Condos in the midst of culture
Dallas Arts District to gain $100 million residential tower
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12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
Dallas' newest residential high-rise will be a standout in an exclusive neighborhood.
Located smack between the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the 20-story Museum Tower has what developers hope is a one-of-a-kind address.
"We think we have an extraordinary site," said John Sughrue, whose Brook Partners is teaming up with investor Turtle Creek Holdings to build the $100 million tower. "It is in the true heart of the Arts District."
Indeed, it would be hard to find a more central location than the block between Pearl and Olive streets. The residential building will overlook the Nasher sculpture garden and tower over the nearby symphony hall and Dallas Museum of Art.
"Our aspiration was to design a residence that will offer a sophisticated urban lifestyle," Mr. Sughrue, who has developed other projects downtown, said Monday.
The sleek stone and glass building was designed by architect Rick del Monte with the Beck Group – who collaborated on the Nasher Sculpture Center and the new Hunt Consolidated tower a few blocks away on Woodall Rodgers Freeway. Booziotis & Co. Architects has been hired to work on the interior spaces.
Mr. Sughrue said the plan is to build a condo tower that "will complement our Arts District neighbors – more timeless than flamboyant."
The building is designed to contain between 100 and 125 condos, depending how large the buyers want. The units will range in size from around 900 square feet to 7,500 square feet and will be "priced competitively" with other luxury buildings in the market, the developers said. Most of those projects sell for between $450 and $600 per square foot, depending upon how elaborate the building is.
Along with the central building, the Museum Tower will include underground parking, a half-dozen low-rise townhouses directly across from the Nasher garden, a swimming pool and gardens for the residents. The north side of the building also faces one of the parks planned for across the freeway.
"We think this Woodall Rodgers Park will be a fabulous amenity to this building," said Robbie Briggs of Briggs Freeman Real Estate Brokerage, which is marketing the project. "We are appealing to people who are truly interested in good architecture and the Arts District."
Museum Tower is scheduled to start construction later this year and will take about 18 to 24 months to complete.
Because of its location, the building will be one of the most visible additions to the 20-block cultural district on the north side of downtown.
The Arts District is also seeing construction of the $275 million Dallas Center for Performing Arts and the $100 million One Arts Plaza building, which will house 7-Eleven's corporate offices, condos and retail space.
The timing for the Museum Tower couldn't be better, said Bill Lively, president of the Dallas Center for Performing Arts Foundation.
"This complement brings life into the district," Mr. Lively said. "In every case where these things work effectively, there is a residential component."
Planned in the 1980s, the Arts District was always designed for a variety of construction. But during the early years, the private-sector focus was on office space.
Eight years ago when Brook Partners bought the Museum Tower site, the plan was to do an office tower.
"When the Arts District was laid out, they sought a residential component," said Daniel Boeckman with Turtle Creek Holdings. "It's all coming together right now."
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