Dallas Ahead of the Game in Adaptive Reuse

The office-to-residential conversion trend continues with a series of adaptive reuse projects in downtown Dallas that will bring roughly 1,500 new housing units to the area, per a story by Tucker Wells in the Dallas Business Journal. The population—and the median income—of the neighborhood is projected to grow from 6,000 to 8,000 people.

For downtown Dallas’ high-rise office buildings, adaptive reuse isn’t a new concept. According to Wells, “Dallas started to ‘stack uses’ into these 1980s-built Texas towers roughly 20 years ago. That was partly because of the stack of empty buildings in the city, but also due to a state historic tax credit that came online at the same time, according to Jennifer Picquet-Reyes, principal at Merriman Anderson Architects.” Developers began introducing hotels, restaurants, and upscale residences as a way to boost the downtown economy.

In addition to creating a mixed economy, “The growth of Downtown Dallas could end up culminating in the preservation of historic buildings through adaptive-reuse projects. ”