Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum - DTD: Republic Bank Center Residential Conversion

05-09-2003, 03:58 PM

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DTD: Republic Bank Center Residential Conversion

I emailed some people the other day about the Republic Center and it's future plans. Here is the reponse I got. It sounds exciting.

Quote:

Thank you for your interest in Republic Center. Yes, Tower I will be converted to 280 highrise luxury apartment units. The owners are in the final stages of this deal closing. We hope to start construction in 6-8 months with an 18 month completion.

We are working with the City of Dallas to enhance the streetscaping and landscaping on Ervay, St. Paul and Pacific streets as part of the City's North/South Streetscaping improvements. The construction should commence late summer with an 8 month completion.

We are working several retail deals in the tunnel system but holding off on street level until we can announce the kickoff of the residential. We are aiming for destination retail on the street and will not be able to attract them until they know that the residential will happen.

In case you have forgotten what the building looks like....

__________________
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

05-09-2003, 04:20 PM	#2
tamtagon Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Atlanta - Dallas Posts: 9,779	That is one of my favorite buildings downtown. Who is the developer? I'd like to check out other projects to get an idea what to expect with this one. It is exciting. I would not be surprised to hear that the next high rise built in the CBD is residential. Thanks for the info Garrett.

05-09-2003, 04:27 PM	#3
jsoto3 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Downtown / Deep Ellum Posts: 2,629	I had an interview with RTKL last week. They take several floors of the base, the former lobby of the Republic Bank. It is the coolest office I have ever seen. Anyway, there really isn't that much space left for street retail, but it is a nice two-storey space at the southeast corner. It would make a great book store or music store.

05-09-2003, 04:28 PM	#4
jsoto3 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Downtown / Deep Ellum Posts: 2,629	official website has floor plans, a very unique structure. web real estate website Last edited by jsoto3 : 05-09-2003 at 04:34 PM.

05-09-2003, 04:29 PM	#5
gc Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8,578	Agreed, jsoto...especially since it is aligned along the DART line. I hope your interview went well and perhaps we'll have you in Dallas before you know it. __________________ “We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

05-09-2003, 04:47 PM	#6
jsoto3 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Downtown / Deep Ellum Posts: 2,629	interesting to see what was there before:

05-09-2003, 04:55 PM	#7
gc Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8,578	yes it is very interesting. Look at all the buildings that are no longer there. __________________ “We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

05-09-2003, 06:35 PM	#8
bloodandpopcorn Skyscraper Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,710	Those are going to be some amazing apartments. I think this will definitely be able to attract a major retailer, and be a huge step to cleaning up the heart of downtown.

05-10-2003, 05:27 PM	#9
psukhu Supertall Skyscraper Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Frisco, Denton County Posts: 2,772	That's great to hear. It should add a little more foot traffic to the area.

05-10-2003, 06:47 PM	#10
Hunter Wadle Low-Rise Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Dallas Posts: 155	This IS really Good news.........I am really glad that this building in particular is being put to good use finally..........

05-10-2003, 06:48 PM	#11
Hunter Wadle Low-Rise Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Dallas Posts: 155	By the way, Looking at that older picture, did the building use to be Black?

05-12-2003, 10:46 AM

#12

Administrator

Join Date: Mar 2002

Posts: 8,578

Here is another response I got.

Quote:

Thanks for the interest !

Indeed the plans are to have our Residential building a part of our Multi Use Project ...design
work has been completed & joint venture commitments are being worked on .

Look for great things to come - as well as new Retail on the concourse & street levels.

__________________
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

08-04-2003, 09:49 PM	#13
JIMPETERSON2000 Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 39	Gables to convert Republic Bank Building to apartments The announcements just keep coming. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...blic.1c5bd.html

08-04-2003, 10:00 PM	#14
bloodandpopcorn Skyscraper Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,710	wow... great news. Downtown Dallas' re-incarnation is certainly coming about.

08-04-2003, 10:19 PM	#15
jammin Mid-Rise Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Dallas Posts: 303	Great news.

08-04-2003, 11:24 PM	#16
gc Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8,578	Thank you for posting that JIMPETERSON2000. I meant to post that earlier but never got around to it. It is about time they announced the official plans for this place. __________________ “We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

08-05-2003, 12:09 AM	#17
CTroyMathis Sea™ Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: New London.CT Posts: 4,874	Indeed. We needed the 'official' nod put out there. Thanks for posting the article.

