We feared someone in Dallas had stolen the Olympic cauldron, so we snapped this pic Wednesday. We soon realized this sculpture along 635 and Hillcrest at the nine-building 203k SF Commerce Plaza Hillcrest belongs there and was created from pieces of a demolished building at the property a couple of months ago. Inspired by the steel beams coming out of the demolition, CushWake executive assistant Sharen Dougherty suggested a sculpture be erected using them and gained the endorsement of the property’s asset manager. The GC,Aguirre Roden Construction, provided an artistic welder, Wuenceslao Resendiz. CushWake’s painter, Russ Tate, painted it the recognizable orange-red color.

Sharen and CushWake director Eric Rutledge with a mock-up of the sculpture. (Or maybe they’re 800 feet tall. We report, you decide.) These walls contain works from Sharen’s private collection. The sculpture resulted from the Texas Department of Transportation claiming part of the property (where 160 parking spaces were located) through eminent domain for the 635 expansion. With the parking eliminated, the owner opted to demolish a 33k SF building to meet city parking requirements. Eric tells us it’s 75% leased and being actively marketed mostly to smaller tenants.