Dallas Development News

[jmancuso]

discuss...

[citykid09]

These are old photos/renderings of buildings under construction in Uptown Dallas:

The Mondrain:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/mondrian.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/cityplace4.jpg

The Ashton:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/ashtonren.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/5-23-04001.jpg

Cresta Bella:
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/img/07-04/0715CrestaBella.jpg

Rosewood:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/rosewood.jpg

Ritz Carlton:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/ritz2.jpg

Merryvale (in the west end):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/merryvale.jpg

1001 Ross (in the west end):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/1001rossjpeg.jpg

Harwood St. Anne Court:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/harwood.jpg
Metropolitan Club at Hotel ZaZa:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/themetropolitanclub.jpg

Gables Uptown Park:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/Gables_Uptown_Park.jpg

DALLAS VICTORY (in Uptown Dallas)
Victory Renderings
Victory Dallas (http://www.victorydallas.com/)
W Hotel & Residences (http://www.victoryresidences.com/)

Victory Residences
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/072804_victory.jpg

One Victory Tower
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/onevictorytower04-large.jpg

Victory Plaza
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/victoryplaza02.jpg
http://dallasmetropolis.com/exhibitionhall/data/500/2victory_plaza_-_5.jpg

Victory Commons
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/victorycommons-respark01-large.jpg

The W
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/TheW.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/wdallasvictoryhotelres01-large.jpg
The West Village Master Plan

http://www.westvil.com/images/render2.jpg

[rantanamo]

I guess I'll take care of this

Purchase of downtown site gives Hunt option for its headquarters




10:50 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 1, 2004


By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News



Hunt Consolidated Inc., one of downtown Dallas' largest energy firms, has purchased a block adjacent to the Arts District and is studying plans for a new headquarters tower.

The site Hunt Consolidated purchased is about an acre and a half at Akard and Woodall Rodgers. The property – now occupied by a small, vacant office building and parking – is adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art and about two blocks from the energy firm's currently location.

"We are dedicated to a strong and vibrant downtown Dallas, and it is our intent to carefully consider the renewal of our existing lease or relocation to a new headquarters building so that our company can remain in our city-center," Ray L. Hunt, chairman of Hunt Consolidated, said Wednesday in a prepared statement. "We have made no decision at this time, as we have several options available to us, but have asked one of our real estate affiliates, Woodbine Development, to assist us in this development analysis."

But the purchase could also be a negotiating tactic, leasing agents say. Hunt Consolidated's downtown office lease comes up for renewal in 2007. It has occupied 15 floors of the Fountain Place skyscraper at Ross Avenue and Field Street since 1990.

Regardless, real estate brokers say the company's move to secure a development site is a shrewd move. Office rents – now at a 10-year low – are expected to increase during the next couple of years.

"Buying this site gives them another option," said Jon Altschuler with Stream Realty Partners. "You can be sure they will go to all lengths to plan that building."

And regardless of whether Hunt Consolidated decides to build, the purchase confirms their commitment to downtown, Mr. Altschuler said.

Broker Joel Pustmueller with Peloton Real Estate said owning the land gives the energy firm more flexibility to keep its office costs in control.

"It would be great for downtown to have a new corporate headquarters building on the edge of the Arts District," Mr. Pustmueller said.

While downtown Dallas has one of the highest office vacancy rates in the country, the supply of top quality corporate office space for rent in the central business district is less than in most suburban markets.

Hunt Consolidated could also use the Akard Street property for future development of a hotel, or utilize the property to benefit a cultural facility because of its location next to the Arts District, property agents say.

With more than $1 billion in annual revenue, Hunt Consolidated and its affiliates have international oil and gas, real estate and investment companies with offices in the United States and abroad.

Its Woodbine Development Corp. built the Reunion complex on the southwest side of downtown and has other mixed-use projects in several states.

Hunt Consolidated bought the Akard Street property from Brook Partners, which had owned the tract since 2000. The real estate firm has renovated the former Southwestern Life Insurance complex – now Southwest Plaza – at Ross and Akard.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

Two concepts
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5406
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5408

[rantanamo]

The Mondrian (u/c) to be completed April 2005

the block labeled ZOM towards the right
http://www.westvil.com/images/render2.jpg
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=56




http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1876
http://www.ovillachurchofchrist.com/derek/pictures/dallas/downtown/030604/P3060072.JPG
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2326
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4498
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4564
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5039
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5317

[rantanamo]

W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences(u/c)

old rendering
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/TheW.jpg


2nd tower going up on Victory project
Most of the condos in the first phase sold faster than expected
10:29 PM CST on Monday, January 10, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...tory.9a36b.html

Hillwood Capital is beginning work on a second tower in its Victory project near downtown Dallas. A 15-story condominium building will be attached to the south side of the W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences, which is under construction. The next residential tower, which will be built on top of the hotel's parking garage, will have 83 one- and two-bedroom condos. Victory developer Hillwood said Monday that it has sold most of the 61 condos in the W tower. "I don't think we anticipated we would sell the units as fast as we did," said Jonas Woods, president of Hillwood Capital. The W hotel and condo building is set to open next year across the street from American Airlines Center. Mr. Woods said the second building will open "as close to simultaneously as we can make it."

Hillwood is building the project in partnership with Dallas-based Gatehouse Capital. The new Victory building will have a fitness center and retail on the ground floor. As in the first tower, residents will have access to room service, housekeeping, concierge service and the hotel spa. The condos will sell from about $400,000 to more than $1 million. Dallas architects HKS Inc. designed the building, and local designer David Cadwallader did the interiors. Residential analysts say Hillwood wanted to keep homes available for buyers.

"They have proven that there is a market there that perceives Victory as a location where they want to live," said Mike Puls of Foley & Puls. "The W hotel will attract a lot of people." With the large number of high-rise condo projects in the market, Mr. Puls said, buyers have a lot of choices. Construction also began recently on two midrise residential buildings in Victory, one with apartments and one with condos. All the buildings will stretch along Houston Street between the W and Lamar Street.

new rendering from announcement
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4558

u/c
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3787
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5356

[rantanamo]

Empty nest for the well-feathered
Affluent homeowners are target of Far North Dallas condo project
11:42 PM CST on Monday, February 21, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ower.a8fe9.html

A high-profile Far North Dallas property is heading for high-rise construction. Developers are planning a residential tower on the 5 ½ -acre site at Arapaho Road and Prestonwood Boulevard that was first a movie theater and more recently a nightclub. Addison-based Silver Tree Partners recently closed on the property across the street from the demolished Prestonwood Town Center shopping mall. "We think it's the best development site for what we are planning to do," said Silver Tree principal Brett Williams.

"It overlooks three golf courses. And there are people who live in Preston Trails or Bent Tree and have 5,500-square-foot homes who want to downsize." Many of those affluent buyers are looking for high-rises and had to go to Dallas' Turtle Creek and Uptown neighborhoods to find new construction, he said. "Empty nesters haven't had much choice but to move south to Turtle Creek," said Silver Tree principal Paul Gardner. "But that's a big lifestyle change. "A lot of them want to stay in this area," he said.

Silver Tree Partners has received zoning approvals to construct a 15-story condo building and surrounding low-rise townhouses on the property just west of Prestonwood Country Club. "We'd hope to break ground on this project by this time next year," said Silver Tree principal Alan Moore. "The timing is so important ? we think this entire area is in the process of getting redeveloped," he said. Construction is already under way to turn part of the Prestonwood mall site into a large open-air shopping center. Several smaller surrounding shopping strips are also getting redos. And Addison is planning improvements to the nearby Belt Line Road corridor. "Many people who live inside the [LBJ Freeway] loop don't realize how strong the demographics are out here," said Mr. Gardner. "Just a few blocks north of our site, they are selling million-dollar home lots."

Other high-rise condos in the area are the Bonaventure built in 1981 on Keller Springs Road in Far North Dallas and the eight-story Aventura built in 2001 in the Addison Circle in Addison. Silver Tree Partners is a 10-year-old real estate development and investment company that has built several projects in the Dallas area. Its developments include a shopping center anchored by a Central Market grocery store at Coit Road and State Highway 190 and an office building on Preston Road ? both in Plano. The company raises funds for its developments through investment partnerships and individual investors.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

[DuskTrooper]

Dallas has a bunch of nice things going up!

[rantanamo]

I-30 Trinity River Bridge. The second of three Calatrava designs.

Design revealed for I-30 bridge

09:20 PM CST on Monday, November 15, 2004


By SCOTT CANTRELL / The Dallas Morning News



Four slender steel arches will carry Interstate 30 across the Trinity River if the Santiago Calatrava design displayed Monday at City Hall gets funded.


RICKY MOON/Special Contributor
Dallas council member Ed Oakley (right) answered questions at the unveiling of Santiago Calatrava's design for the new Interstate 30 bridge at City Hall on Monday morning. Mayor Laura Miller and members of the City Council unveiled a model of the proposed bridge, the second of three the acclaimed Spanish architect is designing for downtown Dallas. The design calls for 12 lanes of traffic, one being a reversible HOV lane. It also provides four "collector-distributor" lanes to be cantilevered outside the main bridge structure, but these would be added only in a later phase.

The 1,950-foot span would be entirely suspended from arches parallel to the roadway, without piers in the middle of the river. Besides giving a graceful look to a very broad bridge, the pier-less design wouldn't obstruct floodwaters. The two central arches would be longer and higher than the two on the outsides.

By contrast, Mr. Calatrava's previously unveiled design for a new Woodall Rodgers Freeway extension across the Trinity will have suspension cables torqued from a high, single arch spanning the road. Mr. Calatrava is also to design an Interstate 35E bridge.

"I tried to make each one of them fit the place and the function," Mr. Calatrava said Monday, "but also to have all three speak together, so they would become what we call a horizontal landmark."

Ms. Miller introduced Mr. Calatrava at the morning news conference, calling him "an extraordinarily hot architect at the moment." He's been particularly acclaimed for his recent addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum and his design for an underground transportation center at New York's Ground Zero. A Calatrava pedestrian bridge opened in July in Redding, Calif., but the Dallas bridges would be his first highway bridges in the United States.


Courtesy
The completion of Calatrava's vision depends on public funding. After thanking Dallas County and local philanthropist Margaret McDermott for funding the design of the I-30 bridge, Ms. Miller also urged people to contact their representatives in Congress to secure construction funds.

The I-30 bridge is one of many nationwide projects that are being delayed because the House and Senate haven't agreed on a federal transportation bill. The Senate approved a $318 billion reauthorization in February, but the House approved only $275 billion. The White House has threatened to veto any version of more than $256 billion. A lame-duck congressional session could deal with the problem as early as this week, or it could delay action until the next Congress. The Woodall Rodgers bridge is fully funded.

Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Transportation says the existing I-30 bridge, which is 50 years old and inadequate for current traffic, needs to be replaced. Rebecca Dugger, the city's Trinity River project director, said the new bridge design could be completed in early to mid-2006, with construction completed in 2010.

http://www.trinityrivercorridor.org/assets/images/IH30Bridge02.jpg
http://www.trinityrivercorridor.org/assets/images/IH30Bridge01.jpg

[rantanamo]

Woodall Rodgers extension. 1st Calatrava designed Trinity River Bridge. To begin construction fall 2005 and still on schedule. Includes 400 ft tall central arch, and 1200 ft span. The bridges are suspension so that they cross the park and lakes with minimal disturbance.

http://www.trinityrivercorridor.org/assets/images/WRBridge01.jpg
http://www.trinityrivercorridor.org/assets/images/WRBridge03.jpg

[rantanamo]

1530 Main St conversion

Staying power
Surrounded by successful redos, a downtown skyscraper will be getting new life as a grand hotel
08:02 PM CST on Thursday, December 23, 2004
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...otel.41d96.html

Love has something to do with Robert Colombo's latest venture. Why else would he tackle the daunting prospect of turning a boarded-up 78-year-old office building into a posh hotel? It's taken almost two years of preparation, but Mr. Colombo's deLuxe Hotel Group is about to begin restoring an empty office tower at 1530 Main St. into the Joule Urban Resort. "I first saw the building in 1997 or 1998, and it reminded me of a New York residential hotel," said Mr. Colombo, who spent most of his career in the hotel and restaurant business. "Maybe that's why I fell in love with it."

Location is also key. Sitting midway between Neiman Marcus and the Magnolia Building, the project is surrounded by successful redevelopments. It faces the popular Stone Street Gardens mall, with its eclectic collection of restaurants, and the Kirby Building and Wilson Building apartment communities are a few doors down. "We have an opportunity here to do something unique – an important project for the city," said Mr. Colombo, who's embarking on the project with investor Tim Headington of Headington Resources. "It will be something Dallas has not really seen before."

Modern

Looking at the gothic-inspired office tower, it's hard to believe the building was advertised as being "modern" when it debuted in the 1920s. The 17-story building was built as the headquarters for the Dallas National Bank. In later years, it housed a department store and a retail arcade. With its small floors and long, thin profile, the building was inefficient for modern office space. But that kind of layout is perfect for hotel rooms. Dallas-based ArchiTexas – an experienced renovation architect – will oversee this effort to save a piece of Main Street history.

The intricate stone exterior of the building will be restored to mint condition, but as soon as you step through the front door, you'll leave the 1920s behind. Award-winning New York designer Adam Tihany will create an ultra-contemporary theme for the lobby, rooms, restaurant, lounge and other spaces. "It will be a great juxtaposition of old vs. new," Mr. Colombo said. "There is a grand old facade and a new, contemporary interior." Mr. Tihany, whose Aleph Hotel in Rome won European design awards, is better known in the United States for his work on top nightclubs and restaurants, including Per Se in New York. "We've asked Adam to do something at the very highest end of contemporary design," Mr. Colombo said.

'Bonanza'

The hotel will have 124 rooms and suites, and developers are building an adjoining 10-story wing on the tower to house a restaurant, meeting rooms, additional guest rooms and a spa with a rooftop pool. The project will cost more than $25 million. "We've already finished all the interior demolition," said Mr. Colombo, who hopes to open the hotel in early 2006. "It couldn't happen fast enough for me," said Tom Taylor, who has renovated several restaurant and retail buildings in the same block. "It's going to be a spectacular improvement to have a five-star restaurant and a boutique hotel. "That's a bonanza for downtown." Merrill Lynch Capital is providing funding. The project is getting a boost from the Center City Tax Increment Finance board, which agreed to provide several million dollars in redevelopment incentives. "It's going to be fabulous and will have a huge impact and add activity on Main Street," said Alice Murray, president of the Central Dallas Association.

Something different

Mr. Colombo predicts his niche hotel will be popular with visitors and locals who want something different. "We will create a reason for people to come downtown on the weekend," he said. In the 1980s, Mr. Colombo was known as one of the founders of the Sfuzzi restaurant chain, which got its start on McKinney Avenue. He's also worked in management at several New York hotels, including the Plaza, Grand Hyatt and Bryant Park. "We think this project will be unique in that it will add something to the fabric of the city," Mr. Colombo said. "And to not do anything with that building would be an absolute shame."

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=157

the concepts (remember, significant construction will be added to the site)
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5271
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5272

[streetscapeer]

The shit coming out of Dallas is Hott!!...Damn..I'm really impressed...the village and victory concepts are my favorite....and the mondrain is a great tower.

Great Infill!:)

[streetscapeer]

Thanks for all the pics and renderings guys!

[rantanamo]

Cresta Bella(in pre-sales), which will be the 4th tower in the Mansion on Turtle Creek complex

Turtle Creek in line for another luxury high-rise
Developers plan estate-like setting for 60-unit building

11:41 PM CDT on Thursday, July 15, 2004
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News


A Turtle Creek high-rise is the latest contender in the race to provide deluxe Dallas living spaces.

The Cresta Bella condo tower will have 22 floors of luxury residences priced from about $1 million to more than $10 million each.

The classically styled building will have a three-acre park, a spa and room service from the neighboring Mansion on Turtle Creek hotel.

"We wanted to design something with the look and the feel of a grand European resort," said developer Larry Meyer. "We think we have identified the right niche."

Mr. Meyer has built two residential towers, the Plaza Turtle Creek buildings at Gillespie and Hood streets. Cresta Bella will be at Hood and Brown streets.

Cresta Bella will hold only about 60 units in a building designed by Robert Boyd Architects and Wilson Fuqua & Associates Architects. Mr. Boyd worked on The Mansion's restaurant, and Mr. Fuqua is billed as a historic preservationist and architectural historian.

Building details will include a two-story, mahogany-paneled lobby, private elevators to the residences and a lower-level health club.

The tower will have about four condo units per floor, and the penthouses will have 22-foot ceilings.

The wooded grounds surrounding the building will be landscaped to resemble a European estate, with fountains, waterfalls, gardens, swimming pools and a dog park.

These frills are a must to attract buyers moving from large homes in affluent neighborhoods, sales agents say.

And the Cresta Bella isn't shy about appealing to wealthy buyers. Advertisements for the high-rise promise that "your neighbors are few and privileged."

While the luxury condo field is crowded in Dallas, with several buildings on the drawing board, real estate analyst Mike Puls predicts that the Cresta Bella project will be a hit.

"Larry Meyer knows his market, and this should sell well," Mr. Puls said. "There are a lot of guys talking about condos, but there isn't that much really high-end on the market."

He said both the planned Ritz-Carlton and W Hotel condo projects, where starting prices are lower than at Cresta Bella, have done well in preliminary sales.

Mr. Meyer, who finances his own projects, recently began presales and is meeting with potential buyers. "It will take us 6 to 12 months to start this building and 18 to 24 months to build it," he said.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/img/07-04/0715CrestaBella.jpg

labelled plaza III
http://www.plazaturtlecreek.com/dallas_condo_images/plazasiteplan.gif

CRESTA BELLA’S PRE-SALES EXCEED EXPECTATIONS

Dallas’ newest high-rise succeeds in ultra luxury market niche

Dallas Morning News

Cresta Bella, Dallas’ only new luxury high-rise residence offering customized floor plans, announced today that pre-sales of homes in the planned development have passed initial expectations. Larry Meyer, chairman, Meyer Development Corporation reported that based on the current sales pace, the estimated pre-sale requirement appears to be several months ahead of schedule.

“It’s not surprising to see this level of interest in Cresta Bella,” said Mike Puls, a leading real estate market analyst. “In looking at market studies on more than 450 residential properties throughout the United States, I can say without reservation that Cresta Bella is one of the finest properties we’ve seen. In addition to its unique location and estate grounds, this development has been designed to provide the privacy, amenities and services that the most discriminating homeowner would want in high-rise living.”

Cresta Bella offers homes ranging from 2,600 square feet of living space to more than 13,000 and HOA dues are planned at less than $.40 per square foot. According to Tammy McLaine, director of sales for Cresta Bella, the average home sold to date is slightly over 5,000 feet. “Because the home size has been larger than anticipated, we are now offering less than the 60 originally planned residences. We’re accepting contracts on larger residences and requiring a wait list for smaller homes,” said McLaine.

Situated on estate acreage in the exclusive Turtle Creek neighborhood, Cresta Bella will provide homeowners the option to totally customize their floor plans. “Having the option to work with one of Cresta Bella’s architects or designers, or bring in their own is very appealing to this level of clientele,” commented Puls.

Cresta Bella will be staffed and managed by its renowned neighbor, The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Residents will have access to all of the services and amenities of the hotel including meals served in-residence under the direction of celebrity chef, Dean Fearing, 24-hour concierge services, daily housekeeping and laundry services, pet services and much more.

In addition to the privilege of having The Mansion as an extension on their home, Cresta Bella homeowners will live in a private sanctuary that will include a one-of-a kind nature preserve and dog park, a private spa and treatment center, state-of-the-art fitness centers, beautiful entertaining rooms, expansive pool areas and private-access elevators to all residences. Amenities will not be shared with hotel guests.

“While many projects tout luxury, few properties in the world offer the same level of amenities and personal services as Cresta Bella,” said Meyer. “With the focus on privacy, exclusivity, and service, Cresta Bella will be in a class all its own.”

[jmancuso]

wow, glad i created this thread...had no idea the big d was this active.

[rantanamo]

Trinity River Park (u/c) completed 2010. Now preliminary work is going on with draining and wetlands downstream as well as boat ramps and the initial Trinity Trail loop(hike and bike trail). The scope is amazing and it will be the largest urban park in the U.S. Will include: the above bridges, plus another, conversion of historic spans to pedestrian bridges. 2 large lakes, playing fields, white water course, hike and bike trails, entry into the Great Trinity Forest preserve, equestrian park, nature center and of course adjacent development. Some of which is already beginning. Developers are clamoring for the adjacent land. Zoning will be urban, and the cbd will officially extend zoning to the edge of the river corridor. Probably only the single biggest project in the history of Dallas.

western half
http://www.trinityrivercorridor.org/assets/images/VisionPlanGrid01.jpg

eastern half
http://www.trinityrivercorridor.org/assets/images/VisionPlanGrid02.jpg

Yes, this is actually happening.

