Saks International stated it’s sticking to its determination to shut Neiman Marcus’ historic flagship retailer in Dallas — regardless of native enterprise leaders saying they’ve solved a thorny dispute with a landlord of the century-old landmark.
The acknowledged cause for Saks International’s determination final week to shut the shop on March 31 was a weird beef over a 2,500-square-foot sliver of land underneath the down escalator of the nine-story division retailer.
Saks, which acquired Neiman Marcus in a blockbuster $2.65 billion deal in December, is “disappointed to be losing a piece of our history due to circumstances beyond our control,” Saks International CEO Marc Metrick stated in a memo saying the shop closure final week.
However a consortium of enterprise teams brokered a final minute deal on Tuesday through which the owner agreed to “donate” its floor lease to the town of Dallas with the group claiming now that the dispute is “under control,” in accordance with an announcement launched by the group on Wednesday.
The so-called Dallas Consortium for the Downtown Neiman Marcus even steered popping open a bottle of champagne with Saks International honchos in Neiman Marcus’ fancy restaurant, Zodiac, subsequent week.
Saks International was unmoved.
“Given our role in the Dallas community, we are working to schedule a meeting with the Dallas Consortium, however, at this time, our plans to close the Downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus remain in place,” the Massive Apple firm stated in an announcement late Wednesday.
Beforehand, the corporate stated the dispute with the owner, Slaughter Companions LP, had been raging for 10 years and that Slaughter lastly terminated its lease.
Slaughter Companions didn’t return requires remark.
The Slaughter household held a 99-year lease within the block-long constructing. They have been shut with the Neiman and Marcus households who based the retailer in 1907, in accordance with the consortium.
The lease by no means generated greater than $400 a month for Slaughter Companions, in accordance with the consortium’s assertion on Wednesday.
Saks International owns a big share of the constructing together with a gaggle of a number of landlords, together with Slaughter Companions, maintain floor leases.
“I know that Dallas is ecstatic about this deal,” stated Dallas actual property developer Shawn Todd who brokered the cope with landlord’s rep throughout a flight to Los Angeles final night time. “The city says Neimans doesn’t need to worry about that rent.”
It’s not clear what Saks International and the consortium will talk about subsequent week as Dallas officers desperately attempt to protect Neiman Marcus’ 117 year-old legacy within the metropolis.
Metrick and chairman Richard Baker have been visiting Neiman Marcus’ 36 shops over the previous a number of weeks.
On Tuesday Saks International handed out pink slips to five% or about 150 company staffers — lots of whom labored in Dallas — because it merges the retailers and navigates a slowdown in luxurious spending.
On the identical day, the consortium held a press convention exterior the division retailer and waved a duplicate of The New York Put up, which first reported that Slaughter Companions’ stake within the constructing was the supply of the owner controversy.
“Can you imagine the blowback in New York City if Mr. Baker had closed Bergdorfs or Saks Fifth Avenue,” Todd stated on the press convention. “I can assure you it would be a whisper compared to the response that Texans would have regarding this store.”
Todd additionally poked Metrick and Baker over a portrait of Neiman Marcus founder Stanley Marcus, which the executives discovered “abandoned” within the empty company workplaces above the shop and flew it again to New York Metropolis this month.
The gold framed portray is in Saks International’s downtown Manhattan headquarters “to ensure a piece of Neiman Marcus history and culture was represented in Saks Global’s headquarters,” the corporate stated.
Todd requested them to return it, “so it can stand for another 117 years” within the Neiman Marcus retailer, he stated on the press convention.
Saks International declined to touch upon the portrait.
