One of Dallas' tallest skyscrapers has traded in some of its office space for 11 floors of luxury apartments in a move setting the tone for office-to-residential conversion in the city's central business district.
Pacific Elm Properties, owner of the Santander Tower, a 50-story, 1.4 million-square-foot tower at 1601 Elm St. in Dallas, decided to transform a portion of the office tower into residential units. The result was adding 292 apartment units to downtown Dallas and offloading some excess office space on the market. This project was selected by a panel of local industry experts as the winner of the 2024 CoStar Impact Award for multifamily development of the year for Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Dallas-based landlord plans to extend its office-to-residential conversion in the city's central business district, taking about a quarter of its 6.5 million-square-foot office portfolio and converting it into what could be upwards of 1,100 apartment units, one of the firm's executives said. In downtown Dallas, there's an office vacancy rate exceeding 25%, according to CoStar data.
About the Project: Pacific Elm Properties decided to transform a portion of Santander Tower to add even more uses. The addition of the luxury apartments comes on the heels of the office tower adding more restaurants to its street-level space. The Peridot now makes this a true mixed-use destination and offers housing to workers in the central business district. The rent ranges between $2,000 to nearly $4,700 a unit.
What the Judges Said: Newmark Research Director Ching-Ting Wang said, "Peridot is a beacon on showcasing the conversion of underutilized office space in the Dallas central business district into residential use."
They Made It Happen: Pacific Elm Properties teamed up with Mintwood Real Estate, WDG Architecture and Adolfson & Peterson on the project.