Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Instead of converting the 10-story, 357-room hotel at 899 N. Stemmons Freeway into a data center or retaining it as a possible county detention center, Dallas-based Circa Capital Corp. has put the mid-century modern hotel under contract and begun its due diligence to convert it back into a hotel.

"We have it under contract and we are doing our due diligence," Fred Aldridge III, president and CEO of Circa Capital, told the Dallas Business Journal."We are enthusiastic about where we are."

Aldridge would not detail out the real estate firm's plans for the hotel, which was originally built in the early 1960s. But his team has begun talking to a number of different hotel flags about the potential of converting the property back into a hotel.

And, he said, the firm could always convert into a boutique hotel without a typical hotel flag. If all goes well, Aldridge said the firm could buy the building by the end of the year.

Late Friday the Dallas County Commissioners Court agreed to sell the 399,000-square-foot property, which sits on 3.275 acres near the Design District, to Centurion American Acquisition, LLC. The sale price, according to county records, is $8.1 million...

Mehrdad Moayedi, Centurion American's chief executive, said in a statement sent to The News on Friday he intends to preserve the old Cabana, which was built in 1962 by a development team that included Jay Sarno, who also developed Caesar's Palace and Circus Circus in Las Vegas, and partially owned by Doris Day.

citygeek wrote:You won't recognize the Design District in 5 years. 3 new hotels, at least one office building, and several additional 20-30 story apartment towers on the way.

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:

citygeek wrote:You won't recognize the Design District in 5 years. 3 new hotels, at least one office building, and several additional 20-30 story apartment towers on the way.

Is there a plan for pedestrian updates. That entire area is disconnected and missing sidewalks everywhere.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:What they need is a "large" corporate tenant who wants a walkable campus to come in gobble up the galleries and the railway right of way and build out that pedestrian passageway to Victory Park under Stemmons to the DART station...

buildingswithlegs wrote: Corporate could do it or Dallas could balls up and pass some zoning with an urban vision for the area

PD 621 is established on property generally bounded by Sylvan Avenue/Wycliff Avenue on the
northwest, the meanders of the old channel of the Trinity River on the north, Interstate 35 on the east,
Continental Avenue on the south, and the Trinity River Floodway on the west. The size of PD 621 is
approximately 415.13 acres. (Ord. Nos. 25013; 25560; 27006)

This special purpose district is to be known as the Old Trinity and Design District
Special Purpose District.

Subdistricts 1 and 1A are transit-oriented, mixed-use zoning district for the
development of combinations of medium-density residential, retail, and office uses.Development should encourage residential, retail, office, and lodging uses in compatible combinations within walking distance of DART light-rail stations; conserve energy; provide for efficient traffic circulation; conserve land;
minimize vehicular travel; encourage both day-time and night-time activity; encourage use of mass
transit; increase pedestrian activity; and encourage bicycle usage. Subdistricts 1 and 1A retain the
potential for limited industrial and warehouse uses.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:

buildingswithlegs wrote: Corporate could do it or Dallas could balls up and pass some zoning with an urban vision for the area

The city has the zoning in place already its up developers to build it out in many places and the city not let them opt out of features that could affect the potential urban walkability.

http://www.dallascityattorney.com/51P/Articles%20Supp%2015/Article%20621.pdf

PD 621 is established on property generally bounded by Sylvan Avenue/Wycliff Avenue on the
northwest, the meanders of the old channel of the Trinity River on the north, Interstate 35 on the east,
Continental Avenue on the south, and the Trinity River Floodway on the west. The size of PD 621 is
approximately 415.13 acres. (Ord. Nos. 25013; 25560; 27006)

This special purpose district is to be known as the Old Trinity and Design District
Special Purpose District.

