slfunk

Will agree to disagree. Your analysis is based on a snap shot of what office space is currently vacant and does not include all the projects in development / proposed / underway / stength of the market that the private community uses to determine if a project if viable to move forward. The latter is what I base my anaylsis on as well as the development community. To my point, 3 sample cases - 1700 Pacific still shows as available office on a number of reports, but is fully re-opened now as a Hilton Garden Hotel with residents above. BOFA tower in downtown Dallas has seen big uptick in leasing where the bar graphs a couple years ago showed it mostly vacant due to some tenants moving out but today it shows mostly leased after finishing an upgrade. Thanksgiving tower - Its bar graph shows mostly vacant right now but doesn't reflect what is going on with the project. Its undergoing an overhaul and just had a big tenant move in from California last year in the lower floors with the upper floors currently vacant while they are upgraded in preps for the ongoing negotiations of new leases that are in the works but not reflected on current surveys. DFW absorbed 2.3 million SF of office space in 2014 and 5 million by end of 2015. As of mid 2015, DFW had about 100,000 new jobs in a 12 month period from mid 2014 to mid 2015. Here are a couple articles talking not only about the momentum but also some proposed projects that are not signing on new tenants or vacating tenants in preps for some level of conversion (hotel/office, office to hotel, office to residential, office/residential...etc.). April 2015 https://www.bisnow.com/dallas-ft-worth/news/office/top-10-reasons-downtown-dallas-will-succeed-44475 Report of Dallas leading the country in dropping vacant office rates in 2013 http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/dallas-area-tops-the-country-in-office-vacancy-declines.html/?nclick_check=1 2014 article - Why Investors are flocking to DTD http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-ceo/2014/september/why-investors-are-flocking-to-downtown-dallas Specific to DTD an article from 2014. By third quarter of 2014 1.75 million square feet had been absorbed and absorption continued through 2015 while rental rates rose. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/20140928-downtown-dallas-tops-area-office-leasing-so-far-in-2014.ece Snapshot of 2015 http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/tag/dallas-office-market/

Interesting people's takes. I agree the buildings are good looking and were designed by a Houston based firm. They have designed similar type projects in a very similar vernacular style that are under construction currently along I-10. Wish people posting on these forums would keep in mind design is subjective..... and stop knocking DFW so much in these sub forums as a round about way to elevate Houston.... Good things are happening in both cities and negative discussions / predictions are not productive.

Sorry your right 1401. And yes I did mean 50%. No worries if you don't agree..... You're one of the chronic negative posters when it comes to anything DFW.

^Wow! Much different impression then I had last October when I was there for a movie. I would not go back except to see a movie and to be frank its sketchy at best. The parking lots are dark dark dark at night. Some parking areas are not lit anymore and the mall......... to each there own :0) Sears nearest locations are at Collin Creek, Town East and Richardson Sq Mall. That location works well for them and I'm sure they will stay for as long as they can. That is what JCP did until they opened their store on NW Highway.

Vacancy has been dropping in downtown Dallas and this has been documented. Not all buildings that are vacant can be repurposed for what the original design was due to market changes. Many of them that have been idle in the past, have been converted to residential / hotel and / or require complex financing due to the corrective work needed to bring an older vacant building up to current codes. Take the in-limbo 501 Elm project for example. Its an aggressive project and it project alone accounts for about 50% of the 'vacant' office space and will continue to be recorded as such until the someone moves forward with it (which sounds like they are getting closer to inking the deal). There are only a handful of vacant buildings left to be redeveloped or are being redeveloped. Also, the parking lots you have stated, a number of them (not all) of projects slated on them for this development cycle. Some of the trophy tower owners recognize they need to build more convenient parking options to lure / keep tenants. Leases are being signed and/or renewed with these new projects. Fountain Place, Bank of America tower, Trammel Crow Center and others all have parking garages in the works for downtown. One is attached to a new hotel / residential / office development and includes parking for an adjacent trophy tower. All the new towers going up in uptown and suburbs have easy parking solutions.