08-05-2003, 09:56 AM	#18
patmns Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Uptown Posts: 76	Great find JP2K.

08-05-2003, 10:04 AM	#19
chiboi Mid-Rise Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: dallas Posts: 260	Can't wait, I bet this building will attract some destination retail as well.

08-05-2003, 10:16 AM	#20
psukhu Supertall Skyscraper Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Frisco, Denton County Posts: 2,772	Any start/complete dates?

08-05-2003, 11:06 AM	#21
snooch Low-Rise Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Dallas Posts: 198	That's great! I've always liked those buildings. I wonder if the buildings at the Mercantile Complex will ever be reincarnated (after so many failed attempts).

08-05-2003, 12:42 PM	#22
214 High-Rise Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: DALLAS!!!!!! Posts: 988	this has really been a great summer for dallas,announcements just keep coming in

08-05-2003, 07:53 PM	#23
Columbus Civil LH Copycat Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: LH Posts: 5,537	The Mercantile will never be redeveloped. They should just go ahead and tear it down and use that space for parking. Oh, good news about the Republic Building, I guess.

08-06-2003, 01:45 AM

#24

freewaytincan

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Join Date: Jul 2002

Location: 77023

Posts: 5,267

Quote:

Originally posted by Columbus Civil
The Mercantile will never be redeveloped. They should just go ahead and tear it down and use that space for parking. Oh, good news about the Republic Building, I guess.

Until now, I though that I was a pessimist...I thought wrong!

Lighten up, man!

08-06-2003, 05:40 AM	#25
Gen5Dallas Mid-Rise Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: The City Posts: 429	Wait 'til you're 40... ... assuming you stick around Dallas that long. Every few years (for about 15 years, now, since 'Momentum Place' opened -- today it's the Bank One bldg), there's a blurb in the Morning News about how some developer from somewhere has gotten an itch to give the Mercantile Bank building a makeover. It's never happened and, with Perot's Victory competing for every possible tenant, my guess is it never will. I agree w/ CCivil on this one: Tear it down. There's nothing so great about the exterior, to my eye. _____ However, if you ever run From John Roberts' site -- "Shortly before World War II had started, the Mercantile National Bank, located in the Magnolia Building, announced that it was constructing a new headquarters structure at the corner of Main and Ervay Streets. World War II soon started while the site work was underway and the steel had been ordered, with some of it actually fabricated. The U.S. government at the time had called a halt to all private construction in order to provide materials for the war. The bank received special permission to continue steel fabrication and construction. The 31 story building opened in 1942 and was the only major skyscraper in the U.S. that was completed during the war." Well that's prettyfckncool. The stuff in red is what I wrote before I went over to Roberts' site to check the date on the Mercantile's construction. The new info doesn't really change my hunch that the building is doomed, but now I'm at least hoping that someone will see that with a resurfaced exterior, the Merc could look quite sharp and 21c/retro-new/now/fresh/wow. I'm recalling now that one of the times that I read about a whiff of interest in its renovation, there was a quote or comment included to the effect that the work required to get the bldg's interiors -- from sizes of rooms & spaces to basics such as wiring, plumbing, etc.-- up to today's standards was actually rather frightening to anyone who takes a good hard look at it. The implication was they were scared away before they even ran off a solid set of estimates. Maybe if they blasted away on the additions that fill up the rest of the block -- ? But surely they've already considered. _____ *Back on track --* into an image or negative of the skyline from the time when the Mercantile was Dallas' tallest (1942-54), buy it immediately. A friend of my dad's found a shot of downtown w/ the Merc standing above all, which he got blown up to poster size and hung in his office. Heavy density. No empty spaces between buildings. Unrecognizable as Dallas until you spotted the Mercantile. It's probably already been cannibalized, but the lobby & its finishes were best of all. Big, but not huge; marble floors; Tex-deco murals like at the Hall of State, but at eye level. Over and across the lineup of tellers' windows a continuous sheet of burnished, dark wood paneling curved out & up across those sides of the lobby. The lighting was somewhat dimmed, except under all the brass deco lamp units that lit up tellers' stations, loan officers' desks, and the tables where you endorsed checks and filled out deposit slips. Thinking back, the most memorable single element about the Mercantile Bank downtown was the sense that despite the always-constant hustle and bustle of customers and bankers -- ringing phones, clacking typewriters & adding machines, shoes clicking across the marble -- there was a hush, a quiet, over a space that should have been quite loud. Maybe it was the paneling or the low lighting, but more likely it was the sound of POWER. The room just oozed it. The Mercantile was where the characters in "Giant" would have done their banking while in Dallas, only it was real and open for business to everybody. It's the only bank I've ever been in that made me feel kinda awestruck. Last edited by Gen5Dallas : 08-06-2003 at 06:08 AM.

