Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Wowzers, first renderings of the proposed replacement of the North End Apartments in Victory Park!

An ambitious development set for just north of downtown Dallas is planned as a bridge between Uptown and Victory Park.

Dallas' Hunt Realty will seek city approval for the 11-acre Field Street development, which will include office, residential and hotel towers and retail space.

The high-rises will surround a lush central park facing the downtown skyline.

“Our stated goal is to create a green heart to Uptown,” Hunt Realty Investments president Colin Fitzgibbons said. “What we have essentially planned the project around is a 1.5-acre park.”

The towers and park would replace the Northend Apartments — built in 1997 — which predate the building boom in the area.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... arboretum/

I hope Hunt Realty Investment leaves some room so the Perot Museum of Science and Nature can expand as the green heart of Uptown, plan the 1.5 acre park around the museum expansion.

Maybe the Crow Family can convince the Hunt Family to join the Perot Family (enticing new legacy billionaire families to join like the Rowling, Warren and Jones) in a philanthropic extravaganza for the new millennium that really sets the cultural institutions on the world level. One billion for the Museum of Science and Nature, Two billion for The Dallas Museum of Art, One Billion for The Dallas Symphony & Dallas Opera and two billion for a new museum in the Arts District - the Modern Art Museum of Dallas.

Oh my god I jus saw this. But 15-20 years?
Come on lol I’ll be 50 by then

It seems they're two years away from any dirt actually flying but this is really exciting to see nonetheless.

eburress wrote:It seems they're two years away from any dirt actually flying but this is really exciting to see nonetheless.

I don’t know much about real estate and that sector, but with all these new projects, specifically the residential aspect of it, will this suppress rent value or inflate rent cost. I would think it would suppress rent values based on competition. What do y’all think? May be moving to the urban core for work is why ask

Man when you combine this with the completion of Harwood district and Victory Park, plus the Rastegar development on McKinney, the new hotel replacing the Pizza Hut (assuming this is happening), the currently under construction The Link, the El Fenix / Meso Maya lots that sold ~1 year ago, there could be a ton of change, investment, and (hopefully) vibrancy to this area.

Tack on the extension of KWP, the Field District, and the just opened Amli and you could have a rather seamless experience between lower Uptown, VP, and Downtown.

Will be cool to see how this looks in 5-10 years.

zblevinz555 wrote:

eburress wrote:It seems they're two years away from any dirt actually flying but this is really exciting to see nonetheless.

I don’t know much about real estate and that sector, but with all these new projects, specifically the residential aspect of it, will this suppress rent value or inflate rent cost. I would think it would suppress rent values based on competition. What do y’all think? May be moving to the urban core for work is why ask

Yeah, you'd assume adding supply would decrease cost. The thing is with as many proposed residential projects as there are, there are far more people moving to Dallas (around 300+ per day) so the demand may still be rising faster than all the new projects.

After this pandemic subsides, we could be looking at the biggest boom Dallas has ever seen!

That would be incredible! Fingers crossed!

I admittedly know little about real estate "cycles," but to your point texasstar, wondering if this Covid-induced pause in the cycle when the pipeline was fairly robust (lots of announcements late 2019 into 2020) functioned as an "end" to the previous 10 yearlong cycle, allowing it to partially reset (e.g., allowing developers to re-evaluate) and setting itself up for a new, post-pandemic cycle in which Dallas could really continue to pop with re-los + organic growth and build upon the neighborhood foundations laid in previous cycle (e.g., fixing VP, bridging Uptown/Downtown with KWP, reviving Deep Ellum). Would be great to see all the bourgeoning, different neighborhoods really flourish in the next decade.

And yes, I know the first part of my post was a beastly run-on sentence.

Is it just me or is Dallas trying to be known for having great Parks? Days ago, the Fair Park plan called for another signature park.. then I recalled, we have other signature Parks underway (West End, Carpenter, Southern Gateway)... Now this! Dallas goin' green!Love it.

eburress wrote:Yeah, you'd assume adding supply would decrease cost. The thing is with as many proposed residential projects as there are, there are far more people moving to Dallas (around 300+ per day) so the demand may still be rising faster than all the new projects.

That's 300+ people a day moving to DFW. The primary reason Dallas city population has increased over the past few years is the maternity ward at Parkland. The new in-town developments are filling up with people moving from older complexes, not from out of town.

Who's filling up the older complexes? Broader occupancy rates are still high right?

^ Very few in-town developments are built on empty lots. Older complexes are torn town to build the new ones. This development is, of course, a perfect example.

If you drive through East Dallas you see a lot of old rental properties being torn down to build new condos and townhomes.

What's the likelihood this actually gets built? Is there that much office demand during a pandemic?

