Tall & Urban News

The new owners of Dallas’ Cityplace Tower are preparing to make the biggest investment in the property since the skyscraper opened in the 1980s.

An investment affiliate of Dallas’ Highland Capital paid more than $200 million last year for the 42-story high-rise on North Central Expressway north of downtown. Since then, Highland Capital’s NexPoint Advisors has been working on redevelopment plans for the 1.35 million-square-foot (125,000-square-meter) tower, which opened in 1987.

Cityplace Tower’s owners filed building permits in February of 2019 for more than $9 million in upgrades to the huge office project at 2711 N. Haskell.

Real estate brokers say that redevelopment plans for the Cityplace Tower include adding more amenities for the office tenants, plus bringing mixed uses to the project.

With more than 3,000 parking spaces in underground garages, there’s still space for additional construction on the 8.7-acre (3.5-hectacre) site.

H.C. Beck Contractors, the original construction firm for the Cityplace project, is doing the renovations, according to the building permits.

When Highland Capital bought the skyscraper last August, co-founder and president James Dondero said in a statement that the company wanted to “transform the surrounding area with our strategic renovations and improvements. Cityplace was designed to anchor an ambitious urban development, and we believe our plans will revitalize that vision.”

New York-based Acore Capital provided $158 million in funding last year for Highland Capital’s purchase of Cityplace Tower.

At the time of the funding, Highland Capital officials said the Cityplace Tower “office investment entails a complex business plan, incorporating multiple uses and property types.”

The iconic Cityplace Tower is the tallest building outside downtown Dallas. It was originally planned as the first of twin towers on either side of US Highway 75.

The Cityplace building is just one of Highland Capital’s recent major local investments. In December, the investment firm purchased the huge former Electronic Data Systems headquarters in Plano’s Legacy business park.

For more on this story go to the Dallas Morning News.