08-08-2003, 09:56 AM	#26
gc Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8,578	39 Million Republic Conversion Gables Presents Plan for $39 Million Republic Conversion By Robert Carr - Aug 7, 2003 http://www.globest.com/RMI5OJ1VXID.html DALLAS-Gables Residential of Boca Raton, FL, has proposed a plan to redevelop the vacant Republic Bank Building in downtown Dallas into 227 luxury apartments. The project would cost about $39 million to complete, said Peter Petricca, regional VP for Gables. The building at Ervay and Bryan is 36 stories tall and has a four-pointed star pattern on its steel exterior, with a large sculpture at the top, and was once the tallest building in Dallas. It’s been closed for more than five years. Petricca told GlobeSt.com that discussion of the deal being worked out with the building’s investment group owners is premature. The news came out during a meeting with the downtown Tax Increment Financing Authority this week. Gables wants to acquire $3 million in tax increment funding to help build the project. “We just gave a preliminary presentation,” Petricca said. “The city has not had a chance to go through the numbers. We wanted to meet with the TIF board to describe the project, to make them aware of what we’re pursuing.” Gables develops, builds, acquires and manages luxury apartment homes, primarily in Houston, Atlanta, South Florida, Austin, Dallas, Tampa/Orlando and Washington, D.C. “This is not a typical project for us,” said Petricca. “We just think it’s a good opportunity.” His company is negotiating with Four Points Star LP for the building, Petricca said. “We’re in negotiations right now, we do not have a final contract or partnership agreement,” Petricca said. The investment group is in the process of leasing the Republic Bank Tower next door to office and retail tenants, Petricca said. Larry Fonts, director of the Central Dallas Association, told GlobeSt.com that the reuse of the Bank Building makes a lot of sense. “It’s a sizable number of units, and a big shot in the arm for our in-town housing program,” Fonts said. “We’re trying to encourage the revitalization of our core city, and want to make housing convenient. Converting these buildings is great, it puts an asset back into tax-paying service without having to tear it down to make a parking lot.” __________________ “We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

08-08-2003, 06:09 PM	#27
chiboi Mid-Rise Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: dallas Posts: 260	Currently my 2 biggest wishes for downtown are for completion of this project and the Mercantile...

10-13-2003, 10:02 AM	#28
TexasStar Elder Statesman Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Dallas - Mountain Creek Posts: 1,841	Gables Republic Approved TIF Projects Approved From the Central Dallas Association Downtown Improvement District Downtown This Week Newsletter Projects recently approved by the City Center Tax Increment Financing Board included $4.6 million to redevelop Republic Center Tower I into residential space. Following environmental remediation, facade restoration and other improvements, Gable Republic Center would consist of 225 luxury rental units, a rooftop pool and fitness center. Plans call for construction of the $37.9 million project to begin in 2004 and be complete in early 2006.

10-13-2003, 10:48 AM	#29
gc Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8,578	I saw that too. That is great news! __________________ “We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

10-13-2003, 08:04 PM	#30
bloodandpopcorn Skyscraper Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,710	Great! I bet this building will do very well. Can't wait to see them get started!

10-14-2003, 08:03 AM	#31
evdallas Mid-Rise Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 459	I really like that building, what a cool place to live!

01-10-2004, 07:53 PM	#32
CTroyMathis Sea™ Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: New London.CT Posts: 4,874	This blurb: Mr. Petricca said Gables plans to begin construction this summer to convert the vacant Republic National Bank Building at Bryan and Ervay into more than 200 apartments. Redevelopment of the 36-story aluminum-clad office tower will cost almost $40 million. is easily lost in the recent Jan '04 article about Gables' new T. C. site proposal... I'll add it here.

