Saks' Parisian Store To Open In Rogers By Spring '06
Pleasant Crossing lifestyle center groundbreaking set for late March
Last updated Tuesday, February 22, 2005 11:20 PM CST in Business
By Lana F. Flowers
The Morning News
A 100,000-square-foot Parisian department store will co-anchor the Pleasant Crossing center at Pleasant Grove Road and Interstate 540, representatives of Saks Inc. and The Bos Group, a Pleasant Crossing development firm, announced Tuesday.
Rogers Mayor Steve Womack said he looks forward to the $900,000 to $1 million per year in sales taxes the Parisian store could generate, while Saks officials say Rogers is the right place for a Parisian store at the right time.
Julia Bentley of Saks investor relations declined to disclose construction and land costs of the Rogers Parisian store.
Building officials in Rochester Hills, Mich., said a Parisian department store at the Rochester Hills Village shopping center cost $7.59 million, including $4.4 million for the building and $3.54 million for interior finishes to Parisian specifications.
Bentley said the Rogers Parisian store will have approximately 150 employees, with about 60 percent working full time.
Saks has 39 Parisian stores in the Midwest and Southeast. Parisian is owned by the same company operating Saks Fifth Avenue upmarket stores.
Saks, which has no Arkansas stores, could have two in the state by 2006. Saks officials previously announced plans to open a Parisian store in Pleasant Ridge Town Center in Little Rock.
The Parisian store in Rogers will open by spring 2006, with a groundbreaking for the Pleasant Crossing center in late March, according to Mark Lichtman, principal in a Maryland real estate firm, The Bos Group.
R. Brad Martin, Saks chairman and chief executive officer, said in a release that Pleasant Crossing is "the perfect setting for our new showcase store."
"We have looked for the right opportunity to open a Parisian store in the rapidly growing area of Northwest Arkansas for some time," Martin said. "Our new Parisian stores in both Rogers and Little Rock clearly will be distinctive from the other retail offerings currently available in these markets."
Lichtman said Saks' choosing Rogers points to the city's burgeoning reputation as a regional retail mecca.
He said The Bos Group talked with Saks representatives for six to eight months about building the Parisian store in Rogers.
"We have been kind of coming to terms. I think that Saks has been recognizing that Northwest Arkansas is a phenomenal area to grow into," Lichtman said.
The Saks Parisian store will join a Malco movie theater and Wal-Mart Supercenter at Pleasant Crossing, a 345-acre development with 1.2 million square feet of retail space. Pleasant Crossing is developed by The Bos Group, First Security Vanadis, Greenhat Partners and Charles Reaves.
Womack said he does not know Saks' sales per square foot figures, but estimated a 100,000-square-foot Parisian store with designer merchandise could generate $900,000 to $1 million in sales taxes each year.
"The impact on our city is pretty significant, obviously, because we have not had in our lives the type of retail selection we are about to have in our community," Womack said. "Everything that we do has a potential return that can provide much needed capital improvement dollars so we can handle some of this major infrastructure."
Womack said he still is examining options to pay for roads in developing areas, such as an overpass at the Pleasant Grove Road/I-540 intersection near Pleasant Crossing.
"We are going to have to get it done come hell or high water," Womack said.
Womack said he would like some short-term improvement to be under construction by 2006 to alleviate traffic generated by the new stores.
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