Academy Sports Takes Over Vacant Macy’s Box at Fairview Town Center

In a substantial anchor tenant transition, Academy Sports + Outdoors has officially signed a lease to backfill the former Macy’s location at Fairview Town Center. The sporting goods retailer is set to occupy a sprawling 130,000-square-foot space, breathing new life into a department store footprint left empty by the nationwide contraction of legacy department store brands.

According to Shopping Center Business, the lease covers the entirety of the vacated Macy’s box at the 921,075-square-foot Fairview Town Center, which is situated roughly 30 miles north of Dallas. This move adds to Academy's already robust footprint in the state, capitalizing on an expansive layout that provides ample room for the retailer's signature interactive footwear and gear departments. The transaction represents a strategic backfill for the property ownership, successfully plugging a multi-story gap in the Texas lifestyle center's lineup.

Key Details

• Tenant: Academy Sports + Outdoors
• Property: Fairview Town Center
• Location: Fairview, Texas (approximately 30 miles north of downtown Dallas)
• Lease Area: 130,000 square feet
• Property Size: 921,075 square feet
• Asset Class: Lifestyle center / mixed-use retail

Market Context

For commercial real estate professionals, this deal perfectly encapsulates the ongoing evolution of suburban retail, where tenants focused on experiential and essential goods are aggressively replacing traditional apparel-driven anchors. Academy Sports + Outdoors has proven to be a highly active player in this sector, often targeting class-A suburban real estate left behind by department store closures. Their store formats typically require between 60,000 and 130,000 square feet of space, making them ideal candidates for large, vacant anchor pads that often serve as structural anchors for the rest of the retail center.

The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area remains a highly competitive and active market for retail real estate, characterized by tight vacancy rates and sustained population growth. Suburban corridors like Fairview are witnessing strong demand from value-oriented, necessity, and sporting goods retailers, which have consistently demonstrated resilience against broader e-commerce pressures.

Redeveloping former department store boxes into modern, single-level big-box or experiential retail is a vital strategy for landlords looking to sustain foot traffic and support inline tenants. Landlords are increasingly viewing sporting goods operators not just as space fillers, but as traffic drivers that can seamlessly integrate into the modern lifestyle center format. By replacing a legacy Macy’s with an active, inventory-heavy retailer, Fairview Town Center successfully secures a long-term traffic engine capable of drawing destination shoppers to the northern Dallas suburbs.