NorthPark Center Celebrates Their 50th Anniversary With 50 Days of Giving

Representatives from the 50 organizations chosen to benefit from the NorthPark50: Fifty Years of Giving initiative

Yesterday I attended a birthday party. NorthPark Center is officially 50 years old and owner, Nancy Nasher Haemisegger was in attendance to welcome media, retail and charitable partners to the party. To celebrate 50 years, NorthPark Center is pleased to announce NorthPark50: Fifty Years of Giving, an initiative that will give back to 50 organizations for 50 days through October 28, 2015. The organizations selected for the giving campaign are NorthPark’s long-standing community partners in the areas of arts, health, education, social work and community service, as well as a few additional groups identified as new partners in giving.

In the early 1960s, Dallas developer Raymond D. Nasher leased a 97-acre cotton field on the edge of town to build what would become the largest climate-controlled retail center in the world. This was a radical and very modern idea in its day. While cows grazed across the street, NorthPark Center took shape as a work of art with clean, modern lines and open space to display the developer's fine art collection incorporated into the design.

On July 22, 1965, NorthPark Center officially opened with four anchors - Neiman Marcus, Woolworths, Titche-Goettinger and the largest JCPenney store in the Southwest. Since that day, NorthPark Center has defined retail in the Southwest. Today NorthPark is consistently ranked among the top five shopping destinations in the country and, with more than 26 million visitors annually, has been named the top attraction in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex by the Dallas Business Journal and as one of the "7 Retail Wonders of the Modern World" by Shopping Centers Today. NorthPark's present anchors - Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Macy's and Dillard's - consistently perform at the top of their respective brands in sales volume.


“For 50 years, NorthPark Center has had the great opportunity to partner with numerous non-profit organizations, helping them reach new audiences and raise funds for important causes. As we embark on NorthPark Center’s 50th anniversary year, we thought of no better way to celebrate than by giving back to the organizations that we treasure,” said Nancy A. Nasher, co-owner of NorthPark Center with her husband, David J. Haemisegger. For the past few months, NorthPark Center has been working with the selected groups to identify needs that will have a direct and immediate impact on their day-to-day operations. Specific gifts will be announced in the days and weeks ahead in order to shine light on their individual missions and inspire others to embrace a spirit of philanthropy. NorthPark will announce the manner of support on www.northparkcenter.com and across all social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, using the hashtag #NorthPark50. To bring even more awareness to giving opportunities in the North Texas region, NorthPark is also pleased to announce a new partnership with Communities Foundation of Texas to host a Give Back celebration in honor of North Texas Giving Day on September 17, 2015. The one-day event will feature special activities and performances. North Texas Giving Day is an annual online giving event that provides nonprofits exposure