Plano's Willow Bend Mall Demolition Set to Begin Within a Year

When Centennial CEO Steven Levin and Cawley Partners CEO Bill Cawley told the Dallas Morning News last week that demolition at The Shops at Willow Bend would move forward "with the Stars or without," they put a deadline on something Plano residents have watched develop for four years: the teardown of the city's last indoor mall is now scheduled for fall 2026.

The south side of the 1.4-million-square-foot mall along the Dallas North Tollway is slated to come down first, with more than 500,000 square feet of enclosed structure eventually cleared to make way for the mixed-use district Centennial is branding as The Bend. The north side of the mall will remain standing during early demolition phases. Centennial, which acquired the property in 2022 alongside Waterfall Asset Management and Cawley Partners, confirmed the 12-month demolition window in communications with multiple outlets in late March.

For anyone who parks near the south wing or enters from that side of the 94-acre site off the tollway, the changes will be immediate and visible. Construction fencing, demolition staging and rerouted access points will define the experience of the property for months. Mall employees and small businesses occupying the southern corridor face the most direct disruption as phased removal begins. City planning staff and Centennial are expected to release phasing maps and demolition permits ahead of the fall start.

What replaces the demolished sections is the crux of the project's value proposition for Plano. The Bend envisions 800,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space built in an open-air format reminiscent of Legacy West, paired with up to 965 residential apartments, 40 to 60 townhomes, a seven-story office building and an 18-story hotel. The pivot away from enclosed retail mirrors what Centurion American is doing at the former West Plano mall site, making Willow Bend the second Plano mall to be reimagined as a mixed-use walkable district rather than saved as a traditional anchor-driven center.

The acceleration in demolition planning tracks directly with anchor losses. Dillard's closed its Willow Bend location in recent quarters, shrinking the retail draw that once justified the mall's enclosed format when it opened in 2001. Plano's city council approved the redevelopment rezoning in February 2024, and the current announcements reflect the next operational step: putting equipment on the ground.

The Dallas Stars arena question remains a genuine wildcard. The NHL franchise's lease at American Airlines Center runs through 2031, and city officials confirmed discussions about Willow Bend as a possible arena site have been ongoing for roughly a year, with no formal offer made. Levin and Cawley's public statement that demolition proceeds regardless signals that Centennial is not holding the project hostage to a marquee anchor, a posture that distinguishes The Bend from stalled mall redevelopments elsewhere in North Texas that collapsed when speculative anchors fell through.

The long-term math, according to market observers, favors the residential and hotel components most. Even at a conservative lease-up pace, nearly 1,000 housing units generate sustained foot traffic and property tax revenue that no single department store could replicate. Plano's planning framework already supports the density; the next 12 months will determine whether the construction reality matches the renderings that have hung in the Willow Bend Community Room since 2024.