The center is marked for demolition. The developer is looking at a staging plan, I'm sure as most due. You have an AMC there, and I think that is just about the only thing that still brings in people to that area for nighttime other than the adjacent mall (Galleria). FYI - This area around the Galleria has seen a bit of a shift from the hot bed of activity in the 80's / 90's. Developers / companies have been concentrating on areas to develop where the young talent is. These two areas or concentrated in the uptown/downtown area and Frisco / Plano's 5 billion dollar mile where Toyota, Liberty Mutual, Raytheon, Fed ex, etc. are building big new campuses along with private developers expanding multifamily, hotels and retail offers. This is not to say these are the only big development areas in the metro, but these are the top 2. The activity up at 121 and the tollway is pretty insane. They are basically building an area similar to Dallas's uptown all at once at this intersection. In regards to Midtown.... Developers are seeing an area that has more less been in holding pattern for sometime since all the investment previously and now those developers see that the center of the metro's population is somewhere around 635 / 75 or 635/tollway. The housing in this area is of an older stock mostly with some spots of newer apartments. They are working to change this, and the speed of gaining interest affects the financing..... Ironic that Galleria area and Addison where red hot in development in the late 90's (mostly Addison along the Tollway / Beltline). Bottom line - Its an ambitious project and one I hope to continue to develop. The Galleria area has needed a makeover for a while now to stay competitive with other submarkets.

houstonmidtown.com Should check it out. There's some great stuff going on in Midtown Houston. Back to the subject at hand.... this thread is about new Dallas development

Dallas does have zoning, planning districts and review boards (depending on the area). You'll find a bevy of items listed in there pertaining to setbacks, floor to area ratios, glazing, permitted uses, building materials, landscaping....etc. All these items have community input before the zoning is approved by the city. In some cases like the Victory, Oak Lawn, or historical overlay areas there are review boards to maintain those standards and allow for public input. In Houston you'll have deed restrictions (River Oaks area) and city ordinances but no zoning currently. Midtown area of Houston does have a review board.

Only one of the four firms designing work in Victory is from Houston, and it would be a coin toss if the EDI designed tower were to kick off first or the office tower. Two of the current four projects are designed in Dallas, and the other is a firm out of Raleigh, NC. We don't see too many Houston named firms here in Dallas, but only a couple like Ziegler Cooper and Kirksey. Any major firm has an office here and uses its Dallas people. Likewise in Houston or any big city market.....

The trees in foreground are part of Reverchon Park and the Turtle Creek greenbelt. Opened in 1915. The green belt and park were later redesigned in 1930 as part of the New Deal funds.

The Old Statler Hilton Hotel overhaul This will be a great addition for this part of downtown. For those that don't know this was one Hilton's first hotels with a mechanical valet system back in the 50's or 60's when it opened. Later it became the Dallas Grand Hotel until it closed some years ago. It has changed hands many times and now is moving forward. Program includes new retail, music venue, and hotel. Not sure who the operator will be, nonetheless, it is moving forward and is currently under going some initial work. There have been several proposals for a residential component as well, but not sure if that is still in there. http://m.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/11/24/a-175m-plan-to-revive-the-statler-hiltons-storied.html

^ No clue. Go to that park quite a bit with my dog. They have been stirring dirt a little (site coring) and have done a 'fancy' landscape advertisement at the corner.....

One I hope will happen for Turtle Creek. For those not familiar with Dallas, this is one my favorite areas of Dallas in a park like setting. Reverchon Park is next door and one of Dallas's better inner city parks. This would be a nice addition. http://www.briggsfreeman.com/search/tours/LtdEditionNo2505/default.asp

Thats a great building. With the thin rectangular floor plate and big windows, this would make a great option for residential open lofts or home for a group of small businesses. I realize they just finished up with the exterior. If they rework the storefront at the bottom (floor to ceiling glass or just lower the halfwall at the window sill and make the storefront uniform), it would work well for retail.