Office-to-resi bringing 1,500 homes to Dallas

Downtown Dallas’ residential real estate market is undergoing an office-to-resi glow up.

A series of adaptive-reuse projects are projected to produce about 1,500 residential units in Downtown Dallas over the next two years, the Dallas Morning News reported. Rather than adding to the development of new buildings, investment firms and developers are looking to reshape older ones to fill a void in the central business district’s residential scene.

The majority of structures that make up Dallas’ skyline were built in the 1980s, and at one point were strictly devoted to office use. Now, firms such as Woods Capital are gradually transforming office towers into residential high rises, even while live tenants occupy the building. 

Office-to-resi plans will help accommodate the steady influx of new inhabitants the city is experiencing, Woods Capital CEO Jonas Woods said.

“The downtown population in the Main Street District will increase from nearly 6,000 to 8,000 residents, and the average household income will go from $81,000 to $100,000,” Woods told the outlet. 

Woods, which is at the helm of various reuse projects, bought the Santander Tower in 2013. He initially wanted to use it for strictly commercial purposes, making a number of renovations that nearly doubled rents. Woods’ mentality completely shifted when the Guild hotel asked to lease the top two floors of the building.

Since then, he’s added 291 residences to the Santander Tower and recently acquired Bryan Tower and Comerica Bank Tower with similar strategies in mind, the outlet said. 

Firms such as Dallas-based Todd Interests are embarking on a similar path by adapting the Renaissance Tower and Energy Plaza. These conversions could further ignite economic growth in downtown and necessitate the need for more K-12 schools in the district.

—Quinn Donoghue