Luxe hotel wanted for Phillip Johnson-designed office tower

The Comerica Bank Tower will never be the same, but it will remain iconic.

Designed by Phillip Johnson and constructed in 1987, the building is primed for a luxury hotel, “very high-end” luxury residential and retail. Offices would occupy the highest floors of the 60-story tower.

That’s the plan of Woods Capital. Already one of the largest owners downtown, Woods recently took an ownership stake in the tower, at 1717 Main Street, which currently contains 1.5 million square feet of office space.
About 20 stories of the landmark building could be converted, CEO Jonas Woods told the Dallas Morning News.

“A mixed-use tower is much more likely to be successful today than a more-than one million-square-foot office tower,” Woods said.

Woods Capital already has conversions underway at two other downtown highrises, the Santander Tower and Bryan Tower. Woods is partnering with the previous majority stakeholder of Comerica Tower, TriGate Property Partners, on the redevelopment.

“Some of the hotel flags come with a residential component,” Woods told the DMN. “They would be very high-end luxury residences, and in that building, appropriately so.”

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Office-to-resi conversions are a hot trend across Dallas-Fort Worth, with a number of small and large projects in the pipeline. Upstart development firms like Bluelofts are going all-in on the trend.

Over 16 percent of Texans work remotely now, a figure that has tripled since before the pandemic, leaving a slew of empty office spaces across the city, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Woods said the next step for Comerica Bank Tower is to begin the architectural planning and design process.

“We are in discussions with several hotel operators, and there is a very strong interest in participating,” Woods said. “A hotel would really change the composition of the building from an activity and energy perspective. It would bring more life to that block.”

The building’s design will remain intact, he said.

“Architecturally, it’s a stunning property,” he said. “What Philip Johnson did there is truly special. Everything was the absolute best it could be. I don’t think anybody would ever endeavor to build something of that level of luxury today.”

—Erick Pirayesh