Hankook Property Management works on mixed-use plan for Lewisville's Vista mall

Lewisville, Texas, has approved $32 million of street money for a mall redevelopment it has not yet approved. Voters passed the Vista Mall public street infrastructure project in a 2024 bond election, and Hankook Property Management, a partial owner of The Vista, is still working on a redevelopment plan. Hankook acquired the interior portion of the mall, including the theater and the former JCPenney, in 2022.

The city has been facilitating discussions between the current owners and potential developers interested in redeveloping the property, and Lewisville officials would have to approve a rezoning once plans are complete. The concept as it stands calls for more than 1,000 apartments, 120 townhomes, a 120-key hotel, 34,000 square feet of office, more than 600,000 square feet of retail and open space. Estimates put the mall's vacancy between 30% and 50%, according to Connect CRE.

The retail figure is where the concept earns its scrutiny. A center running 30% to 50% vacant suggests the problem is demand rather than footprint, and the plan's answer is density: more than 1,000 apartments, 120 townhomes and a 120-key hotel arranged around retail that would then be filled by residents and guests rather than by the trade area as it stands today. That sequencing puts the housing first in the underwriting. Those units have to clear at market rents before the retail square footage has a reason to fill.

Split ownership is the other piece to watch. Hankook holds the interior portion rather than the whole property, which suggests the city's contribution is doing work no single owner would take on alone, and that the $32 million is best read as underwriting a district rather than a particular building.

None of the concept's numbers are committed. The apartment count, the hotel keys and the retail square footage move until plans are complete and Lewisville officials vote on a rezoning, and the coverage does not say when either might happen. The $32 million, approved in 2024, does not depend on which version of the concept reaches the council.