Subdistricts 1 and 1A are transit-oriented, mixed-use zoning district for the
development of combinations of medium-density residential, retail, and office uses.Development should encourage residential, retail, office, and lodging uses in compatible combinations within walking distance of DART light-rail stations; conserve energy; provide for efficient traffic circulation; conserve land;
minimize vehicular travel; encourage both day-time and night-time activity; encourage use of mass
transit; increase pedestrian activity; and encourage bicycle usage. Subdistricts 1 and 1A retain the
potential for limited industrial and warehouse uses.

The Farmers Branch-based development group is also planning to build a ground-up, 20-22 story residential tower atop a parking garage adjacent to the long-vacated property.

The $8.1 million deal is slated to close Nov. 15, with construction expected to start as early as mid-2018.

"We want to keep the history of the hotel," he added. "We want to create a different kind of hotel there for a hip, younger crowd with more of a Miami-style to it. I'm excited about it."

Residential tower and resort pool are planned with Cabana hotel redo
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... hotel-redo

"The hotel is going to stay a hotel," Moayedi said. "We are going to give a big emphasis on a pool.
"It's going to be like a Las Vegas pool."
Moayedi said plan is to market the property to millennials who want a one-of-a-kind plans to stay, hang out and party.
"There sill be a lot of events," he said. "There will be a big nightclub in there and a couple of restaurants."

A second phase of development would add a residential high-rise.

"We are building a tower with 400 units of residential on the parking garage," Moayedi said.

Tnexster wrote:

A second phase of development would add a residential high-rise.

"We are building a tower with 400 units of residential on the parking garage," Moayedi said.

This would be a fairly significant tower....would it not?

tamtagon wrote:How about a Dallas-Style hotel with pool, night life, dining scene? Every time one of these dealios try to imitate a scene from Vegas, Miami, Chicago, NYC whatever, the potential is minimized. Gawh!

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:

tamtagon wrote:How about a Dallas-Style hotel with pool, night life, dining scene? Every time one of these dealios try to imitate a scene from Vegas, Miami, Chicago, NYC whatever, the potential is minimized. Gawh!

What is Dallas style?

Work is moving ahead to turn save a landmark Dallas hotel.

The 56-year-old former Cabana Motor Hotel on Stemmons Freeway on the edge of downtown Dallas is being restored by Centurion American Development Group.

That's the same company that spent more than $230 million to redevelop downtown's landmark Statler Hotel.

Centurion American CEO Mehrdad Moayedi said demo work at the 10-story Cabana is wrapping up.

"We are doing the environmental clean up - all the asbestos is out," Moayedi said. "In another week we will be done."

Some of the interior space not original to the hotel is also being removed.

The building served as a minimum security jail for years before it was left vacant and sold by Dallas County.

"We are demoing stuff that is not historic," Moayedi said. "There were holding tanks and bars between the balconies and rooms."

Moayedi plans to convert the old hotel to 262 new rooms plus restaurants.

"It will be a combination of suites and 2-story cabana rooms," he said. "We are trying to get our historic plan approved in Austin."

Centurion American also intends to build a 140,000-square-foot apartment tower on top of the old hotel garage.

The Cabana was once one of Dallas' most fashionable accommodations.

It was constructed by Las Vegas developer Jay Sarno, who also built Caesar's Palace and Circus Circus.

jsoto3 wrote:This zoning exhibit currently going through the City Plan Commission gives a sense of what this tower's approximate height and proportions might be:
https://dallascityhall.com/government/m ... 7_2018.pdf

EXHIBIT 621 L
TOWER DIAGRAMS FOR SUBDISTRICT 1J
Tower size and orientation. Building height may be increased a maximum of 60 feet if:
(1) the portion of the building above 75 feet in height has a floor plate of 25,000 square
feet or less; and
(2) the tower dimension perpendicular to the east Trinity River levee is at least three
times longer than the tower dimension parallel to the east Trinity River levee (tower dimension is
measured at the widest point of the building facade).

The plan commission also voted to allow developers restoring downtown Dallas' landmark Cabana Hotel to add a residential tower to the project.