The tallest tower in Dallas will soon be under new ownership.
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The 1.85M SF Bank of America Plaza and the four blocks surrounding it are under contract to be sold to Mike Ablon of PegasusAblon and Mike Hoque of Hoque Global, according to a report from D CEO.
The Dallas-based developers and investors said they will undertake a $350M redevelopment of the property that will include the addition of a 300-room luxury hotel and streetscape improvements to the associated city blocks.
“We didn’t just want to buy the building to buy the building,” Hoque told D CEO. “We wanted to do something that will change the area — it needs it. It’s what links everything. We wanted to do something catalytic.”
Chicago-based Metropolis Holdings bought the tower known for its distinctive green outline in 1998 for around $300M. Tom Dempsey, Metropolis’ managing director and head of asset management, told D CEO the company chose to sell to Ablon and Hoque because of their vision for the property and their dedication to Downtown Dallas.
Bank of America announced plans to move to a tower in Uptown last year. The bank is expected to fill 238K SF of its new 30-story tower, which is slated for completion in 2027.
Ablon told D CEO the addition of the hotel near the bank's current site will bring new amenities for office tenants. Other plans for the tower include an upper-level restaurant as well as shops and restaurants at street level.
The revamped tower would be an ideal location for the new Texas Stock Exchange, Hoque told the outlet.
BlackRock, Citadel Securities and more than 20 other investors raised $120M earlier this year to create TXSE, which is looking to headquarter in Downtown Dallas. As an alternative to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, TXSE is looking to begin facilitating trades in 2025 and host its first listings in 2026.
Bank of America’s decision to move to Uptown added to a glut of downtown vacancies last year. Dallas placed second behind Houston in a JLL ranking of markets with the most office vacancies during the first quarter of 2024. That issue worsened in Q2 as vacancies rose 30 basis points to 26.6% JLL said.
The Bank of America building was 70% occupied as of the announcement it would move, The Real Deal reported last year, adding the departure would leave it just 30% occupied.
Interest in distressed office product is on the rise locally and nationally. During the first half of 2024, eight U.S. office properties sold at discounts of more than $100M from their prior sale price, according to Moody’s data provided to Bisnow. That is more than in the previous two years combined.
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