Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Baylor Scott & White Health will vacate Bryan Tower in downtown Dallas when it consolidates into a large office administration facility in Deep Ellum, the health care system’s CEO said today.

"The employees that are in (Bryan Tower) are part of the consolidation," Jim Hinton, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, told the Dallas Business Journal on Wednesday. "When the new building is opened, we will be moving them."

And the building owners are completing a restaurant that opens in January with a patio extending almost all the way to the sidewalk of Harwood Street.

tamtagon wrote:^a resurfacing downtown like Dallas is a great place for all those once successful but faded brands to test-market for the next couple of generations. Dallas in particular is a desirable try-it-on demographic, has been for decades.

If JCPenny has any brain power left, they'll high-tail it out of the suburbs and get into the city. In addition to the toxic management attacking that company, it's stagnating itself to the same library category as Radio Shaq, Circuit City, Sears, Wards....

tamtagon wrote:If JCPenny has any brain power left, they'll high-tail it out of the suburbs and get into the city. In addition to the toxic management attacking that company, it's stagnating itself to the same library category as Radio Shaq, Circuit City, Sears, Wards....

...Alden Global was founded by a Wall Street billionaire named Randall Smith, whom the New York Post once labeled “the grandfather of vulture investing.” In 2007, Smith hired Freeman away from a more genteel firm, mentored him in the ruthless ways of vulture investing, and then handed Alden Global over to him.

Smith also owned a real estate development company, Spire Realty, that operated primarily in Texas. Among its holdings is Bryan Tower, a Dallas skyscraper that was built in the early 1970s by the great Texas developer Trammel Crow. Smith and his son Caleb, who is a partner at Spire Realty, renovated the tower shortly after buying it in 1998....

trueicon wrote:This is speculation, but it sure sounds like Fred's Inc. is moving its headquarters from Memphis to Bryan Tower.

https://old.reddit.com/r/downtowndallas ... eneral_is/

tamtagon wrote:Seems like the move to Bryan Tower is pretty much a done deal, yes; also seems like that's not the final destination for these brands. Maybe the bargain shoe store and small town pharmacy/convenience grocer are headed toward the recycle bin.

Since the worker population is their primary focus, they won't keep late-night hours, staying open until about 7 pm.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:It is still hard for these downtown places to seriously keep a resident population interested. Main Street is where most of the after-hours crowd congregates. This end has two hotels and office buildings that empty out around 5pm. Even the Sheraton as big as it is isn't enough to keep a place like this busy 7 days a week. Hotels provide waves of traffic rather than steady income for places like this. What we need is some serious residential in that area to pump up the potential for later open retail/restaurants. There are plenty of lots nearby that one day could contain residential and Mathews Southwest has residential planned nearby but even that is targeting an affordable demographic that may or may not frequent a place like this.

lakewoodhobo wrote:This area is one of the donut holes within downtown that'll take some time to hit critical mass. I've worked in a building here for 12 years now and love that we're getting Pacific Plaza, but aside from this and the redevelopment of One Dallas Center and Crozier, plus the MATA extension, we're a bit stagnant. It's just a no-man's land between the Arts District and EMC for now, which is why it makes me so angry that First Baptist wants to demolish a building that would be perfect for residential.

I would love for Energy Plaza and one of the Southland Center towers to turn residential in the future, otherwise they'll have to build on top of the many parking garages here to make it a neighborhood.

Hannibal Lecter wrote:^ The building was designed to look like Independence Hall. Removing that would pretty much ruin that.

dfwcre8tive wrote:

Hannibal Lecter wrote:^ The building was designed to look like Independence Hall. Removing that would pretty much ruin that.

Agree. Remove the New England decorative top and it would just be a beige brick box.

lakewoodhobo wrote:I would love for Energy Plaza and one of the Southland Center towers to turn residential in the future, otherwise they'll have to build on top of the many parking garages here to make it a neighborhood.

Landmark downtown Dallas skyscraper up for grabs
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... -for-grabs

Screen Shot 2020-01-27 at 9.43.22 AM.jpg

Zmitz wrote:I walk by this area occasionally and always feel uncomfortable, like I'm the only person there.

The 40-story office tower on the northeast side of downtown was built in 1973, and was one of the first modern reflective glass high-rises constructed in Dallas.

The 1.1 million-square-foot high-rise was only about 35% occupied earlier this year when lenders holding $70 million in debt declared the loan in default and moved to foreclose on the property.

Dallas-based Woods Capital is now negotiating to acquire the Bryan Street tower.

Woods Capital has already purchased the half-acre parking lot next to the building, company officials confirm.

"The sale includes three adjoining downtown parking lots plus part ownership in a parking garage."

A new venture created by Jonas Woods of Dallas-based Woods Capital plans to remodel two downtown office towers into a combination of residences and business space.

“We have consolidated $1 billion of downtown office space into a new entity: Pacific Elm Properties,” Woods said. “It will be the holding company for about four and a half million square feet of downtown office space.

“Our plan for 2022 is to convert about 800,000 square feet of that portfolio into luxury apartments.”

Woods’ firm is buying the 40-story Bryan Tower, which is only about a third occupied by office tenants.

“Our plans at Bryan Tower include converting roughly half the building to luxury apartments,” Woods said. “We are going to spend between the common area improvements and the conversion of the upper floors well over $150 million upgrading that building.

Tnexster wrote:Downtown Dallas developments will convert offices to apartments and add new towers
The Bryan Tower and Santander Tower will be overhauled to add luxury apartments.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... ew-towers/

A new venture created by Jonas Woods of Dallas-based Woods Capital plans to remodel two downtown office towers into a combination of residences and business space.

“We have consolidated $1 billion of downtown office space into a new entity: Pacific Elm Properties,” Woods said. “It will be the holding company for about four and a half million square feet of downtown office space.

“Our plan for 2022 is to convert about 800,000 square feet of that portfolio into luxury apartments.”

Woods’ firm is buying the 40-story Bryan Tower, which is only about a third occupied by office tenants.

“Our plans at Bryan Tower include converting roughly half the building to luxury apartments,” Woods said. “We are going to spend between the common area improvements and the conversion of the upper floors well over $150 million upgrading that building.

The 717 N. Harwood tower — previously home to KPMG and Diamond Shamrock — was put into bankruptcy last year.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:That's not Bryan Tower that's the tower nearby 717 Harwood. They share a parking garage access but are not owned together.

The 717 N. Harwood tower — previously home to KPMG and Diamond Shamrock — was put into bankruptcy last year.