I loved Red Bird Mall.

Of course, it’s Southwest Center Mall now. But for those of us who grew up in Oak Cliff, the mall at U.S. Highway 67 and Camp Wisdom was and will always be Red Bird Mall.

I got my first job there, a salesperson in ladies clothes at Sears. We went to the movies there. Back then you had your choice of two theaters.  We grabbed Saturday lunch at any of the many restaurants there.  In the late ’70s and ’80s, Red Bird was where all the teenagers gathered. It was to southern Dallas what Stonebriar Mall is to Frisco.

It’s been sad to see the mall become such a land of mostly small beauty supply stores, jewelry stores and fragrance shops. The Sears and Macy’s there have clearly seen better days.

It’s embarrassing that it’s the only mall in the southern part of the city.

But the signs are more promising than ever —  after several failed attempts — that the mall can be resurrected and become the viable high-end retail center that residents throughout Oak Cliff and southern Dallas need and want.

It was welcomed news last week from business reporter Maria Halkias that new owner Peter Brodsky has hired noted mall fixers to work on plans to resurrect the aging mall. It showed that Brodsky —  who owns more of the mall than prior owners — is serious about maximizing his investment there.

Brodsky knows there’s money to be made in filling that retail gap. The demographics in neighborhoods like those around Concord Church and Executive Airport have blossomed.

Several of my classmates and their families have moved back to the old neighborhoods. They’ve got money to spend. They’re just spending it down the street in Cedar Hill or up Central Expressway at NorthPark where there are more options.

That’s a shame for the southern Dallas economy.

This won’t be an easy turnaround. This mall, like many of the older ones around the Dallas area, has been declining for decades. The city kicked in $2.4 million to buy up some of the land at the mall. And Brodsky has to spend at least $15 million by 2019 to improve the mall or return the money to the city.  It’ll likely take much more than that to make it a success.

That’s not a drop in the bucket by any means.

But this mall means something to people. They’re ready to go there again. They just need more to go to.

“This is a true market opportunity.  It’s an underestimated and underserved market. It’s not a saturated part of the city,” Brodsky said. “It’s an enormous parcel of land between two major highways in a top 10 city, and no one was interested in it.”

I’m glad Brodsky is, and I’m pulling for him to make it the neighborhood jewel it once was.