[rantanamo]

Woodall Rodgers deck park(fund raising stage). This is the trenched freeway between Uptown and Downtown. TxDOT($20 million), The City of Dallas($20 million) and the private sector($20 million) will combine to build a park over the trenched freeway that was actually built to accept a deck. It will unite Lo-Mac(Crescent, Ritz-Carlton, 1999 McKinney) with the Arts District(Meyerson Symphony Center, Nasher, Dallas Museum of Art)

2005-02-11

Imagine five years from now standing over Woodall Rogers Freeway and not seeing or hearing it, but seeing grass and trees. Well, a public-private partnership is set to round up the cash, to try and make it happen. Chris Heinbaugh reports.

WFAA Video: http://www.wfaa.com/perl/common/vid...800park_cdh.wmv

http://dallasmetropolis.com/exhibitionhall/data/507/1woodallrodgersparkdeck.jpg

[rantanamo]

Metropolitan Club condos(Hotel ZaZa) in the Lo-Mac area.

ZaZa developer to build condos next door

Condo-hotel concept to provide residents with perks like room service
Sandra Zaragoza Staff Writer

UPTOWN — A high-end residence affiliated with Uptown's Hotel ZaZa promises to bring posh amenities like concierge assistance, housekeeping services and restaurant cuisine to a homeowner's doorstep.

Oklahoma-based Charles S. Givens Interest Inc., the developer behind Hotel ZaZa, is planning to edge into Dallas' condo-hotel niche with a five story, 33-unit condominium building adjacent to the hotel at 2403 Thomas Ave.

Condo-hotel units are sold as a condo but are managed by a hotel. Hotel ZaZa's management, Utah-based Gemstone Resorts International, will most likely oversee the ZaZa condo property, but the decision has not been finalized. The condo owners will have access to amenities enjoyed by Hotel ZaZa lodgers.

Hotel ZaZa, with its 146-rooms and 13 concept suites, is Dallas' first boutique hotel. The hotel community has closely monitored interest in the hip, urban hotel, which opened in the middle of a hotel slump last December.

Developer Charlie Givens says the hotel has performed better than predicted, but is not releasing occupancy rates.

Givens has specialized in high-end condominiums, lakeside resorts and upscale retirement communities over the last decade. This is his first Dallas project.

The condo project, which has no official name, is expected to break ground between March and July. The units will range in size from 1,280 square feet to 2,950 square feet and will sell for about $250,000 to $595,000.

The condo-hotel niche is not totally unique to ZaZa. The Plaza Turtle Creek in Dallas, a two-building complex with 165 units, is the only property of its kind managed by a five-star hotel, The Mansion on Turtle Creek, according to its management.

The Plaza's residences range in price from $400,000 to $3 million for 1,300 square feet to 7,800 square feet. Real estate agents say the Plaza continues to attract major traffic from buyers in the market.

A buyer's comfort level in hotel-run residential properties has played an integral part in the success of such projects, said Sissy Alsabrook, vice president at Briggs-Freeman Real Estate Brokerage.

"People can identify (with the hotel/condo concept), it is a known commodity. If it is an individual or group-owned complex they don't know what to expect as far as management, as opposed to knowing a chain hotel and knowing what they're getting," Alsabrook said.

Experts say that in the past few years, condos affiliated with luxury hotels have appreciated faster in value than condos that don't have that affiliation.

"A condominium that is associated with a Ritz-Carlton or Hotel ZaZa receives premium pricing, the services are viewed very positively in the marketplace," said David Brown of Metrostudy, a Houston-based residential advisory service.

At least one other developer, Fort-Worth based Crescent Real Estate Equities, is rumored to be considering a condo-hotel project in the Uptown area. The company declined comment.

Givens believes the market conditions are ripe for the ZaZa-affiliated condo.

"It is a unique product that will have a synergy with Hotel ZaZa itself, and that is something no one else will have," Givens said.

Condo owners will tap into the Hotel ZaZa lifestyle through an optional membership program called Club ZaZa. For an undisclosed membership fee owners receive many of the hotel's amenities. Among them: 24-hour room service, housekeeping services and the ZaSpa and Fitness Center.

Alsabrook believes that the condos will pique the interest of a small market. "But, it will find its niche," she said.

Ted Wilson, partner with consultant Residential Strategies Inc., says the high-rise residence market is extremely competitive, but targeting a specific niche "is exactly what they should be doing."

Givens believes the condos will have wide appeal, attracting both young professionals and empty nesters.

The condo's architecture will have the same "French character" as Hotel ZaZa, Givens said. Design will be handled by Oklahoma-based Richard R. Brown and Associates, but a builder has not yet been named.

Contact DBJ writer Sandra Zaragoza at szaragoza@bizjournals.com or (214) 706-7113.



© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1646

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2413

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3283

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5359

[rantanamo]

ZOM Uptown I(unnamed and sometimes called Rosewood) u/c between Azure and The Ashton

http://www.zomusa.com/custom/zom/images/uptown.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/rosewood.jpg

u/c

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4816
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5092

[rantanamo]

Victory is adding apartments
Houston builder also is working on rental project near Crescent
10:52 PM CST on Tuesday, January 18, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

A Houston builder is joining the Victory building boom. Hanover Co. is planning a 28-story apartment tower, according to Ross Perot Jr., whose Hillwood Capital is a co-owner and developer of the Victory project near downtown. It will be on Houston Street near American Airlines Center. The Houston builder is already working on the Ashton, a 21-story building a few blocks away at 2215 Cedar Springs Road across from the Crescent.

"Hanover is now coming into the project to build another 28-story tower of multi-family for rent product," Mr. Perot told builders meeting in Florida this weekend. Mr. Perot said Victory will ultimately have 5,000 condos and apartments. "You are now seeing a huge urban residential redevelopment boom," he said. "It's a trend that surprised us." Hanover officials confirmed Tuesday that they're planning the Victory building. "The Hanover Co. has interest in this site and is currently in the early phase of the due diligence cycle," said Hanover's Leah MacDougal. "We are not ready to comment further."

Construction has already begun on four residential buildings at Victory. Mr. Perot's Hillwood Capital is building the 31-story W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences. Last week, Hillwood announced that it's starting work on a 15-story condo tower attached to the W. And Fairfield Development has broken ground on two residential buildings on Houston Street just north of Woodall Rodgers Freeway.

[rantanamo]

Dallas Arts District Masterplan and new performing arts venues

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1773
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2546

Winspear Opera House(2009)
http://www.dallasperformingarts.org/images/DCPAF_Winspear_Opera_House_Foster.jpg

anyone got a pic of the Wyly "cough" Borg cube "cough"

here's one

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2541

[DuskTrooper]

Are they actually going to build that Borg Cube?

[rantanamo]

yup, apparently they will begin site prep this summer. It won't look so isolated in person as other projects will also be going up as well as new streetscaping. Its weird, but it will stand out as will the Wyly. It's probably not as bad as the rendering makes it look. Basically its one of those inside out buildings that you find in Europe.

[DuskTrooper]

Sweet.

[rantanamo]

The West End/Victory area is becoming one of the areas biggest museum districts

Natural History museum plans move
Officials hoping to finalize West End deal by end of year


11:56 PM CDT on Friday, August 20, 2004


By TOM SIME / The Dallas Morning News



The Dallas Museum of Natural History has landed a deal to move downtown from Fair Park, its home since 1936, and take on a new name, the Museum of Nature and Science.

The Dallas Museum of Natural History Association announced plans Friday to purchase land close to Woodall Rodgers Freeway and Field Street, near the Victory development and American Airlines Center and a few blocks from the Dallas Museum of Art and Dallas World Aquarium. The site now includes a parking lot and the marketing center for the W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences, which is under construction a few blocks north.

The deal should be complete by the end of the year, and an architect will be selected after that, said museum chief executive Nicole Small. "We are under contract, and ... we have full intent to close," she said. The closing will be "around the end of the year."

In early 2001, the museum announced it would hire famed California architect Frank Gehry to design a $100 million facility in the Arts District. The location has changed, but the architect may not. "Frank Gehry is a possibility," Ms. Small said. "We've been talking to him for a couple of years. ... If it's not Frank Gehry, it will be someone of the same caliber. ... Probably next year, we'll make a decision."

Mr. Gehry was traveling Friday and could not be reached for comment. His office could not confirm that he is still considering the Dallas project.

Ms. Small said the cost would probably still be around $100 million. "We're just at the beginning, so we don't have a specific number," she said. She declined to specify the price of the land.

The name change "just seems to make sense," she added. "It really is most descriptive of what our concept is."

The new museum will not replace or affect the unrelated Science Place in Fair Park.

Tim Ewing, chairman of the board of the museum association, expressed satisfaction with the West End location. "It's in a very vibrant part of the revitalization of downtown, right there at the corner of the Victory development," he said. "We have the West End within a stone's throw and two of the most visited attractions in the city of Dallas that are not shopping malls: the Dallas World Aquarium and the Sixth Floor Museum."

Mr. Ewing would not reveal who was selling the land except to describe them as among the "entities developing Victory." But he added that "we will not be part of the Victory development."


The museum "is going to be an exciting educational destination," Ms. Small said. "We're going to talk about nature, science, math, the environment. The exhibits are going to be wide-ranging, interactive, cutting-edge technology. ... We're looking at what the best models are across the country, and really across the world, because very few cities ever have an opportunity to start from scratch and build a building that really inspires minds through nature and science."

[rantanamo]

An 'entryway' for Oak Cliff
$24M+ project to turn area's tallest building into condos
Christine Perez and Sandra Zaragoza
Staff Writers
A neglected area of Oak Cliff may soon be transformed into a bustling retail and residential gateway.


Armed with $4.1 million in support from the city of Dallas, local developer Steve Everbach is renovating the historic Lake Cliff Tower at Colorado and Zang boulevards into 60 upscale condominiums.

It's the largest component of Oak Cliff Gateway, a $24.5 million mixed-use development that will also include a new shopping center and a bank on nearby parcels.

Built in 1928 as a luxury hotel, Lake Cliff Tower has been vacant for years. The 12-story, 85,000-square-foot building -- the tallest in Oak Cliff -- looks out on Founders Park and Lake Cliff Park, as well as downtown Dallas.

"It's rare that a developer gets an opportunity to go in and materially improve an area like this," Everbach said. "We're really changing the entire feel of the neighborhood for the better."

This is Everbach's first project on his own, but he has been down the condo/redevelopment road before.

Prior to launching Evergreen Partners last June, he was an executive with Dallas-based Lazarus Property Corp., which transformed an obsolete office building at 1505 Elm St. into about 65 upscale condominiums -- the first such project in downtown Dallas.

