Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Swiss developer buys prime downtown Dallas site, plans skyscraper

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/ene ... kyscraper/

Empira Group acquired the more than one-acre site on Pearl Street across from the Plaza of the Americas. The property is near downtown’s Arts District and across the street from a DART commuter rail stop.

The new owner plans to build a 375-unit residential tower with more than 30 floors. The building will include 7,300 square feet of ground-floor restaurant space and a 2,500-square-foot outdoor plaza overlooking a small park.

Empira did not give a start date for the project. The building site at 711 N. Pearl was purchased from Spire Realty, which previously owned the nearby Bryan Tower and used the property for surface parking. Jones Lang LaSalle marketed the tract for sale.

Edited in (CTM) :

Sounds like an ambitious project. The rendering looks a lot like the One Uptown apartment tower on McKinney.

This forum is filled with several tower going up on the east side of downtown. (Portman's 50 stories, Rohrman's 42 stories, East Side 47 stories) I'll believe it when the first tenants move in.

Looks nice. It's not a groundbreaking design but it still looks better than 95% of other recent highrises.
Approve it and get er done. Great infill.

Nice infill, hopefully not another proposal that goes nowhere.

Permitting delay issues in mind, with these people I'd wager a street taco (this is very valuable!) that it opens for occupancy before Goldman Sachs gets a certificate of occupancy for their new build at NorthEnd. ; )

You have to admit, this is where a podium Target, grocer, or some such could go as well. 2000 Ross is already out of the picture (and probably would've been a better spot) when it could've and possibly should've courted a large, big box format retail. Just thinking aloud, all SimCity and stuff.

New construction in the core, south of Ross Ave— it’s about time.

Nice looking tower on the Eastside of Downtown, which has woefully been ignored far too long.

Man, I hope this one happens! With all the new parks there's so much potential in this part of Downtown.

What a snoozer!

cyklopz wrote:What a snoozer!

Well, in an era of high office vacancies, high interest rates, and tight lending practices, we all might want to celebrate "snoozers". JMO.

rono3849 wrote:

cyklopz wrote:What a snoozer!

Well, in an era of high office vacancies, high interest rates, and tight lending practices, we all might want to celebrate "snoozers". JMO.

absolutely not.

cyklopz wrote:What a snoozer!

I don't think it would look bad in that location.

I think a 35 story residential tower being built in the heart of downtown, as opposed to its edges, Deep Ellum, Uptown, etc, is pretty spectacular, regardless of what the building looks like. I happen to like the building's appearance so for me this is a win/win!

I celebrate that a new building is even getting announced downtown in this finance and real estate market. This will add more people to that area to support restaurants and stores and parks. I love that downtown is moving towards people living there and not just office towers.

Is this from Craig Hall?

tamtagon wrote:Is this from Craig Hall?

The article said it was a Swiss group and didn't mention Hall.

Cbdallas wrote:I celebrate that a new building is even getting announced downtown in this finance and real estate market. This will add more people to that area to support restaurants and stores and parks. I love that downtown is moving towards people living there and not just office towers.

I agree. I wish we would do what Miami did and just start building a bunch of residential towers. The people will follow if the supply is there.

I like it. It is a great location. It is right on the M-Line and on all 4 lines of Dart.

R1070 wrote:

Cbdallas wrote:I celebrate that a new building is even getting announced downtown in this finance and real estate market. This will add more people to that area to support restaurants and stores and parks. I love that downtown is moving towards people living there and not just office towers.

I agree. I wish we would do what Miami did and just start building a bunch of residential towers. The people will follow if the supply is there.

Any number of developers would be more than happy to take your money and build build build. Would buildings eventually fill up, no matter how many we build? Probably, given enough time and enough trips through bankruptcy court.

FYI, per CBRE in 1st Quarter 2023, the Intown area of Dallas, which seems to be roughly downtown, uptown, and Deep Ellum, experienced negative absorption of 139 units, plus 129 new units were delivered (so there are 268 more unoccupied apartments on March 31 than there were on January 1). PLUS there are another 4,119 units under construction (sounds like we're already doing the Miami thing... That's a 12.4% increase in supply dropping on a market currently experiencing negative absorption. It will be interesting indeed to see if any new projects get started any time soon.

It'll be interesting to see the pricing on the 4119 u/c units as they become available. The negative absorption is probably from general overpricing, which need continued correction.

Dallas could become a great urban residence, keep building.

LPG wrote:https://cityofdallas.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12366705&GUID=8EAF18FF-556D-44E2-9222-ACF5A7EE739F

So this was actually last week. Did it get approved?

Man, I hope this one happens. IMO this is the single most encouraging project out of everything currently proposed. A nice-looking, tall residential building that will hopefully bring life to a part of downtown that's been mostly overlooked for decades.

With sale of the Plaza Americas buildings today, hopefully that gives this building the push it needs to get it approved and off the ground.

Good point!

35-story residential tower to rise along Dallas’ Pearl Street
A Swiss firm will get underway with a residential high rise between Dallas’ central business district and the Design District later this year.



https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... rl-street/

Swiss investment management firm Empira Group plans to move ahead with a residential high-rise near Plaza of the Americas in downtown Dallas.

The firm’s plans include 370 market-rate apartments with studio and one-, two-, and three-bedroom layouts and balconies. The 35-story high-rise will also have eight penthouses with panoramic views of the city.

For amenities, the tower’s ninth floor will include a pool, fitness center, co-working area, makers studio and resident’s lounge.

The property will feature 8,660 square feet of ground-floor retail space, along with 515 parking spaces across a seven-level parking garage.

This really is a great location. I hope this comes to fruition.

Love to see the infill development.

Curiously all of the renderings are missing the hideous skywalk that crosses Pearl right in front of this site. I'd love to see the Celebration of Life plaza get a facelift in line with the new downtown parks.

If only. Hope this one sees the light of day, ha ha.

This is the project I'm most excited about right now. It's a nice looking tower, for sure, but to see development this deep in Downtown is encouraging!

eburress wrote:This is the project I'm most excited about right now. It's a nice looking tower, for sure, but to see development this deep in Downtown is encouraging!

I agree... we need to get the empty spaces filled in throughout the main core of DT, then move outward from there.

This design rendering is sooooo much better than the first one. What a massive improvement if it ends up looking like that.

I have kinda looked around but have not seen anything about actual height. Has that been stated anywhere? I am assuming this is in the 400-450 ft category but i suppose it could be taller the way they build these days.