Luckily this isn’t all office space. And luckily this isn’t some vacant lot currently. I’d rather see our vacant spaces be filled in before this is built though.

Hunt has owned this land since ‘97, and would be willing to bet the dirt and apartments have been paid off for a while. They have probably been stacking some cash from this property. That makes pretty favorable conditions for an ambitious project. This will be a home freakin’ run for them.

I’m just glad we can look forward (assuming this happens) to a development with creative contrasting preliminary design opposed to the median 25 story cookie cutter BS they’ve implemented in the past 15 years. I know there’s height restrictions and what not but Hunt is going out of the box and out of the way to plant a project with vibrant contrasting structures rather than using the same playbook that’s been used the past 15 years or so.

zblevinz555 wrote:Oh my god I jus saw this. But 15-20 years?
Come on lol I’ll be 50 by then

I'll be dead by then.

rono3849 wrote:

zblevinz555 wrote:Oh my god I jus saw this. But 15-20 years?
Come on lol I’ll be 50 by then

I'll be dead by then.

Damn. That’s kinda crazy to think about

I hope the building heights shown are realistic - especially the tall one in the middle. Often these initial developer plans and renderings get dumbed down-sized as time goes on.

Would this ever get FAA approval? It’s in uptown after all.

Let's tap the breaks. How many drawings have we've seen in the past year. From The Central, Field Street District, The Perot Tower, Newpark, to even Harwood XXI. I'll believe it when I see construction cranes.

Field Street is popular, we have two Field Street developments sites.

They could probably get, from the FAA, in the vicinity of 650-725 FT in this pocket or somewhere thereabouts if they actually desire it, without having to involve special unicorns. (Notwithstanding local review)

I would put little stock into the rendering being finalized in it's entirety this early (I'm sure I don't have to mention that to anyone here!), but, of course it's nice to see a good starting-point vision arise outside of the Amazon HQ2 fury when the cat was let out for a brief moment. We've only talked about this site for a decade and a half on here now, haha.

So this Northend Apartment redevelopment project... Is this different from the Field Street district that has previously been shown in renderings right across Woodall Rodgers? I'm confusing myself now... Isn't this the same project, just now relocated to this new site?

Clarification would be great.

No, they are two separate projects.

The Field Street project is done by Wood Partners and is in the CBD. This North End project is Hunt Realty and is next to the Perot.

Will this break ground in the next two years or is it just a pretty pipe dream?

eburress wrote:It seems they're two years away from any dirt actually flying but this is really exciting to see nonetheless.

Architecture strongly affects society so I am glad that they're taking this seriously.

Still, the pipe dream is the idea that an "urban arboretum" is anything more than obsolete "towers in a park" (which turned out to be bad urban form) all over again.

The architects should know that, and should know better.

Then as now, the visual effect gets decisionmakers to buy in, so it is hard for developers to resist. Some collage that would actually be bustling -- like the West End, or Houston's Rice Village -- would not look twenty-first-century enough to be proud of (same as it didn't look twentieth-century enough for planners during the failed urban renewal investment decades).

Part of megadistricts' problem is that their functional economic 'floor' is higher and their 'ceiling' is lower than a living urban area. This is so because they *are* so well designed to hit the primary investor's unique perception of risk and reward. Jane Jacobs observed fifty years ago that the planned district's buildings require increasing maintenance at the same point in time, if all of the buildout happened within the same decade or two originally. Supposing the market will be up at that eventual point, fine, but if it's not, they become prone to 'deferred maintenance.' The underlying problem is that there aren't enough separate ownership decisions in the neighborhood, improving and tearing down and replacing smaller properties constantly, to ever make it function like a city in fact versus a city in appearance.

Can't help but wonder how they'll design the Houston St side of the development considering it'll be across the street from the dead zone side of the W

maconahey wrote:Can't help but wonder how they'll design the Houston St side of the development considering it'll be across the street from the dead zone side of the W

I'm sure drive ways, garbage dump access areas and loading docks I'm sure. Stuff the city of Dallas isn't good about attacking head on for fear of scaring away development.

https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news ... ure-1.html

83 stories?!? Lol ya I’ll believe it when I see it. (Aka I see construction cranes)

How can developers propose these things during a pandemic?

An 83-story mixed-use tower, 1.9 million square feet of office space and 895 residential units — these are just some of the new details revealed about Hunt Realty Investment's proposed 11-acre project in Uptown.

Hunt Realty President Colin Fitzgibbons told the Business Journal last week that the project would feature five buildings built around a large park at 2323 N. Field Street. While he confirmed that the development would have about 3.75 million square feet of commercial and residential space, further details were not given, citing the preliminary nature of the plans. However, more concrete details have been revealed through an Oak Lawn Committee agenda, which will be presented Tuesday.