Everbach believes Lake Cliff Tower will enjoy similar success. More than 60% of the units have been presold, he said.

"Sales at the tower have far exceeded our expectations and exceeded the original pro forma," he said.

Dallas-based David Griffin & Co. is overseeing the condo sales.

The one- and two-bedroom units range in size from 900 square feet to 1,500 square feet, and in price from about $160,000 to more than $500,000. Amenities include high-speed Internet connections, a secured parking lot and a pool area overlooking Founders Park, complete with a large deck and fire pit. The property will be staffed around the clock by a doorman, porter, building engineer and manager.


Rogers, Ark.-based PB2 Architecture and Engineering is architect of record for the tower, as well as the retail components. Local designer Aida Latorre is handling the interiors. Dallas-based Precept Builders Inc. is serving as general contractor.

Plans call for restoration of the tower's exterior and a complete renovation of the interiors. Despite the fact that it was built more than 75 years ago, the building is structurally sound, said Dave Karcher, president of Precept.

"They don't build them like they used to," he said.

Karcher said renovation of Lake Cliff Tower is long overdue.

"There are some opinions that say substantive redevelopment of the Trinity Corridor is going to start in the northern part and move south," he said. "We're calling this Oak Cliff Gateway because we think it will really get the ball rolling."

Everbach is under contract with a regional financial institution to build a 10,000-square-foot, full-service bank at the corner of Colorado and Zang. He's also putting in a 32,000-square-foot retail center directly across the street from Lake Cliff Tower.

Its Mediterranean look will mirror the style of the condo tower, said Jill Tiernan, vice president with Dallas-based The Retail Connection, who is overseeing leasing of the retail center.

"It will be a great entryway into Oak Cliff," she said. "I think it will spur additional development."

Fitness guru Larry North will anchor the complex with a 10,000-square-foot Larry North Fitness Center. It will be his first Metroplex location south of the Trinity.

Lake Cliff Tower
http://xvisionx.no-ip.info/collection/02050501s.jpg
http://xvisionx.no-ip.info/collection/02140503m.jpg

[rantanamo]

Example of the kind of retail that Victory will house

Fashion Lift
Ort Varona’s newest store looks to score at Victory.
by Stephanie Quadri

Ort Varona may have started out with a career in counseling, but retail is his therapy. The psychology major turned entrepreneur thought Dallas lacked a store that catered to urban-chic adults, so he created Premium 93 and Octane, two of the hottest stores in the West Village. “We didn’t have a place to shop, so we created one,” Varona says.

But the 34-year-old is a little restless, so he’s expanding his arsenal of stores with the Lift Fashion Terminal in the Victory development, which will open in the spring of 2006. Located in the area around the American Airlines Center, Victory is backed by Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood and Tom Hicks’ Southwest Sports Realty and is well on its way to being one of the most significant urban developments in the country. Victory will boast a W Hotel, big-name restaurants and clubs such as Nine and Ghost Bar, extravagant residences, a public promenade, and other amenities.

Varona teamed up with investors such as Hillwood’s Jonas Woods to create a 20,000-square-foot “not-quite-boutique, not-quite-department-store” destination that will house some of the most sought-after designer merchandise in the world. Some of the names you can expect to see include Ted Baker, J.Lindeberg, Chip & Pepper, and—dare we say?—Prada. Lift will also have one of the best denim collections in town and will make custom jeans on-site. Mix that with airport design circa 1960s with German- and Japanese-influenced styles, personal appearances by designers, a cocktail lounge, and even an on-site fashion photographer, and you get a sense of Varona’s ambitions.

Could this be the next Barneys New York or LA’s Fred Segal? “It won’t be a cookie-cutter store; it’s a fresh look on retail,” he says. “Dallas is so forward and more willing to take risks than other cities, including Los Angeles or New York. We are the consumers for the next 40 years; our parents are over.”

[rantanamo]

Bryan Street Station

Downtown For-Sale Units Under Way
By Bob Howard
Last updated: April 13, 2004 09:32pm

DALLAS-Pradera Development of Dallas has started construction on one of the few for-sale housing projects in the city, its 48-unit Bryan Street Station condominium development.

David McKay, a Pradera principal, tells GlobeSt.com that the company expects to deliver the units later this year, with total revenue from sales projected at $10 million. McKay says Pradera sees demand for for-sale housing in the $120,000 to $200,000 price range that Bryan Street Station will offer. While something like 10,000 new housing units have been built within a mile of Downtown Dallas in the past 10 years, McKay says, less than 4% of them have been for-sale units and those for-sale units have been priced much higher than the Bryan Street Station condos will be. One reason that so many of the new units are apartments, he explains, is that institutional investors are putting up the money for them and the institutional investors want income-producing properties. McKay notes that the Pradera project’s location is three blocks from the Pearl Street DART Rail Station, Baylor Medical Center, Deep Ellum and the Arts District, a short walk from the heart of Downtown.

Bryan Street Station initially will consist of two structures, each of them with an at-grade concrete parking structure and three levels of residential units above, with a central elevator serving each level. Each of the two buildings will include 24 units that McKay describes as “European style flats.” A third structure of eight town-home units is also planned.

McKay estimates monthly mortgage payments for the 48 units will start around $685 per month, depending on loan terms, which he says “offers ownership at the cost of rent.” Pradera Development LLC is a privately held real estate development company focusing on acquisitions, development and dispositions.

One of the buildings
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5262

[rantanamo]

Mixed-use project planned for former Maharishi site
Christine Perez - Staff Writer
http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dalla...y16.html?page=1

Realty America Group and Behringer Harvard Funds, two Dallas-based real estate investment companies, have acquired the former Hilton Inn in Dallas and are planning an $80 million redevelopment of the property. The hotel, now the Hotel Santa Fe at 5600 N. Central Expressway, sits on about 5.5 acres at the southeast corner of Mockingbird Lane and North Central Expressway. It previously was owned by an organization founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, father of the Transcendental Meditation movement, who gained fame in the 1960s as a spiritual advisor to the Beatles. The Maharishi School of Vedic Science paid about $2 million for the facility when it bought it in 1993. Terms of the sale to Realty America and Behringer were not disclosed.

Realty America and Behringer Harvard have big plans for the property, including a four-star hotel, high-rise luxury condominiums and retail -- all scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2006. "This landmark site is a jewel in the rough and a strategic fit within the Behringer Harvard Short-Term Fund portfolio, said Robert Behringer, founder and CEO. "It will benefit from strong local demographic demand for the urban resort lifestyle." San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, often credited for launching the boutique hotel trend, is negotiating to operate the hotel and relaunch it as The Hotel Palomar. Three Architecture Inc., a Dallas-based architectural firm, is working with Kimpton's design team to transform the nine-story hotel tower, which will house 185 rooms.

"Each of our hotels tells a story, and we are looking forward to implementing our signature style through renovations that will allow us to highlight the Mockingbird's rich history and share its unique story," said Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. "Realty America Group and Behringer Harvard Funds have purchased a unique jewel of a hotel, and we believe affiliating with them will be a great introduction for us into the Dallas market." Two luxury penthouse condominiums will be developed atop The Hotel Palomar, and eight two-story loft condos will be built above the space formerly occupied by a Trader Vic's restaurant. Ground-level changes will create about 25,000 square feet of new retail space.

In addition, a new nine-story condominium tower will be built south of the hotel, adding about 60 new residences to the mix. The one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans will range in size from 900 square feet to 3,000 square feet, plus 5,000 square feet for the luxury penthouses. Prices will range from $300,000 to $1.6 million. Allie Beth Allman & Associates has been tapped to market the residential portion of the development, with sales kicking off in January.

The condos will include large terraces, and all residences will have views of either downtown Dallas, East Dallas or the Park Cities, said Jeff Berry, who co-founded Realty America with Kip Sowden in 2002. "There is not a better location in the entire D-FW Metroplex for a first-class, mixed-use urban lifestyle development anchored by the only Kimpton hotel in Texas," he said. Realty America Development, a division of Realty America Group headed by industry veteran Phil Brosseau, will oversee the project. Sam Gillespie will provide developmental oversight for Behringer. Gillespie recently joined Behringer after 21 years at Trammell Crow Co., where he last served as managing director of national accounts.


Luxury hotel to rise at Mockingbird-Central
Retail-condo complex to replace former Hilton
09:27 PM CST on Monday, November 8, 2004
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...lton.db9a2.html

Developers have bought the aging Hilton Inn – more recently called Hotel Santa Fe – at Mockingbird Lane and North Central Expressway and plan to turn it into a luxury hotel, shopping and condo complex. Work on the $80 million project will start before the end of the year and includes a 10-story residential high-rise. The original 1960s hotel tower will be renovated to be operated by San Francisco's exclusive Kimpton Hotels. The redevelopment will also contain about 25,000 square feet of lower-level retail with loft-style condos above it in a low-rise building facing Mockingbird Lane.

Realty America Group

The complex at Mockingbird Lane and Central Expressway will feature a hotel, shopping center and high-rise condos. "We want to return this property to its glory days," said Kip Sowden, principal with Realty America Group, which bought the property on Monday in partnership with Behringer Harvard Funds. "We don't think there is a better location in Dallas-Fort Worth than the corner of Mockingbird and Central." Developers are hurrying to catch up with what they see as immediate demand for hotel rooms and housing. Since DART opened its light-rail station at the intersection in 1996, the surrounding neighborhood has increased in importance. The popular Mockingbird Station retail, cinema and apartment complex is just across the street, and new rental units have been built nearby.

But the old Hilton Inn has languished. Since 1993, it has been owned by the Maharishi School of Vedic Science, founded by 1960s spiritual icon Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was still operating as Hotel Santa Fe until Monday, when the staff and guests were notified that it would close immediately. Other developers had tried to buy the hotel from the Maharishi and redevelop it without success. One sale that fell through resulted in a lawsuit. "That site really does deserve a premier development given the location, and it's on public transit," said investor Robert Behringer. "We've looked at this property for years, but we didn't have the patience to reel this one in. "When Realty America told us that they had control of this property and were interested in a partnership with us, we were very excited," he said.

Construction plans

Demolition will start within 45 days. The new owners will turn the nine-story hotel – built in 1967 – into the 185-room Hotel Palomar. Low-rise buildings just south of the hotel will be demolished to make way for the 60-unit, 10-story condo high-rise. There's also room on the 5.5-acre site for a third condo building, developers say. Allie Beth Allman & Associates Realtors has already started marketing the building and has about 10 presales. The condos will range in price from about $300,000 to more than $1 million, said agent Kyle Crews. "We expect the sales to go very fast," Mr. Crews said. "The success of the W and Ritz-Carlton hotel and condo buildings have proven the success of this concept."