01-14-2004, 03:43 PM	#33
CTroyMathis Sea™ Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: New London.CT Posts: 4,874	Urban is in and Republic Center is blooming with the style of new life. In Fall 2005, Dallas’ shining star will open its original 36-story tower with 275,000 square feet of luxury high-rise living. Located at the hub of Downtown’s most vibrant center, the Arts District, the Central Business District and the Main Street Corridor, Republic Center promises the best city life has to offer. Originally built in 1954, stunningly designed by RTKL and developed by Gables Residential, the new Republic Center will provide the setting you crave for the life you want. Urban becomes you. Residential Tower • 225 Units • 10th – 35th floors • Wood Floors • Granite Countertops • Average 1150 SF • $1.25 - $1.26 psf, plus utilities • 348 parking spaces available • Fitness Center • Club Room An updated RepCtr site: http://www.republiccenter.com/residential_preview.html Did I see some sort of possible rooftop common-place in one of the rough sketchings? (Club/Fitness gigs on the 36th? )

01-14-2004, 03:58 PM	#34
gc Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8,578	Very nice. I can't wait for this to begin. __________________ “We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

01-14-2004, 04:28 PM	#35
Kelley USA Supertall Skyscraper Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 2,240	If they hold the price as stated- these seem to be very affordable!!! Especially for hardwood floors and granite countertops!!! Should be very nice indeed... I wonder if they have plans to update the exterior?

01-14-2004, 05:29 PM	#36
dallastophoenix High-Rise Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 991	so i'm guessing that there are no "for-sale" units?

01-14-2004, 05:47 PM	#37
clipper Stuck in the past Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: East Dallas Posts: 1,702	The top floor was the old executive dining room. I remember eating up there with the bank chairman once upon a time (early '80s). There is a garden area with a partial roof surrounding it. The plan is to put a swimming pool and rec area there under the shadow of the rocket.

01-14-2004, 07:42 PM	#38
CTroyMathis Sea™ Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: New London.CT Posts: 4,874	Thanks, Clipper. That will be seriously great. I also can't wait for this convert in particular. (Two Republic Center threads merged.)

05-22-2004, 11:30 PM	#39
crescentboi Skyscraper Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Dallas, TX (The Cedars) Posts: 1,688	So have we heard any news on this? When is this starting? Has it started? Anybody know pricing or such? __________________ "In life, good things happen and bad things happen. But if you do not take a chance, nothing happens."

05-23-2004, 09:39 AM	#40
bloodandpopcorn Skyscraper Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,710	Current Retail Tenants: Advancial Federal Credit Union Beyond the Box Noodle Nexus QuickFit Woman Quiznos Sonny Bryans Smokehouse The Shoe Pro Are all of those currently in the building, or are some of these newly leased and not in there? I remember seeing Sonny Bryans and Quiznos, but, that's it. Maybe I've just missed the rest of them, or they are in the tunnel below?

05-23-2004, 09:57 AM	#41
Foucault High-Rise Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: North Dallas Posts: 837	Noodle Nexus is in the tunnel, as I guess the rest must be.

05-23-2004, 11:51 AM	#42
Lionel Hutz High-Rise Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Lakewood Posts: 622	Beyond the Box may be the new lunch place that opened on street level (on Ervay). It looks really cool. __________________ "You look at Chicago, New York, San Francisco, you'll find lots of small businesses. But here in Dallas, they hold up big businesses and kick out small businesses, and that's not good."

06-04-2004, 03:31 PM	#43
gc Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8,578	Since another thread mentioned the conversion of the Republic Center....I thought I'd post here as a reminder of what is to come... __________________ “We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”

06-13-2004, 06:08 PM	#44
jsoto3 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Downtown / Deep Ellum Posts: 2,629	Views from Republic Center - Part 1 ... Last edited by jsoto3 : 06-13-2004 at 06:13 PM.

06-13-2004, 06:11 PM	#45
jsoto3 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Downtown / Deep Ellum Posts: 2,629	Views from Republic Center - Part 2 ...

06-13-2004, 06:12 PM	#46
jsoto3 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Downtown / Deep Ellum Posts: 2,629	Views from Republic Center - Part 3 ...

06-13-2004, 07:09 PM	#47
tamtagon Administrator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Atlanta - Dallas Posts: 9,779	Nice view toward the West!

06-14-2004, 03:54 AM	#48
freewaytincan is gone. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: 77023 Posts: 5,267	How...did you get up there?

06-14-2004, 08:22 AM	#49
jsoto3 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Downtown / Deep Ellum Posts: 2,629	The project's design team (I'm not on it) has access to the whole tower.

06-14-2004, 08:33 AM

#50

freewaytincan

is gone.

Join Date: Jul 2002

Location: 77023

Posts: 5,267

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsoto3

The project's design team (I'm not on it) has access to the whole tower.

I'd say it's already time for another forum meet...

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