Redev Falls Apart at 1401 Elm
Dallas community leaders are rallying to save the 52-story First National Bank Tower at 1401 Elm as default looms. The planned redevelopment of Downtown's largest vacant building is one of the area's most buzzed-over projects.
Olympic Property Partners has withdrawn from the partnership, causing the lenders to schedule a forced sale on Dec. 1 to protect their $53.5M investment, according to the Dallas Morning News. The Downtown community had been optimistic about the opportunity to turn the office building into a mix of apartments, shops and office space. Olympic Property Partners’ Seth Weinstein (whose firm partnered with Dallas' BDRC Partners to acquire the property last year) told us in April that the Dallas real estate industry was involved and happy to help, something the New York investor was not used to. He expected to start welcoming tenants at the end of 2016.
A BDRC spokesperson said they are looking for an infusion of investment capital and financing to move ahead with development. The City of Dallas has earmarked $50M for the redevelopment; economic development head Karl Zavitkovsky told the Dallas Morning News that it is committed to the project, but that it will need to reanalyze any new ownership structure or development plan changes.