The W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences are under construction across from American Airlines Center, and the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton are planned for a site in Uptown. Developer Ken Hughes, who built Mockingbird Station, said the project will be a boost for the area. "It's very significant, and it should cause more things to happen," he said. "Kimpton is a great boutique hotel operator."

High marks for manager

Founded in 1981, Kimpton has 38 hotels in North America. The company recently opened hotels in San Francisco, Boston and New York and has a hotel under construction in San Diego. "After we studied Kimpton, we knew they were just the right hotel group to bring in for their first project in Texas," said Jeff Berry of Realty America Group. Dallas-based Three Architecture designed the new buildings and drew up plans for redeveloping the original tower, which was designed by noted local architect Ralph Kelman. Construction should be under way by the first quarter, and the entire project is set to be finished in April 2006.

"We have waited a long time for the development of this property, and this is the perfect opportunity," said Dallas City Council member Veletta Forsythe Lill. "This area is poised for great things, and I know the neighbors will be pleased to see this happening." Behringer Harvard Funds, which underwrites national real-estate investment funds, also recently bought several Dallas-area office buildings.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4310

This sits across Mockingbird from Mockingbird Station

[rantanamo]

A Depression-era downtown skyscraper is in line to get a restoration.


File 1999/Staff photo
The DP&L Building at 1700 Commerce was designed by Lang & Witchell.

The historic Dallas Power & Light Building at Commerce and Browder streets is under contract to Denver developer Hamilton Properties, which wants to renovate it for residential and retail space.

The 19-story, art deco-inspired high-rise is one of the last unrestored downtown office buildings from that era.

Built in 1931 as the corporate headquarters for Dallas' electric company, the DP&L Building has been empty for several years since the utility – now a part of TXU Corp. – moved its operations to the Energy Plaza skyscraper at Bryan and Ervay streets.

"It's a wonderful building," said Dallas City Councilwoman Veletta Forsythe Lill. "And we are fortunate that a developer that is already making a contribution to downtown is looking at another project."

Currently, Hamilton Properties is restoring the 76-year-old Davis Building on Main Street into 183 loft apartments and retail space.

Hamilton Properties has asked the city to include the DP&L Building in the city center tax increment financing district. The move would allow the project to receive public-sector backing.

Officials with Hamilton Properties could not be reached for details of their renovation plans.

The renovation would include multiple properties on the block. Along with the DP&L Tower, the complex includes an adjoining 14-story office tower, a two-story connecting building and a Jackson Street parking lot. All of the buildings are owned by an affiliate of TXU.

The DP&L Building – with its stained-glass windows and polished stone lobby – was designed by renowned architects Lang & Witchell, which also created the Lone Star Gas Co. headquarters and Fair Park Music Hall.

When it was built, the DP&L tower was the tallest welded-steel building in the Southwest.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

http://www.downtowndallas.org/downtown_partner/dp&l.gif
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3055
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5135

[rantanamo]

Downtown grocer on its way



June opening planned for store; renovations also include lofts


08:19 PM CST on Saturday, November 13, 2004

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

Hardhat-clad la for urban renewal.

"People will see a very vibrant portion of downtown here," Dallas Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans said, adding that the city plans to beautify nearby roads with trees and other streetscape elements next year.

Barker Nichols originally scheduled the start of Interurban Building renovations for several months ago, but "with a project as complex as this, if it's only a couple of months late, it's a tremendous victory," Mr. Evans said.

Developers initially tapped Dallas resident and former Fresh Approach grocer Danny Furr to operate the Interurban Building supermarket under the Fresh Approach name.

Barker Nichols is now using "Urban Grocers" as the market's working moniker, and Mr. Johnson said he is "looking at several options right now" for grocery operators. Mr. Furr said he recently met with Barker Nichols to discuss the store. "We're still talking," he said.

In January, the City Council, in a unanimous voice vote, approved $5 million in tax increment finance funds to help redevelop the Interurban Building – once a stately bus terminal and office building.

But most recently, it has become a crumbling memorial borers are assaulting downtown Dallas blight, tearing out rotten window wells and scouring the insides of Jackson Street's Interurban Building, as its transformation from eyesore to supermarket commences.




Financing Clears for Interurban Building's $28M Makeover
By Jennifer D. Duell
Last updated: December 23, 2004 02:40pm

DALLAS-Local developer Merriman Associates has secured financing for the $28-million conversion of the historic Interurban Building, which served as the terminal for North Texas' vast electric railway system, into a class A, residential high-rise.
Merriman Associates' principals Chip Johnson, Craig MacKenzie and Randy Rost mined several financing sources, including a $5 million TIF grant from the city and $3.3 million in federal historic tax credits, says Bernard P. "Bud" Malone, president of Malone Mortgage Co. "This was a complex transaction," he says.

Dallas-based Malone Mortgage provided $18.2 million in construction and permanent financing for the Interurban project through HUD's 220 full-insurance Multifamily Accelerated Processing program. The 40-year loan fully amortizes over the term. Malone tells GlobeSt.com that the 18-month construction loan has an interest rate of 5.75%, which rolls into a 5.5% permanent loan. In addition to the first mortgage, Merriman Associates obtained a $1.5-million mezzanine loan from New York City-based New York Life Insurance Co.

Located at 1500 Jackson St. in Dallas' CBD, the 165,000-sf Interurban Building was built in 1916. The redevelopment calls for a ninth floor to be added to the building so it can be outfitted with 134 lofts, ranging from 669 sf to 1,638 sf. The average unit will be 827 sf. Rents will range from $700 to $1,700 per month. The project also will include a six-level parking garage with 450 spaces and a 20,000-sf, full-service grocery store. Construction began a month ago. Units will start to turn in September 2005.

Malone Mortgage has provided financing for several historic redevelopments. Its notable projects are the conversions of the Kirby Building , built in 1913, and the Santa Fe Terminal Lofts, circa 1920s, and San Antonio's Cadillac building in the CBD.


EXCLUSIVE REPORTS
From the December 31, 2004 print edition
Historic redevelopment
Christine Perez
Staff Writer


Dallas moneyman Bud Malone has put together $18.2 million in financing to fund redevelopment of the historic Interurban Building at 1500 Jackson St.

Built in 1916, the building formerly served as the terminal for North Texas' vast electric railway system. Developer Barker Nichols L.L.P. is transforming the property into 134 residential units, a six-story parking garage and -- drumroll, please -- a downtown grocery store.

"It's a milestone residential development for downtown Dallas," said Malone, president of Malone Mortgage Co.

Malone is no stranger to conversion projects. His company arranged financing for redevelopment of the Kirby Building and the Santa Fe Terminal Lofts in downtown Dallas. Both buildings were originally built in the early 1900s.

"Their success has proven up the double-barrel idea of living downtown and living in a high-rise as a way of life," he said.

Construction of the Interurban Building kicked off last month and is scheduled for completion in September 2005.

"The No. 1 thing that makes a downtown comeback is residential living," Malone said. "You can pour all the money you want into arts buildings and theaters and restaurants, but until you get downtown residential, it doesn't really become a vital base."

cperez@bizjournals.com | 214-706-7120


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/v3/11-14-2004.NM_14Supermarket.GF31FJ829.1.jpg
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5134

[rantanamo]

The Ashton u/c opens later this year

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/barhouston/ashtonren.jpg

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1375
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1878
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2448
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4793

[rantanamo]

Of course there is plenty more going on. I'll try to update as stories come out so its not an absolute jam

[Texan#1]

Wow! Thanks Rantanamo for taking the time to post all of this.

[rantanamo]

2nd downtown tower speculation this year

7-Eleven may move downtown

One of its options is building a tower in the Arts District

11:32 PM CST on Thursday, February 24, 2005

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

7-Eleven Inc. may move downtown when its lease at the Cityplace tower runs out.

The convenience store giant is looking at an Arts District location for a new building and has shopped at least one other vacant building downtown, real estate brokers say.

If 7-Eleven moved downtown, it would be the biggest corporate headquarters to move into the central business district since Blockbuster Inc. in 1996.

7-Eleven sold the 42-story Cityplace building on North Central Expressway last year for $124 million. Its lease is up in just over two years.

"We continue to look at all options for our headquarters, and that includes remaining in this building," said Margaret Chabris, 7-Eleven's public relations director. "We have not made any decision about a move."

Real estate brokers say 7-Eleven's top relocation site is a 10-acre tract on the eastern edge of the Arts District.

Developer Lucy Billingsley owns the property at the intersection of Central Expressway and Woodall Rodgers Freeway that was recently added to the Arts District. The land is across the freeway from the booming Uptown neighborhood.

Preliminary plans call for a mixed-use development on the mostly vacant property.

"All I'll say is, I have been in contact with several different corporations about our downtown property," Ms. Billingsley said. "There is tremendous excitement about the Arts District."

If 7-Eleven moves inside the downtown freeway loop, it would be a coup for the central business district, property brokers say.

"It would be a huge win for downtown and signal that development in the core is back," said Joel Pustmueller of Peloton Real Estate. "If that project goes forward, it would anchor the Arts District on the east side.

"And it would provide great visibility on the skyline for someone like 7-Eleven," he said.

Because of the time required to build a large office project, a decision is probably close at hand, Mr. Pustmueller said.

"It would be outstanding if 7-Eleven relocates to downtown," said John Zogg, senior vice president of Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. "I know they are considering a new building as well as existing buildings."

"They would be endorsing all of the significant changes and vibrancy in downtown today," said Mr. Zogg, whose company is downtown Dallas' largest office landlord.

In recent months, 7-Eleven representatives have looked at existing buildings downtown and locations in the suburbs, brokers say.

Whether the company stays at Cityplace or moves to the central business district, keeping 7-Eleven in town is key, said Dallas City Council member Veletta Forsythe Lill.

"We need to do whatever is necessary to keep them," she said.

7-Eleven built the Cityplace tower in 1988 and has had its headquarters in the skyscraper since then.

About 1,000 7-Eleven employees occupy almost 500,000 square feet in the 1.4 million-square-foot tower.

7-Eleven said when it sold Cityplace that its new landlord, Prentiss Properties, would owe an additional $14.5 million for the building if 7-Eleven decides to stay after its lease expires.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

[TexasBoi]

How about we just pickup the building and move it to downtown lol. I hope they go downtown.

