Neiman Marcus Saga

City of Dallas obtains mystery land deed for downtown Neiman Marcus

Fancy Christmas tree from holiday season past inside Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus

There's a new chapter in the ongoing breakup saga between the city of Dallas and Neiman Marcus, the luxury retailer which is closing its longtime location in downtown Dallas at the end of March.

When Neiman Marcus parent company Saks Global announced its decision to close the store, they attributed it to a dispute with one of the landlords, regarding a small parcel of land on which the store resides.

According to a release, the city of Dallas now has the deed for that property in its possession, which it is willing to donate to Neiman Marcus, and is hoping this will persuade Neiman Marcus to stay, please please stay.

The release says that members of the Dallas Consortium for the Downtown Neiman Marcus — a group that includes downtown developer Shawn Todd of Todd Interests, Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, and members of Downtown Dallas, Inc., the advocacy group for downtown — plan to meet with Saks Global executives to discuss the future of the store.

Tolbert says the City is now in possession of the deed for the Slaughter property that was at the root of Saks Global’s decision to close the store.

“I want to thank the Dallas Consortium for the Downtown Neiman Marcus for their continued efforts to ensure ongoing operations of the Downtown flagship store," Tolbert says. "The City of Dallas now officially holds the special warranty deed for the parcel that Saks Global Properties said was needed to keep Neiman Marcus’ Downtown store open."

Downtown Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus has already removed the signage from its downtown Dallas location.Photo courtesy of C. Troy Mathis

“I also want to thank the Slaughter family for their donation, and their desire to preserve the prosperity that this iconic brand contributes to Downtown’s vibrancy," Tolbert says in the release. "With the deed documents now in hand, I am looking forward to hosting Saks Global Properties and Investments CEO Ian Putman and his team on Wednesday morning at City Hall."

Dallas and Saks Global have been engaged in a back-and-forth over the future of the store.

On February 18, Saks Global announced its intent to close the store.
On February 25, downtown leaders rallied to try and prevent Neiman Marcus from closing.
On February 26, the owner of the piece of land which Saks Global said had been a problem committed to donate the land.
On February 27, Saks Global said it would be closing the store regardless. In fact, they've already removed signage from the building.

Since the dispute began, statements from the city have generally been met by responses from Saks Global, with the back-and-forth playing out in the public sphere on websites like CultureMap Dallas. Which is to say that there may well be something forthcoming from Saks Global soon.

UPDATE 3-4-2025: Saks responded with a statement saying that "the Dallas Consortium’s ongoing tactic of using the press to pressure us into changing our strategy in Dallas is highly unproductive. Even after our corrections to their previous false statements, they continue to go to the press, making inaccurate claims. Our decision to close the Neiman Marcus Downtown Dallas store is final and we are moving forward as such."

The statement calls it a "far more complicated situation than what the public is being led to believe and has been going on for more than a decade. While we had been willing to hear the Consortium’s perspective, a meeting was not confirmed. We have made several attempts to be connected directly to the City Manager, as an official representative of the City of Dallas, and we were denied."

"We are committed to growth, and are focused on Neiman Marcus’ future in Dallas. That future is at the NorthPark store, where we are planning a $100 million renovation."

downtown

Bang for Buck

Surprising Dallas neighbor unlocks biggest apartments in DFW for $1,500

Photo courtesy of RentCafe

Mesquite has the biggest apartments on a budget in DFW.

Budget-conscious renters searching for the roomiest apartments in the region should look no further than Mesquite. According to a new study, the Dallas suburb boasts the most bang for your buck in terms of space in North Texas.

In 2026, Mesquite residents can rent just shy of 1,000 square feet (a 988-square-foot apartment) for $1,500 per month. That's eight square feet more than what they could get with the same budget last year.

RentCafe's annual report analyzes the places where renters can find the largest apartment sizes across 200 of the most populous U.S. cities for a monthly budget of $1,500. The price per square foot was calculated using the average apartment rent and size per city based on "multifamily properties" containing 50 or more units.

Mesquite offers the most spacious apartment size in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for $1,500, and the city boasts the 10th biggest apartments in Texas on that budget.

Elsewhere in the area, Denton saw the second biggest leap in apartment size nationwide since 2025, the report found. Renters there could lease an 835-square-foot apartment for $1,500 last year, and that has jumped to 862 square feet in 2026.

Dallas renters, on the other hand, will only net an 803-square-foot apartment for the same monthly cost, which is down 11 square feet from last year. Dallas ranks third from the bottom in the statewide list of cities that offer the largest apartments for the $1,500 price tag, with Frisco and Austin ranking even lower. Apartment hunters in Frisco will get only 798 square feet for $1,500.

Here's how much space you can get for $1,500 elsewhere in Dallas-Fort Worth this year, from largest to smallest:

Arlington – 927 square feet
Garland – 924 square feet
Fort Worth – 913 square feet
McKinney – 885 square feet
Grand Prairie – 873 square feet
Irving – 859 square feet
Plano – 820 square feet

Apartment sizes across Texas
For the second year in a row, South Texas is the region that has the most spacious apartments for a $1,500 monthly budget, RentCafe found.

McAllen leads the nation with the biggest apartment size – at 1,378 square feet – which is large enough for a three- or four-bedroom unit.

"With rents averaging just $993 and the typical apartment measuring 912 square feet, McAllen renters get a lot more space for their money than most Americans do within that monthly budget," the report said. "Still, that figure is down slightly from last year’s 1,393 square feet — a sign that even the most affordable markets are starting to tighten."

McAllen neighbor Brownsville ranks fourth statewide with apartments spanning 1,213 square feet for the same budget.

These are the top 10 Texas cities that offer the biggest apartments for $1,500 in 2026:

No. 1 – McAllen (1,378 square feet)
No. 2 – Amarillo (1,237 square feet)
No. 3 – Lubbock (1,217 square feet)
No. 4 – Brownsville (1,213 square feet)
No. 5 – El Paso (1,128 square feet)
No. 6 – Pasadena (1,125 square feet)
No. 7 – Corpus Christi (1,115 square feet)
No. 8 – Killeen (1,058 square feet)
No. 9 – San Antonio (1,023 square feet)
No. 10 – Mesquite (988 square feet)

real estate apartments housing rentcafe study dallas fort worth mesquite arlington frisco denton