NYC based Olympic Properties spending $175 million on 52 story tower redo;
becomes Downtown Dallas' biggest building renovation
A rendering of the ground-level redevelopment of the former First National Bank tower in Dallas.
Merriman Associates/Architects and Olympic Property Partners
By Steve Brown, Dallas Morning News, 03-27-14
It’s the biggest empty building in Downtown Dallas — 52 stories with 1.5 million square feet.
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But it was the huge scale of the property and its potential impact on Downtown that attracted New York-based Olympic Property Partners to the deal, principal Seth Weinstein said.
“To come down to Dallas and make a substantial investment of time and energy, the size is important to us,” Weinstein said. “We would not have come down here for a quarter-million-square-foot project.
“We think that the sheer size of the project will in itself create a critical mass.”
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“We plan to start construction around the first of the year,” he said. “We hope to open the building in the summer of 2016.”
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Expected to cost $175 million, the redevelopment will be the largest such venture to date in Downtown Dallas, where more than a dozen old office buildings have already been repurposed for new apartments, retail and commercial space.
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Dallas has a lot riding on the building redo.
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“Leaving any major asset like that to just sit there and continue to decay is not a plan,” said John Crawford, CEO of the economic development group Downtown Dallas Inc. “It is a drag on everything around it and the entire Downtown area.”
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“It’s not just some more apartments going in,” he said. “They are trying to create a destination.”
Olympic Property Partners’ redevelopment scheme calls for turning the lower floors of the building into retail, office space and parking.
The tower section of the project will house about 500 apartment units.
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“On the lower levels, that’s where the radical new designs come.”
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“It will be the best parked building in Downtown Dallas when we are done with 950 parking spaces,” Weinstein said.
On the ninth floor of the building, the developers plan to create a large outdoor park area with restaurant space, outdoor dining and recreation facilities for the apartment residents.
“We are going to reopen the old observation deck on the 50th floor,” said Bryan Dorsey with BDRC 4Site, the local partner in the project.
“We are ready to take this project all the way.”
The developers will blow out enclosed areas on the lower floors for new public spaces and install bright graphics and signage.
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“We’re opening up all four sides of the building to invite people in.”
Weinstein said he has secured equity and debt to pay for remodeling the building. The company has a track record of developing apartment and commercial projects.
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“This is a much better residential building than it is an office building.”
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