclosed retail space to make room for outdoor shopping on a streetscape, the addition of 965 apartments, an 18-story hotel and a seven-story office building will create a tax-generating asset similar to The Domain, Austin’s highly regarded development.
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“The Domain is one of the most successful projects in the country. It was a spectacular ground-up project and this lends itself to something similar and we hope to replicate it,” Levin said.
Centennial led a group to purchase the Plano mall that had been in foreclosure in May 2022.
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