Arlington Highlands

“Let’s go to the mall.” When it comes to a cure for boredom, no modern cure comes to mind more quickly than a trip to the mall. In Arlington, the top shopping destination has changed over the years with the rise and decline of malls like Forum 303 and Six Flags Mall. The largest indoor mall in the city, The Parks at Arlington has carried the shopping load since it opened in 1988. That is until the Arlington Highlands opened just down the highway—an open air shopping plaza with a turn-of-the century twist.

Often compared to Southlake Town Square, the creators of the Arlington Highlands like to call it a lifestyle center to suggest that it’s “more than a collection of stores and restaurants.”  With nearly 100 shops and businesses calling Arlington Highlands home, there is plenty to do, eat, see and buy.

The community leaders and property developers who brought the Highlands to Arlington want visitors to feel like they are entering a home town center, providing a glimpse of what the city of Arlington is all about. If the city of Arlington is all about shopping, then they hit the nail on the head.

The shopping village has several sections. Larger retailers like Jo-Ann’s fabrics and PetSmart are in the Merchant’s Court. Highlands Park Place features the marquee Movie Studio Grill and Curtis Mathes Park. The Market Square section offers a range of businesses and boutiques from Compass Trading Company to the Improv Comedy Cub. Highlands Corner, on the east side of the property, features larger venues from Splitsville bowling lanes and lounge to Dave & Buster’s.

To help patrons plan a day of shopping and entertainment, the Arlington Highlands offer a directory of all current shops and businesses on its web site.

But one doesn’t have to plan on spending all their dollars to enjoy the highlands. A big part of the village charm includes park-like landscapes and walk ways. At the center of the village sits Curtis Mathes Park, which surrounds a simple little creek adorned with flat walking stones, bridges and trees. It’s a nice spot for people watching while sipping on some Jamba Juice and or for talking stroll after a movie at the Studio Movie Grill.

In addition to shopping and entertainment, the Highlands also host specific sections for businesses. One could spend the day at the Arlington Highlands visiting a dentist, a lawyer, a college admissions counselor and (if any money is left) grab lunch and dinner followed by a late-night movie.

The land the shopping center sits on once belonged to the Mathes family of Arlington—the makers of once popular Curtis Mathes televisions. The family’s proud Scottish origins influenced the shopping center’s name and theme.

Many long-time residents remember the Stonehenge-like sculptures that sat in the middle of the vast meadow along the Interstate 20 corridor.

The mysterious looking sculptures were commissioned and placed on the land by the Mathes family as a tribute to family members (including the company CEO) who were killed in a plane crash in the early '80s. The family had plans to turn the land into a business park with the sculptures (nestled in a park and pond called Caelum Moor) as a centerpiece.

Those plans never came to fruition. When the land was sold and the Arlington Highlands began development, the Caelum Moor sculptures were moved to storage. In 2009, the city re-dedicated the sculptures and placed them in a park along Johnson Creek near Cowboys Stadium.

- by Jenn Emerson, Dallas Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)