Dallas Market Center

The four-building campus includes the World Trade Center, Trade Mart, International Trade Plaza (The Plaza), and Market Hall. Inside these buildings, nearly 2,300 permanent showrooms offer more than 35,000 product lines from manufacturers around the world.

Trammell Crow developed the nearby Dallas Decorative Center, which opened in 1955.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1984/april/anatomy-of-the-apparel-mart/ |title=Anatomy of the Apparel Mart |author=/tartar, Clarissa |date=April 1984 |magazine=D Magazine |accessdate=9 May 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://tclf.org/landscapes/decorative-center-dallas-0 |title=Decorative Center Dallas |website=The Cultural Landscape Foundation |accessdate=9 May 2018}}

The two-story International Trade Plaza, which opened in 1957, is the first building at the current site of Dallas Market Center. The original name for this building was the Dallas Homefurnishings Mart, designed by Donald H. Speck. The {{convert|434000|sqft}} building was repurposed in 1999 as the International Floral & Gift Center and later in 2012 as The International Trade Plaza.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} The current name is the Interior Home + Design Center following a renovation in 2017.

The Dallas Trade Mart, the second Dallas Market Center building, was designed by Harold Berry, Donald Speck, and Harwell Hamilton Harris and it opened its doors in 1958. The project provided {{convert|980000|sqft}} of showroom space and cost $12.64 million. It is four stories tall and the atrium at its center is named The Grand Pavilion.

Market Hall, which opened in 1960 and is across Market Center Boulevard from the rest of the campus, is the only building that is open to the public with more than 60 shows per year. It has {{convert|202000|sqft}} of floor space.{{cite web |url=http://dallasmarketcenter.com/about/campus/ |title=About Our Campus |website=Dallas Market Center |accessdate=9 May 2018}}

In 1964, the Apparel Mart opened for business at a cost of $15 million with {{convert|1.6|e6sqft|m2}} of space. For four decades, the building served as a trading center for women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories. It closed in 2004, and the 600 tenants were moved to the World Trade Center.{{cite news |url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Dallas-Apparel-Mart-to-close-2114618.php |title=Dallas' Apparel Mart to close |author=Henderson, Jim |date=11 May 2003 |newspaper=Houston Chronicle |accessdate=9 May 2018}}{{cite press release |url=https://sgbonline.com/dallas-apparel-mart-is-closing/ |title=Dallas Apparel Mart is Closing ... |date=3 February 2003 |publisher=SGB Media |accessdate=9 May 2018}} Today, apparel and accessories showrooms reside on the top floors of World Trade Center, and apparel trade events held at Dallas Market Center attract buyers from around the world.

The largest building and centerpiece of the campus is the World Trade Center, opened in 1974 with seven stories. It was expanded in 1979 to have {{convert|3.1|e6sqft|m2}} of floor space and 15 stories. Inside the World Trade Center are showrooms including gifts, home accessories, lighting, floral, holiday, jewelry, rugs, toys, gourmet foods, furniture, and linens.{{Citation needed|date=September 2016}}

File:Furniture Mart entry canopy photo.jpg|Southwest Homefurnishings Mart c.1957

File:Trade Mart exterior.jpg|Dallas Trade Mart c.1958

File:Trade Mart pergola photo color.jpg|Pergola in the Dallas Trade Mart Grand Courtyard c.1958

File:Dallas Market Center (Trade Mart), Dallas Texas (28113712988).jpg|Market Hall (2018)

File:Dallas Market Center (Trade Mart), Dallas Texas (41085072405) (cropped).jpg|Dallas World Trade Center (2018)

Dallas Market Center was founded in 1957 by real estate developer Trammell Crow.{{cite press release| url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261159/000119312505006747/dex991.htm| title=CNL Income Properties, Inc. Plans to Acquire Majority Interest in Property at World's Largest Wholesale Merchandise Mart| publisher=CNL Income Properties| date=18 January 2005| access-date=25 March 2022}} The first trade event at Dallas Market Center was held in July 1957 and was attended by 1,850 visitors. Today, the largest markets attract more than 50,000 attendees from all 50 states and 84 countries.

The Trade Mart was the destination of United States President John F. Kennedy's motorcade on November 22, 1963, when he was assassinated in Dealey Plaza. He was scheduled to give a speech to 2,600 people at a sold-out luncheon in the Grand Courtyard. Notable guests awaiting Kennedy's arrival included Market Center partners Trammell Crow and John Stemmons; J. Erik Jonsson, one of the owners of Texas Instruments; and Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell.{{cite web |url=http://www.hfndigital.com/blogs/blog-fifty-years-ago-at-the-trade-mart-in-dallas/ |title=Fifty Years Ago at the Trade Mart in Dallas |date=22 November 2013 |website=HFN |accessdate=9 May 2018}} As the event fell on a Friday, special dispensation had been arranged to allow the Catholics in attendance to eat meat (the planned main course was steak) at the luncheon.{{cite news |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2013/11/01/unease-then-shock-followed-wait-at-trade-mart-for-jfk-speech-that-never-came |title=Unease, then shock followed wait at Trade Mart for JFK speech that never came |author=Granberry, Michael |date=1 November 2013 |newspaper=The Dallas Morning News |accessdate=14 May 2018}}

On October 12, 1964, English sculptor Elisabeth Frink created the bronze sculpture The Eagle which sits outside the main entrance today. It features a William Blake quote and a plaque which reads, "Placed in memorial by the friends of United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy who awaited his arrival at the Dallas Trade Mart on November 22, 1963 when he was assassinated in Dealey Plaza."

By the late 1980s, Dallas Market Center comprised six buildings with {{convert|6.9|e6sqft|m2}} of space housing 3,200 tenants employing 60,000.

Dallas Market Center hosts dozens of trade events throughout the year, including nine major markets attracting some 200,000 retail buyers.

The Accessories Resource Team (ART), the trade association for home decorative accessories, partners with Dallas Market Center to sponsor the ARTS Awards gala held each January which recognizes excellence and achievement in retailing, manufacturing, design, and representation.

The Toy Industry Association holds its Fall Toy Preview at Dallas Market Center each fall. This show for mass market retailers is the toy industry's most important preview of products under development for the following year.

Portions of the 1976 film Logan's Run were filmed in the Apparel Mart. The 1984 slasher movie The Initiation was also filmed in the Apparel Mart.

• Infomart
• Trademart Brussels

{{reflist}}

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• [http://www.dallasmarketcenter.com/ Dallas Market Center]
• [http://marketcentermanagement.com/ Market Center Management Company]
• {{cite web |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/JFK-Speeches/Dallas-TX-Trade-Mart-Undelivered_19631122.aspx |title=Remarks Prepared for Delivery at the Trade Mart in Dallas, Texas |date=22 November 1963 |author=Kennedy, John F. |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |accessdate=9 May 2018}}
• {{youtube |id=mzrcQXwVvIw |title=Logan's Run location: the DMC Apparel Mart (1970)}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31233 |title=A Logan's Run Landmark Sees Last Day |author=merrick |date=14 January 2007 |website=Ain't It Cool News |accessdate=9 May 2018}}

Category:Buildings and structures in Dallas

Category:Economy of Dallas

Category:Buildings and structures associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy

Category:1957 establishments in Texas

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1957