[DuskTrooper]

Hopefully that mixed use devlopment for the 7-11 tower will be open 24 hours, if you know what I mean. (night life wise)

[tamtagon]

Virtually all of the new developments rantanamo has graciously documented in this thread are within a two mile radius of Dallas' central business district, and most lie in the NW quadrant - Uptown. For almost a decade the central city seemed to be in hibernation while the satellite cities became home to Fortune 500 companies and nearly one million new suburban residents (NOT including Fort Worth's share of the Metroplex). The renowned city planning which continues to attract more than 100,000 new residents a year to Dallas' suburbs and satellite cities is finally being joined by an urban development movement. The initial phase of the West Village opening in the late 90s, mark the beginning of the urban neighborhood expansion bringing more residents into the heart of the giant suburban metropolis. Anchored by two large master plans catering to more upscale and affluent clientele (West Village and especially Victory), Dallas' Uptown area will have several more years of consistent redevelopment.

Significant improvements and substantial depth to recreational opportunities are provided through the Trinity River Park, Centers for Performing Arts, (relocated & expanded) Museum of Nature and Science. Several additional DART train stations within the two mile radius of the CBD are scheduled to open within the next five years promising to exceed in scope and scale the current popular transit oriented developments. Lifestyle possibilities in Dallas are finally beginning to expand beyond suburban conveniences.

[rantanamo]

City Lights project east of downtown

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5444

01:39 PM CST on Saturday, February 19, 2005


By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News



More than a year after tying up land for the project, developers are still refining plans for a large shopping center to be built on the eastern edge of downtown Dallas.

Called City Lights, the retail complex is earmarked for more than two blocks near Live Oak Street and Good Latimer Expressway.

Margaux Development Co. originally intended to anchor the 350,000-square-foot shopping center with a supermarket, but lining up a tenant hasn't been easy.

"The grocery store market – which drove us to pick that site – is not what it once was," said Mickey Ashmore, president of United Commercial Realty, which is marketing the project.

Because of fierce competition in the supermarket industry, some grocers have slowed or halted construction of stores.

The recent opening of a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market grocery store near the City Lights site has also increased competition among supermarkets in that area.

"The developer has bought the land – it's not just under contract," Mr. Ashmore said. "And we are in serious discussions with six tenants.

"I think we will break ground this year and will have a 2006 or early 2007 opening," he said.

The proposed shopping center would have three levels of retail space plus more floors of parking.

"It's a very complicated project to engineer," Mr. Ashmore said.

While work on the City Lights project has continued, developers have moved forward with several condominium and townhouse developments in the same neighborhood.

Almost 200,000 people live in a three-mile radius of the planned shopping center.

[rantanamo]

TOD Time again in Dallas. This time up the Red Line across Central Expressway from North Park Mall. Apparently this project is very controversial with the city council(what isn't). Includes, hotel, residential, retail and the Park Lane LRT station.

Park Lane Place

http://img69.exs.cx/img69/458/parklaneplace05aerialperspecti.jpg

http://img100.exs.cx/img100/8236/parklaneplace08aerialperspecti.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://img100.exs.cx/img100/4406/parklaneplace12mainstreetviewn.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://img100.exs.cx/img100/7931/parklaneplace11mainstreetviewn.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://img211.exs.cx/img211/878/parklaneplace15maincorner1ne.jpg

[rantanamo]

2 more blocks going up in the West Village as we speak. Here are the renderings

Next to Borders/BoA site and across McKinney Ave from the West Village main building. This will complete block 7C

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5461


and pics of dirt moving(as you can see the West Village area is growing very dense and into the form of the master rendering)
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/5162/img35220st.jpg

and across Blackburn from the main West Village and across McKinney from the Mondrian
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5463


and dirt moving at the site(The dense cluster of townhomes on the right is Knox Park)
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/521/img35251ex.jpg

both are mixed-use with retail and residential and part of the WV masterplan. Here are a couple of aerials of the area

West Village with Turtle Creek in the background(as you can see the West Village area is growing very dense and it along with Knox Park more than rival and surpass its Uptown neighbor to the south, State-Thomas)
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/6483/img35211hr.jpg

Knox Park and North Dallas High School. The dense cluster of townhomes stretches to the Knox-Henderson strip where the two towers are in the upper right
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/1020/img35279xe.jpg

[streetscapeer]

Great Stuff ...thanks alot rantanamo:)

[rantanamo]

Stoneleigh digging into past with high-rise condo project

New tower to complement styling of historic hotel, which is set for renovation

11:59 PM CST on Wednesday, March 2, 2005

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

A historic Dallas hotel is getting a face-lift and a new residential tower.
[Click image for a larger version] FILE 1923
FILE 1923
The Stoneleigh, which began life as Dallas' first residential high-rise, is getting a new residential tower.

The Stoneleigh Hotel, which opened its doors on Maple Avenue in 1923, is still a favorite with Dallas visitors.

Local developer Prescott Realty Group said Wednesday that it's teaming up with the Stoneleigh's New York owners on the redevelopment, including a condominium high-rise on the east side of the old hotel.

Residential units aren't new at the Stoneleigh, which was originally built for full-time residents.

"We feel lucky to be able to work with the first residential high-rise in the city of Dallas," said Jud Pankey, president of Prescott Realty. "The Stoneleigh has always done well due to its loyal following, and it's going to get better."

Prescott Realty plans to begin construction before the end of the year on remodeling the 153-room hotel.

Dallas-based ArchiTexas Inc. is working on the designs.

"We are pricing the construction right now," Mr. Pankey said. "The hotel has never been shut down, and we would love to honor that" by keeping it open during the renovation.

Along with refurbishing the rooms and lobby areas, the redevelopment will expand restaurant and meeting space.

On a parking lot east of the Stoneleigh on Bookhout Street, Prescott Realty and partner Apollo Real Estate Advisors of New York are planning a condominium tower linked to the hotel.

The new building will have less than 100 units and will be of a similar architecture.

"It is not a twin, but we are making sure from a historic perspective that we treat the project sympathetically," Mr. Pankey said. "It will be taller than the Stoneleigh."

Complete plans for the condo tower are not finalized, but the developers said they will have more details, including a projected cost, in the next few weeks.

Gromatzky Dupree & Associates is designing the new building.

The 11-story Stoneleigh Court Apartment Hotel – its original name – was touted as "the largest and most pretentious apartment hotel ever constructed in the Southwest" and cost $1.5 million.

The fully furnished apartments were outfitted by Sanger Brothers department store, and residents were offered modern features such as a "refrigerating plant" to air-condition the building and a "wireless station" to provide radio signals to the units.

On the ground floor, residents had a barbershop, beauty salon, lounging room, smoking room and sun parlor.

It was heralded upon completion, but the Stoneleigh's timing was off.

Just six years after opening, with the coming of the Great Depression, the hotel was sold on the auction block by bankruptcy receivers.

A series of owners – including Dallas' Corrigan family, which had the property for almost 50 years – remodeled and continued to operate the Stoneleigh.

Apollo Real Estate has owned the Dallas landmark for several years.

The Stoneleigh condo building would be the latest in a series of residential high-rises planned north of downtown.

"It's a big project, and it's going to be a big thing for Uptown," Mr. Pankey said.

Housing analyst Mike Puls said the location and its connection with the historic hotel should make the Stoneleigh project attractive to buyers.

"It will have great views, and it is going to be near Victory and everything else that is happening in Uptown," Mr. Puls said.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/v3/03-03-2005.nb_03stneleigh.G911HVJC0.1.jpg
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/03-05/0303stoneleigh.jpg

[rantanamo]

Gables Uptown Park will get a differnt look from the original rendering

original
http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/rantanamo/Uptown/Gables_Uptown_Park.jpg


new rendering at the site
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5467


progress
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4712

[rantanamo]

W Hotel as of 3/2 nearing half of its structural height

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5466

[TexasBoi]

Wow. It's really coming along now. It would fit in well with the skyline.

[rantanamo]

Rooms with a redo

Praetorian Building to become lofts, have exterior restored

11:58 PM CST on Thursday, March 3, 2005

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

When the Praetorian Building opened on Main Street in 1908, people paid a quarter to climb to the top floor and look out over downtown.

At 16 stories, it was the tallest building in Texas.

But the last office tenants of "the pioneer skyscraper of the Southwest" moved out in 1993.

Now a California investor has decided that the landmark could be a hit with loft apartment renters. 3J Development LLC of San Diego bought the Praetorian Building this week.

"It's not going to be sitting empty much longer," said 3J Development president Joseph Sapp. "We are not going to let it sit dormant but are going to move forward with the project."

The Praetorian is 3J Development's second buy in downtown Dallas. Mr. Sapp's development partner in the project is Don Cooksey of CGP LLP in California.

Last month, the commercial builder and investor purchased the mostly vacant 1600 Pacific tower. The 33-story, black glass tower will be turned into about 370 residential units.

The Praetorian Building and 1600 Pacific (formerly the LTV Building) are a block apart on the popular Stone Street Gardens mall.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the Praetorian Building is valued at about $900,000 on the tax rolls. 3J Development bought it from a Singapore investor.

The Praetorian was built with an elaborate stone exterior. But the classical architecture was obliterated in the 1960s, when the building was "modernized" with a metal-and-glass exterior.

The new owners plan to replicate the old exterior. "Maybe people love that metal façade, but I don't," Mr. Sapp said. "Our whole game plan from the beginning was to redo the façade completely and bring it back to the look of the early 1900s when it was built."

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

The current building
http://www.dallasarchitecture.info/praetorian.jpg

The original facade/what they want to recreate
http://www.watermelon-kid.com/dallas-sights/images/pcards/praetorian_bldg-640.jpg

[rantanamo]

Some awesome Mondrian updates from jsoto3 on Dallasmetropolis

http://img216.exs.cx/img216/2331/img34864sy.th.jpg (http://img216.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img216&image=img34864sy.jpg)

The block around it will create a nice streetscape
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/7386/img34887bl.th.jpg (http://img216.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img216&image=img34887bl.jpg)
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/426/img34878kh.th.jpg (http://img216.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img216&image=img34878kh.jpg)

Heck of a neighbor to have
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/3297/img35249jk.th.jpg (http://img216.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img216&image=img35249jk.jpg)

Some lucky person(s) future view. Really shows how dense the southern areas of Uptown are becoming.
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/158/img35393ab.jpg


sidewalk fountain
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/4517/img35136zn.th.jpg (http://img216.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img216&image=img35136zn.jpg)

this will be one great neighborhood once it fills out.
http://img216.exs.cx/img216/484/img35071ez.jpg

[rantanamo]

W Hotel progress

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5491

[streetscapeer]

Coool stuff

[rantanamo]

Historic Gulf States building going residential
03:10 PM CST on Monday, March 7, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon....1164b6a27.html


A Main Street construction project starting Tuesday will bring needed parking downtown plus additional retail and apartments. Spectrum Properties is developing its 17-story building in the 1400 block of main near Akard Street. The new project will tie into the historic Gulf States Insurance Building, which is already being converted to residential. Filling a parking lot between the Gulf States and Davis buildings, the new building will contain 20,000 square feet of retail space, six floors of parking and 84 apartments on top of that.

