Multifamily Rules Downtown

Multifamily mania continues in Dallas-Fort Worth, so we are gathering together the best experts around to bring you Bisnow's fifth annual DFW Multifamily Summit on June 26 at the Intercontinental Dallas. Here’s just a sampling of what you can learn there. (Register now.)

Multifamily is alive and thriving in Downtown, says Downtown Dallas Inc CEO/prez John Crawford (right, with IPA Texas director Drew Kile, who will be moderating one of the panels at Bisnow's DFW Multifamily Summit). The latest project announcement: HRI Properties plans to convert the 32-story 1600 Pacific office tower into a Hilton Garden Inn hotel and 186 residential units. The apartments will be on the 15th to 32nd floors and feature condo-level finishes, he says. (What's nice about that is if you don't like to meet your neighbors, you can always pretend you're a hotel guest.)

This redevelopment is giving our Downtown revitalization efforts another real boost, and serves as yet another example of the importance of public-private partnerships to achieve mutual goals and objectives, John says. Neighboring projects like 1401 Elm, One Main Place, Statler Hilton, and, of course, the recent expansion of The Joule, mean there are very few empty buildings Downtown anymore, he says. (Flies can't even find a place to land.) The multifamily market is strong in North Texas and the same is true for Downtown, John tells us. The trend is to be part of a live, work and play urban environment that's driving the continued high occupancy levels. Downtown multifamily is at 93% occupancy now and John doesn’t see the number slipping as supply meets demand.