More than $100 million in public incentives for a sweeping redevelopment of Bank of America Plaza moved past two gatekeepers last week.
City advisory boards approved subsidies for the 72-story tower that dominates the city’s skyline, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The $409 million redevelopment proposal, pitched by developers Mike Ablon of PegasusAblon and Mike Hoque of Hoque Global, would convert portions of the nearly 2 million-square-foot building at 901 Main Street into a hotel with event and retail space, plus a parking garage.
The vision is to stitch the project into the broader downtown core with elevated pedestrian connections. The developer are under contract to buy the 1980s-era tower.
The Downtown Dallas Development Authority and the Downtown Connection Tax Increment Financing District both signed off on boosting their combined subsidy from $98 million to $103 million. The bump covers the cost of designing a new garage to support 200 residential units or hotel rooms stacked above it. The boards also approved expanding the geographic boundaries of the TIF district to capture a parcel that’s part of the project at 901 Main Street.
Hoque and Ablon, through an entity called 901 Main PAHG Partners, struck a deal last year to buy the 1.9 million-square-foot tower from Chicago-based Metropolis Holdings. The price wasn’t disclosed. The Dallas Central Appraisal District valued the 1.85 million-square-foot tower at $130 million, or $70 per square foot.
Ablon framed the redevelopment as a lifeline for a central business district that has been losing traction with big-name tenants. The tower, nicknamed “The Pickle” for its green nighttime glow, is about 70 percent leased and is losing its anchor tenant to Uptown. AT&T is also rumored to be reevaluating its headquarters footprint nearby, raising the stakes for a downtown revival.
“You’re not catalytic if you just put lipstick on a building,” Ablon told the boards. “We have to change the playing field.”
Under terms of the deal, PegasusAblon must close on the tower by next September and deliver the project by fall 2032 to keep the incentives in play. The sale was originally projected to close later this year. The package now heads to City Council for a vote Oct. 22.
If it clears, the deal would mark one of the largest city-backed downtown overhauls in years. — Eric Weilbacher
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