"The entire project will be completed by the summer of 2006," said Edward Okpa, who's overseeing the development with Spectrum Properties. Spectrum Properties started renovation of the Gulf States Insurance Building late last year. Built in 1928, the vacant office building will house 68 loft apartments. A smaller former department store behind it at Elm and Akard will also be redeveloped into 14 apartments.

Spectrum Properties is receiving an $8.5 million interest free loan from the City of Dallas and Dallas County to build the parking garage. Plans for the project have been in the works for almost three years. "It doesn't mimic the old construction but is very contemporary," said Alice Murray, Central Dallas Association president. "It's a nice bridge between the Davis and Gulf States buildings."

Read more in tomorrow's Dallas Morning News or at DallasNews.com

E-mail: stevebrown@dallasnews.com

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3693
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4424
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5494
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5499

[Jasonhouse]

Rantanamo, you rule.

There are some really nice projects going on in Dallas. At this rate, I might have to stop disliking the skyline and general DT area so much. Dallas has always turned me off, probably because of that damn soap opera from the 80's, which had nothing to do with Dallas.

[rantanamo]

Thanks. I've been too lazy to post half of em' though. I'll eventually catch up.

[rantanamo]

Rienzi tower going condo



Turtle Creek, Uptown projects are competing for luxury buyers


08:38 PM CST on Sunday, March 6, 2005

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

One of the last luxury apartment towers along Turtle Creek is going condo.

TA Associates Realty, a Boston investor, has purchased the Rienzi, a 3-year-old high-rise near Fairmount Street and Turtle Creek Boulevard, with plans to make the conversion. Houston-based Personette & Associates and Dallas' Allie Beth Allman & Associates have been hired by the new owners to market the project.

"We are working right now on the models and the marketing materials," said Nancy Personette. "We will begin showing the project to the real estate community right away."

The nine-story building on Enid Street contains 154 units ranging from about 860 square feet to more than 3,000 square feet.

Condos in the building will start at around $250,000, Ms. Personette said.

Current tenants will be offered first choice of the units and will be allowed to continue renting as the building is sold.

"We're not kicking people out" until units are needed to sell, Ms. Personette said.

She said anywhere from 8 percent to almost 25 percent of renters typically buy when a building is converted.

TA Associates Realty plans to make only minor upgrades to the property, she said.

"When they designed the building and finished it, they did it with condo conversion in mind," Ms. Personette said. "The property is in wonderful condition and it has all the bells and whistles."

The project includes a swimming pool and spa.

The Rienzi's builder, Myers Development, sold the property to TA Associates Realty.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the property is listed on the Dallas County tax rolls at $21 million.

The real estate company invests in a variety of projects in several U.S. cities.

"This is their first project in Texas," Ms. Personette said.

With the Rienzi project under way, there are now more than a half-dozen residential high-rises competing for buyers in the Uptown-Turtle Creek area.

"And there are already more planned," said consultant Mike Puls with Foley & Puls.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/030704dnbustherienzi.d71df.html

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5496
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5497

[rantanamo]

Finally, new tall construction downtown

Main Street high-rise gets under way today
Parking garage, retail and apartments are planned


11:09 PM CST on Monday, March 7, 2005


By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News



Construction begins today on a Main Street residential tower between two historic buildings in downtown Dallas.

The project includes 84 apartments, a six-floor garage that will bring needed parking downtown and 20,000 square feet of retail space.

Spectrum Properties is developing its 17-story building in the 1400 block of Main near Akard Street.

The new project will fill a parking lot between the Gulf States Insurance Building and the Davis Building. It will be tied to the Gulf States building, which is already being converted to residential.

"The entire project will be completed by the summer of 2006," said Edward Okpa, who's overseeing the development with Spectrum Properties.

Spectrum Properties started renovation of the Gulf States Insurance Building late last year.

Built in 1928, the vacant office building will house 68 loft apartments.


A smaller former department store behind it at Elm and Akard will also be redeveloped into 14 apartments.


Spectrum Properties is receiving an $8.5 million interest-free loan from the city of Dallas and Dallas County to build the parking garage.


Plans for the project have been in the works for almost three years.


"It doesn't mimic the old construction but is very contemporary," said Alice Murray, Central Dallas Association president.

"It's a nice bridge between the Davis and Gulf States buildings."

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5499
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3693

building will fill the space below
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5498

[rantanamo]

Might this open the flood gates for something developers have wanted forever?

Mid-rise at White Rock Lake OK’d
Revised plan calls for 7-story senior living center and $5 million art center

March 4, 2005
By J.D. Sparks/Lake Highlands People

Citing urban renewal trends and conservation concerns, city planning commissioners last week voted to approve amended development plans for a senior citizen independent-living and art center at the site of CC. Young Memorial Home on West Lawther Drive.

“Developers have only two ways to go — up and down,” commissioner Bill “Bulldog’ Cunningham said. “Everybody is moving back in, closer to work. People can still enjoy the lake, even if it’s surrounded by skyscrapers.”

“This plan ... is a wonderful proposal for our community. It benefits our neighborhood in so many ways” said Ken Durand, president of C.C. Young.

The commission’s 14-0 decision dealt a blow to neighborhood activists who said the issue would be picked up again in the upcoming City Council elections.

“I and my neighbors value neighborhoods with houses and parks, whereas Commissioner Cunningham values highways and freeways,” said James Costello, a member of the Peninsula Neighborhood Association.

Representatives from the Cloisters, Peninsula, and Lakewood neighborhood associations vehemently opposed the development, saying that it would obstruct the skyline around White Rock Lake and the surrounding park.

Mr. Costello said high-rise buildings are eyesores that bring more people, and there fore more traffic congestion, to the area.

Original plans for the pro posed development at 4829 West Lawther Drive called for an eight-story building with a maximum of 240 units.

While city staff supported the developer’s request to add a new independent living center to the site, including a $5.5 million arts center and a park, planners opposed zoning changes that would allow the developer to build an eight-story structure.

According to a staff report, the zoning changes “were not compatible” with the surrounding development - and land use and “would set a precedent that could open the area to the visual intrusion of high-rise buildings.”

But Mr. Cunningham said urban renewal projects that include building mid- and high-rise buildings closer to city centers and on water fronts is a way to make cities viable while conserving time, energy, and natural resources.

After vocal protest from neighborhood associations, the developer amended the plans to seven stories and stair-stepped buildings in order to afford greater privacy to surrounding residences.

Mr. Durand said the new mid-rise building would have about 100 to 110 units and would not increase the number of people living there.

“We did the best we could to meet the needs and concerns of neighbors:’ he said. “I can see no good reason why this plan wouldn’t be approved by the City Council.”

But opponents say the fight isn’t over yet.

“Frankly, I think this will be an issue in the upcoming City Council election:’ he said.
Councilman Gary Griffith, who appoints the commissioner in his district, is up for re-election in May.

A date for the City Council hearing has not yet been set.

[rantanamo]

Council approves Arts District expansion
Dallas council also approves blueprint for Trinity corridor project
11:08 PM CST on Wednesday, March 9, 2005
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ncil.49a6c.html

Dallas City Council members unanimously approved two land-use projects Wednesday: an expansion of the city's Arts District and a blueprint for developing the Trinity River corridor. The agreement to widen the Arts District boundaries ended eight months of negotiations over the zoning change. And while one property owner in the expansion area spoke against lengthening the district, the others – including developer Lucy Crow Billingsley, who owns 10 acres on the edge of the district and originally opposed the change – said they generally favor it. "Great things are coming to the Arts District," said Ms. Billingsley, daughter of real estate magnate Trammell Crow. "We are excited because downtown is coming to a revitalization. We believe that a great future lies immediately before us."

As a result of Wednesday's vote, the Arts District – which is now bounded by Ross Avenue, Woodall Rodgers Freeway and St. Paul and Routh streets – will be extended four blocks northeast to Central Expressway. The unpaved weed-choked lots and rundown gas stations in the expansion area will eventually be subject to the same standards as their elegant Arts District neighbors. That will include design guidelines along Flora Street and some landscaping and parking requirements. "More than $500 million worth of public/private investment is being made in the Arts District," council member Veletta Forsythe Lill said. "It is incumbent on the public to protect that investment, to advance that investment. The Arts District belongs to all of us."

But John Leedom, CEO of Wholesale Electronics Supply and a former state senator said Wednesday that he doesn't want to belong to the Arts District. The former City Council member said he lost a multimillion-dollar contract on his property because of the zoning change. And he said the city is violating the Texas Constitution, which states that "no person's property shall be taken, damaged or destroyed for any special public use without proper compensation to persons." "There are many vacant lots" inside the Arts District, he said. "There's no justification. It will not add anything to the district."

Cultural centers

Conceived in 1977, the Dallas Arts District houses the city's most prominent cultural centers, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Garden and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Construction on the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts is scheduled to begin in late 2006, said Bill Lively, president of the center's foundation. "This is going to complete a 25-year dream of the district as it is now defined," Mr. Lively said. "The extension beyond Routh will be very positive for the district." Also Wednesday, council members adopted a long-awaited land-use plan for the Trinity River corridor, directing the city staff to to enforce design and zoning standards along the waterfront.

"It's been a long road. ... It's not something we just thought up overnight," council member Steve Salazar said. "This is a really huge effort on the part of the city of Dallas to make sure whatever developments do come to the bottomlands, that there are standards [that must be] followed." Under the proposal, crafted after meetings with property owners along the 20-mile Trinity corridor, Dallas' central business district would be extended across the river, bringing office towers onto the west bank. Warehouse space along Irving Boulevard would be turned into a residential and commercial strip. And heavy industry close to downtown would be moved north into the Elm Fork area and south into the McCommas Bluff area.

Much of the waterway north of downtown and in the Trinity Forest area would remain in its natural state. In parts of West Dallas, Oak Cliff and southern Dallas, communities of single-family homes would be preserved. "The process is absolutely necessary for people to really begin to understand we are serious about this project," council member Ed Oakley said. "If we've got an opportunity to develop an alley, we need to have the ability to develop a uniform look." Council member Sandy Greyson said Wednesday that she was concerned zoning changes and design standards would be implemented on a case-by-case basis, leading to inconsistency along the Trinity corridor. "It concerns me that ... as we so often tend to do, we would give people what they want without taking into consideration that we have an overall, overarching plan," Ms. Greyson said.

