A high-rise tower in Dallas could soon be redeveloped into a sprawling mixed-use development. The owners of Dallas’ landmark Comerica Bank Tower are planning to convert up to 20 floors of office space in the 60-story high-rise into a mix of residential apartments, retail stores, and a luxury hotel.
Local developer Woods Capital acquired an ownership stake in the building earlier this year alongside Dallas-based real estate investment management firm TriGate Capital.
The two, along with Woods affiliate Pacific Elm Properties, hope to begin renovation on the Main Street high-rise later this year with hopes that it breathes new life into the area, according to reporting by The Dallas Morning News.
“The quality of the building, together with the Main Street location, provides for a very unique development opportunity, and we are excited to be partnering with an experienced and well-capitalized partner to redevelop the building into a mixed-use property,” said Jason Obenhaus, managing director of TriGate in a statement about the partnership.
Jonas Woods, founder and CEO of Woods Capital, says that his development firm “believes a mixed-use tower is much more likely to be successful today than a more than one million-square-foot office tower.”
According to Woods, redeveloping the Comerica Tower poses an interesting opportunity to deliver office, residential, and hospitality space to the 1717 block of Main Street. He notes that it is still early in the planning phase. The next few months will be dedicated to obtaining architectural proposals as well as refining plans.
The residential component, as Woods puts it, “would be very high-end luxury residences.”
Woods says he can envision a future where Dallas’ financial district — which he notes has declined — is opened up as a dynamic space with new uses occupying the first floor and the below-level spaces. Woods believes the change could engage the urban neighborhood in new ways that weren’t originally conceived when the building was completed more than thirty-five years ago.
Dedicated office space will remain on the tower’s top floors, according to Woods.
