DALLAS | Hall Arts Center | 3 Towers | 18/30/45-Stories | Com

desertpunk said:

Hall's earlier proposal for an Arts District twin 50 story tower complex:


Hall Arts Center Towers, twin 50 story skyscrapers planned for the block immediately across from and just south of the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District by skys the limit2, on Flickr

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For almost 25 years, one of the most prominent blocks in downtown Dallas’ showcase Arts District has been a jumble of leftover concrete and steel columns. The decrepit property on Flora Street across the street from the Meyerson Symphony Center has been a sharp contrast against a street lined with architectural landmarks and world-class cultural facilities.

That incongruity may soon end.

Developer Craig Hall, who’s spent years pondering what to do with the key property, is on the verge of kicking off development. Hall is finalizing plans for a 16-story office building and a 29-story residential high-rise on the property. A future phase would also contain a hotel and more condos. “We plan to pull our building permits on the office building before the end of the year,” said Hall, who’s been looking at designs for the property for more than a decade. “I’m excited about the opportunity to finally get something going.”

Arts District proponents couldn’t be more pleased at the prospects for a project that’s been stalled since the 1980s. “I consider it to be the most important development site in Dallas,” said Veletta Forsythe Lill, Arts District executive director. “It’s located across the street from the Meyerson Symphony Center and the Winspear Opera House. “There are few neighbors in the world of that scale.”

Stonehenge’

Over the years the Arts District has developed with more than $1 billion in projects. But the block bounded by Flora, Leonard Street, Ross Avenue and Crockett Street hasn’t changed much since developers abandoned the property in the late 1980s.

A Chicago firm that owned the block planned to build two 50-story office skyscrapers on the land. But after constructing a seven-story underground garage, it shut down the project, leaving unfinished support beams and walls cluttering the landscape. “It’s the property we lovingly refer to as Stonehenge,” Lill said. “Out-of-towners are always asking, ‘What’s that supposed to be?’”

Hall enters picture

The downtown block had already gone through a series of building schemes when Hall bought it in 1995. He paid $10.5 million for two Flora Street tracts and a smaller property on the south side of Ross. When asked back then how quickly he planned to start construction, Hall said, “Not real soon.” But he admits that the Arts District project has been idle longer than anyone could have imagined. “We’ve done a wide range of plans and models over the years,” he said. “Our key design guy has been working on this for more than 10 years.”

Architect HKS Inc. has created plans for a 450,000-square-foot office building that backs up to Ross Avenue, leaving room for restaurants and retail along Flora Street. The building has a rounded corner design, with an exterior of glass and metal fins. The second tower will have only about 40 condominiums and is planned to start after the offices are done in late 2014 or early 2015.

The first two buildings in the Hall Arts Center are significantly smaller than what was proposed for the property in the 1980s.

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It looks like real estate developer and investor Craig Hall is prepping to move forward with the first phase of his long-planned Arts District complex. Here’s what Hall had to say about the development in a recent D Magazine special issue on Klyde Warren Park:


Also eager to pull the trigger is Craig Hall, who owns two blocks of land between Flora and San Jacinto streets. Currently, the northern end of the site is home to a 2,000-spot underground parking garage.

The 17-story first phase of Hall Arts Center will total about 460,000 square feet of office space. Hall aims to get a building permit in December and start construction mid-year 2013, depending on the outcome of current discussions with prospective tenants. Restaurants and rooftop entertainment venues will be built with the first phase; the site also features green space.

Plans for future phases include a 29-story residential tower, a 45-story mixed-use building with a hotel on the lower floors, office in the middle, and 75 condominiums on top; and a fourth tower whose use is to be determined by market demand.

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The race to build the next office tower in central Dallas is about to be out of the starting gate.

Accounting firm KPMG has finally decided where it will locate its downtown office, real estate brokers who are tracking the deal say. After looking at options in Uptown, property execs familiar with the transaction say that KPMG has decided that developer Craig Hall’s new building in the Arts District is the best option.

KPMG has been scouting for new digs since its namesake tower on Harwood Street went into foreclosure last year. The accounting firm wanted to keep its operations in the downtown area and considered several new buildings in the works. KPMG was also interested in Crescent Real Estate’s office and retail tower planned on McKinney Avenue.

Brokers say that Hall Financial’s planned project on Flora Street got the edge because of its location across from the Meyerson Symphony Center and its shorter construction time. The 16-story, 454,000-square-foot office project is being built on top of an existing underground parking garage.

Hall Financial took out a building permit for the development late last year. The building would open its doors in 2015.

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A Kansas City bank that's expanding to the Dallas market has leased a location in a new downtown building.

UMB Bank said Thursday that it will rent 5,887 square feet of office space in Hall Financial's new Arts District office tower. Construction on Hall Financial's Arts District tower starts in September.

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After years of planning and a flurry of leasing, Hall Financial is set to begin construction next week on its Arts District office tower.

The 16-story, 454,000-square-foot office project will be built between Ross Avenue and Flora Street, across from the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Accounting firm KPMG and Jackson Walker, the Dallas law firm, have already spoken for most of the space in the glass and metal high-rise.

The office building will take more than a year to construct and is the first phase of a project that includes a larger residential building

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Legacy Dallas lawfirm Jackson Walker LP will be renting just over 100,000 square feet of space in a new office tower going up in downtown Dallas.

Jackson Walker will join accounting firm KPMG and UMB Bank as lead tenants in the 18-story, 500,000-square-foot high-rise that is being built by Hall Financial Group. Hall – a Frisco-based real estate and investment firm – will also move its headquarters to the project. Work has already begun on the tower, which will be called KPMG Plaza.

“We actually started construction this past Monday,” developer Craig Hall said Wednesday at an event kicking off the development. “We expect to complete the first building by March 31 of 2015. “We will have some tenants moving in very shortly after that.”

KPMG Plaza is the first phase of the 3-building Hall Arts complex at Ross Avenue and Leonard Street. A 30-story condo tower and another large office high-rise are also planned. “Ultimately there will be around three quarters of a billion dollars of construction when we are done,” Hall said.

The next tower in Hall Financial’s development is already in the works, and will likely contain a combination of condominiums and hotel rooms. “We are talking to some hotel partners that would own and operate the building – that’s what we are after,” Hall said. “If we find the right hotel partner that’s what we are doing.”

Hall has been working on the project since 1995 when he bought the strategically located downtown development site for $10.5 million.

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