Dallas, Texas – In 2016, a former suburban resident chose to leave behind her lengthy commute and embrace the convenience of urban living after her youngest son graduated high school. She sold her 3-bedroom home in Coppell and relocated to an apartment in Gables Republic Tower in Dallas. This 35-story high-rise, featuring an aluminum-clad exterior, was once the tallest building in the city when it first opened in 1954. Republic Tower was among the initial office buildings in downtown Dallas to undergo a residential conversion nearly five decades later. In 2007, tenants started moving in after Gables Residential completed an 18-month renovation project.
Conversions like Republic Tower offer numerous benefits, such as high ceilings, soundproof walls, remarkably low utility bills, and fast elevators. Interestingly, other pioneers in office conversion, including Larry and Ted Hamilton, Shawn Todd, and The National, have followed Gables’ lead. However, Dallas is on the brink of experiencing something truly extraordinary.
Shawn Todd has proposed converting the 49-story Energy Plaza into a vertical mixed-use project featuring approximately 300 apartments. Simultaneously, Jonas Woods is adding 291 hotel-like apartments to Santander Tower, 526 units to Bryan Tower, and an additional 230 units at Comerica Bank Tower, according to Dallas Metro News, a media outlet covering local news about Dallas. Several other similar projects are also in progress.
These planned endeavors could result in nearly 5,000 new residents relocating to the city center, increasing the total population in the area to almost 20,000. Woods anticipates that this may be one of the most significant events Dallas has ever experienced, and his prediction might be accurate.