The centerpiece of the 11-acre project, as seen in renderings, will be an 83-story mixed-use tower. Plans for the tower include a 500-room hotel, which will sit below a 595-unit residential high-rise. At a proposed 890 feet tall, the tower would be the second tallest building in Dallas, coming in just shy of the 921-foot Bank of America Plaza.

Connected to the 83-story tower would be a smaller 52-story residential high-rise, complete with 300 units. Below the combined towers would be 33,900 square feet of retail space.


Preliminary plans call for about 3.75 million square feet of commercial and residential space.


On either side of the residential towers will be two office towers, standing 49 stories and 38 stories tall. The taller tower would include 1 million square feet of office space and 22,400 square feet of ground floor retail. The smaller tower would have 753,000 square feet of office space with 33,900 square feet of ground floor retail.

The last of the five planned structures would be a six-story mass timber building. It would feature 165,800 square feet of office space and 29,900 square feet of ground floor retail. The "urban arboretum" at the center of the project would be at least 1.5 acres. Another acre of green space would adorn the parameter of the development. Over 5,600 parking spaces have also been proposed.

The site of the proposed mixed-use project is currently home to the Northend Apartments, and as such is zoned for multifamily. Along with an increase in uses, Hunt Realty is hoping to add 10-foot sidewalks and increase lot coverage with its rezoning request. No changes will be needed for the proposed height, as any height is currently supported on the property.

New York-based architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox has designed the master plan while Hoerr Schaudt and Kimley-Horn are also involved in the project.

ajderry2017 wrote:https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2020/11/09/uptown-mixed-use-site-could-feature-1.html

83 stories?!? Lol ya I’ll believe it when I see it. (Aka I see construction cranes)

How can developers propose these things during a pandemic?

Maybe they have a lot of time on their hands?

Whatever 890 feet, I want more.

Desired air space sure is interesting.

I have so little faith in this main tower actually reaching 890 feet (especially considering it'll be part residential), but I'm hoping. Got all the hope, so if they need some of that, they can have it if it'll make this thing happen. What percentage change do y'all give this tower of happening? I'm curious to see.

To quote the dean... "0.0"

Hey developers like all men like to show off and these kinds of developments are meant to show off big ideas. They rarely manifest as big and flashy as the concept renderings. When real world budgets kick in and the limits of what banks will loan them come into place they become smaller and more adaptable to realistic expectations.

Chances of that tower being 890’ tall is zip. Doubt that the FAA would approve that tall since most approved heights in that area are in the 500s.

I suspect they threw that 890 foot tower out there merely to generate some buzz about the development. Dangle a bauble like that in front of Steve Brown and your marketing is done.

It's a beautiful development plan. If it goes forward with even 1/4 of the square footage, it will be a huge improvement and wonderful addition to Uptown/Central Dallas. Candy has a great description of the whole project. To keep everything in perspective, we should all note that the developer expects the project to be built over a period of 10-20 years as Dallas can absorb its various components.

https://candysdirt.com/2020/11/10/oak-l ... night-sky/

Dallas Marketing News hahaha

It's a pretty big success that this property is actually in play. Remembering all the excitement Spire created several years ago puts some perspective on just how far the greater downtown area has progressed. Victory Park was just starting to get some traction after the bankruptcy, and Spire throws out a nice plan for the future and such a large scale mixed use development was a huge deal for the city.... now today, Victory Park is building out. There's two large scale new mixed use master planned developments within a ten minute walk of each other. ATT recreated street life in an sad, lonely part of town. The Farmers Market has in the middle of a large scale development, and land east of city hall is also in play for massive development.

Whatever ends up replacing those apartments, over 20 years, it's sure to be pretty grand.

Do we have a name for this project yet? Or is it just referred to as Field Street Development (northend apartments site)?

I want it to be called “Cityscape North” “Midtown Terrace” or “Midtown Heights District”
I’m bad at naming this I know lol

Any suggestions?

For once, I'd to see a big development not have a name. Name the buildings, name the park, but an 11 acre development doesn't have to fall under one umbrella name.

tamtagon wrote:For once, I'd to see a big development not have a name. Name the buildings, name the park, but an 11 acre development doesn't have to fall under one umbrella name.

Yea true that makes sense. Name the park and that’ll be sufficient

They'll probably call it something stupid like E-Vi or We-Har.

Lol, J. How about TOOL? Taint of Oak Lawn. Yeah, I'm all for just naming the the pieces and parts individually. I wonder if they'll stick with North End, though. .

CTroyMathis wrote:How about TOOL? Taint of Oak Lawn.

I cant think of anything to say except thank you for that TOOL

How does Oak Lawn have anything to do with this development? Frankly, that's an over reach IMO. If I live to see these buildings finished on Dallas' skyline, I'll be happy & surprised. Who knows what will happen over 20 years time?