In 2022, the retailer received $5.25M in city incentives to build its offices at CityPlace Tower and stay in Dallas. It is not yet clear what becomes of those funds.
DALLAS — Neiman Marcus, which has been a storied presence in Dallas for more than 100 years, confirms that it is closing its Dallas offices less than a year after the luxury retail chain’s merger with Saks Fifth Avenue.
Saks Global, as the combined company was named after closing a $2.65 billion deal to buy the Dallas-based Neiman Marcus last year, confirmed in a statement to WFAA that it had made the decision to close the retailer’s Dallas headquarters in CityPlace Tower near Uptown Dallas “after conducting a review of site usage and lease agreements.”
A spokesperson for Saks Global said in the company’s statement that its review found Dallas-based associates came in to the local office space about 11 days per year on average.
Saks Global says it’s consolidating all of its corporate headquarters — across brands — into its offices in Brookfield, New York, and closing its former Neiman Marcus corporate hubs in New York City as well as in Dallas.
“We recognize the role Neiman Marcus plays in Dallas and we remain highly committed to serving our customers and to ensuring Neiman Marcus’ legacy there,” Saks Global’s statement continued.
The flagship Neiman Marcus location in Downtown Dallas is not closing as part of this move.
NexPoint, the company that owns the CityPlace building where Neiman Marcus previously officed, argued in its own statement to WFAA that it doesn’t believe Neiman Marcus’ lease in the building can be so easily ended.
“While we received notice of termination from Neiman Marcus Group (NMG) for their lease at CityPlace Tower, we do not believe their lease allows for such termination,” the statement read. “As such, we are looking to engage in conversations with the NMG team to identify a path forward.”
NexPoint added that it “hopes those conversations result in a solution that reflects the commitments that NMG made when it selected Cityplace Tower for its new corporate headquarters — commitments not only to us as the property owner but also to the city of Dallas, which provided meaningful support to NMG in its site selection process, allowing NMG to continue its more than 100-year history as a Dallas-based company.”
WFAA’s content partners at the Dallas Business Journal reported in 2022 that Neiman Marcus Group received a $5.25 million economic development grant agreement from the City of Dallas for its headquarters in CityPlace Tower and to prevent the brand from moving its offices to one of the city’s suburbs.
Under that agreement, Neiman Marcus was required to retain a minimum of 1,100 full-time jobs in Dallas by the end of 2023, with average wages of $49 per hour and 35% of its employees residing in Dallas, the DBJ reported.
According to a statement from a spokesperson, the City of Dallas “is monitoring discussions between [Neiman Marcus] and the landlord, and in the event of a default, the City has the right to seek to recapture the permitting fee reimbursements paid to date and [Neiman Marcus] would forfeit all remaining incentives.”
Neiman Marcus, which grew throughout the 1900s into one of the brands most closely associated with Dallas’ identity, was founded in 1907 by Abraham Lincoln “Al” Neiman, his wife Carrie Marcus Neiman and his brother-in-law Herbert Marcus Sr.
Their brand’s original store location was at the intersection of Elm Street and North Field Street. But that building burned down in 1914 in a fire, and by the end of the year, the company had opened in a new location at Main Street and Ervay Street, where it remains today.