'Wall of buildings' feared

Ms. Greyson also said she fears a "wall of buildings" and large signs will crop up along the waterfront, blocking scenic views. "I want to make sure we address that before people come in and start building," she said. The land-use plan includes a provision to preserve "view corridors," Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan said. But she said the city will have to work with consultants to determine design standards for signs along the river. "I don't think anyone wants a whole sea of billboards along the corridor," she said. Under the plan, existing industrial and commercial businesses along the downtown corridor would be "grandfathered" – allowed to operate until the property changes hands, Mr. Oakley said. Then they would be phased out with zoning changes and replaced with urban retailers and loft living.

"Residential is coming, office is coming, retail is coming," Mr. Oakley said. "And somewhere down the road ... [industrial businesses] may need to consider that whatever their facility is needs to be in a different location." In other Trinity River news, council members authorized a 20-year agreement Wednesday with the National Audubon Society to manage the Trinity Interpretive Center, a riverfront nature center.

E-mail eramshaw@dallasnews.com

[rantanamo]

Turtle Creek area landmark to get redo
Maple Terrace apartments will go condo and add units
11:46 PM CST on Wednesday, March 9, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...race.7365f.html

The Trammell Crow Co. said Wednesday that it's working with owners of the historic Maple Terrace apartments near Turtle Creek to convert the building to condominiums. The Maple Terrace apartments were built in 1925. 'We will put it back to its grandeur,' said developer Art Lomenick. The project includes remodeling the 1925 landmark and building a condo tower. "We are in a redevelopment venture to save the old building and grounds," said Art Lomenick, a managing director for Crow Co. subsidiary High Street Residential. Crow formed High Street Residential three years ago to build residential and mixed-use projects in markets around the country. The Maple Terrace redo is its first high-profile project in North Texas.

High Street Residential and Maple Terrace's owners are seeking city approval this week to renovate the old apartment building. "We will put it back to its grandeur in the 1920s and 1930s," Mr. Lomenick said Wednesday. Developers said it was too early to announce prices, the number of condominiums or a start date for the project. The residents in the building aren't being asked to move out yet and will be offered a chance to buy the units. The seven-story Mediterranean-style building at Maple Avenue and Wolf Street was designed by British architect Sir Alfred Bossom, who was also responsible for Dallas' landmark Magnolia Building. The building cost $1 million to build and was laid out with more than 300 rooms that could be configured into various-size apartments.

Plans to redevelop Maple Terrace have been in the works for several years. In 2000, developer Frank Aldridge and David Corrigan, whose family has owned the building since the 1940s, announced plans to convert Maple Terrace into a luxury hotel. But with the recession in the hotel market, that project never got off the ground. Mr. Aldridge and Mr. Corrigan are working with High Street Residential on the latest redevelopment proposal. The city of Dallas' planning department has recommended approval of the project.

"We are going to build the new building in a complementary style," Mr. Lomenick said. "We are in the design process, and marketing will kick off in a couple of months." Across the street from the Maple Terrace, the owners of the 82-year-old Stoneleigh Hotel are working on a similar plan. Prescott Realty Group of Dallas is working with the Stoneleigh's New York owners to remodel the hotel and build a condominium high-rise.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com


http://www.dougnewby.com/images/body/Architecture/Architects/Architects/sir_alfred_bossom_1.jpg
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/03-05/0310maple.jpg

[rantanamo]

apparently this place has broken ground

GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Condo Developer Steps Up Construction
By Connie Gore - Wednesday, September 15, 2004 08:15pm
http://www.globest.com/news/116_116...s/126492-1.html

DALLAS-A Dallas developer, playing to a niche condo market, is readying a site to go vertical on a "for sale" development on the Uptown-Highland Park border. The $25-million Drexel Highlander is moving ahead just as one project wraps up and plans start flying for a first quarter 2005 groundbreaking for a third condo development on yet another infill tract.

Robert Dale, principal of Drexel Development Co., says the Highlander's walls will start going up in 30 days. Pre-sales begin in January 2005, with delivery penciled for the fourth quarter on a nine-story, 48-unit building positioned on about three-fourths of an acre at the hard corner of Prescott Drive and Oak Lawn Avenue. "There have been a lot of inquiries because it's a premier location," Dale says.

Designed by Smith & Ekblad of Dallas, the Highlander is 18 units larger than the developer's first "for sale" product, the Drexel Montane at 2885 Woodside St. in Uptown, but will be the middle child when ground breaks on the first phase to an estimated $50-million development with 100 condos at build-out. Dale says the land's under control, but it's not closed so he's not ready to say if it's Downtown or North Dallas, both locations on the developer's "to do" list.

Meanwhile, work is wrapping up on the $12-million Montane, where keys will be ready to turn within 30 days. The Montane's units, of which 11 have been sold, range from 1,400 sf to 2,550 sf and are tagged for sale at $350,000 to $725,000. In comparison, the Highlander's units range from 2,000 sf to 3,500 sf, with prices of $550,000 to $1.4 million.

"We think the market is very strong for 'for sale' product," says Dale, whose firm has built two rental properties in Uptown. "Our intent is to take this product type and continue to develop it." And, he says, that means going beyond the Dallas city limits. Dale and principal Robert Edelman are eyeing "three or four" sites in Mid-Cities and Fort Worth. They've also looked at Houston, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK. Dale says it could be "a year or two" before the show goes on the road, but it will happen.

The Drexel team believes the design's success is mortared by an electronic access, quarter-size device that ensures privacy and security from private parking areas to direct-entry elevators--incorporated into rental and condo product alike. The devices can be programmed for certain hours to allow access for services like housekeepers, but block the locks when the time's up. Should an employee or service be tendered, the device is rendered useless. "No one else in Dallas has anything like this," Dale says.

http://www.drexeldev.com/Highlander/images/highlander-new.jpg

looks like its State-Thomas brethren, the Drexel Montane

[rantanamo]

Spectacular new urbanist project at Big Town site in Mesquite shot down

Finally.

Advertisement
For more than four decades, the Big Town Mall area on the western edge of Mesquite has been on the decline.

After decades of dormancy, the city recently received two proposals for redevelopment of the Big Town area from the same developer, Spence Albert.

Albert is no stranger to Mesquite as he is responsible for the Falcon's Lair North and South projects.

In fact, the project that will more than likely be presented in a public hearing before the city council on Monday calls for the demolition and subsequent environmental clean-up of Big Town Mall.

The mall site, the convention center, the farmer's market area -- all gone under the demolition proposal.

"We have a zoning application for a business park," said City of Mesquite Economic Development Director Tom Palmer. "The Big Town Task Force is recommending establishment of a TIF [Tax Increment Finance] zone for $5 million.

"There has been discussion that the TIF would stay in place for a number of years to help cash flow property development should it occur."

Originally, Albert presented something more grandiose for the area.

The Villages of Big Town was an ultra-trendy, West Village-style, new urbanism type of development similar to those found in Southlake, Frisco, Plano or Mockingbird Station in Dallas.

It also featured the complete leveling of Big Town in its present state -- replacing it with a combination retail/residential development with streetscape infrastructure and even a club overlay district.

And, the TIF district that would have been created with the project was a proposed 30 years -- generating $100 million.

City Councilor David Paschall voiced a number of concerns with the Villages concept at the Dec. 6 council meeting -- including the creation of a TIF with such a large commitment.

"I can't stand corporate welfare," he said this week. "I believe a project should be able to live on its own. Those TIF monies are revenues that would be going to the general fund and as our budgets get tighter, it's hard to justify taking money from the taxpayers and giving it to someone else."

Another concern Paschall noted at the council meeting was that the Villages of Big Town concept was an apartment project -- and that it would have been eight times larger than any other apartment project in the city of Mesquite, he said.

"One of the messages I have received from the people of my district is, 'No more apartments,'" he said. "And, this would be the biggest TIF with the longest lifespan we would have ever put together."

As it turned out, with the Villages concept apparently going by the wayside, the business park proposal fulfill two important purposes for the city.

First of all, Paschall agreed that a commercial or industrial development would be more consistent with the development that has occurred in adjacent areas to Big Town -- such as the Unilever distribution center.

And, the recently adopted development guide recommends commercial projects for the Big Town area.

Secondly, the business park concept could provide much-needed land for industrial and commercial prospects.

Palmer said the city is rapidly running out of industrially conducive land and the Big Town business park concept will fill that void.

"The business park concept would present some quality standards that could serve as a front door to the community," Palmer said. "It would have nice entry features and a retail component could be built in.

"The Big Town name still carries some nostalgic market value. It is down right now, but it could be something that could perhaps be rekindled."




http://www.jhparch.com/pics/portfolio_subitem.128.img3.jpg
http://www.alpertcapital.com/images/lake.jpg
http://www.alpertcapital.com/images/plaza.jpg
http://www.alpertcapital.com/images/street-091604.jpg

[rantanamo]

W Hotel as of 3/10

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5529
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5530

[TexasBoi]

when will the ritz-carlton begin construction?

[rantanamo]

this spring

[texasboy]

I like the Big Town development, because new urbanism is my thing, but am I the only one that would like to see this closer to downtown?

[rantanamo]

Doesn't matter so much as there is plenty in the pipeline for the inner-city. In reality, I imagine it didn't pass because Mesquite wants to protect Town East and its surrounding. With Firewheel opening next Christmas and developments like City Lights and the West Village taking away their traditional shoppers they have to protect that investment. So buh bye Big Town Village.

[rantanamo]

Funds for Trinity bridges approved

Transportation bill includes $76 million for I-30, I-35E spans


07:10 AM CST on Friday, March 11, 2005


By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News



The U.S. House passed a $284 billion transportation bill Thursday that includes every dollar Dallas officials requested for two new bridges spanning the Trinity River.

The U.S. Senate and House must still arrive at a final version, and President Bush must sign that six-year spending plan, which has been stalled for 18 months. But congressional leaders said Thursday that they are confident that will happen well before the current bill expires May 31.

The $76 million allocated for Trinity bridges isn't guaranteed, if only because "a chicken doesn't crow until the egg hatches," said U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas. "But I'm very, very hopeful we get this done, and quickly. It looks good."

The future of Dallas' Trinity River project depends on three bridges – sweeping structures designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The first, a Woodall Rodgers freeway extension bridge that will be named for philanthropist Margaret Hunt Hill, is already fully financed.

If the House version of the transportation bill is adopted, it will help fund construction of the Interstate 30 bridge and Interstate 35E bridge, as well as two highway interchanges on Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway.

"I am beyond ecstatic, and I attribute every penny to Pete Sessions and Eddie Bernice Johnson," Mayor Laura Miller said of th