After four years of inactivity around a $450M development planned for Downtown Dallas, the city revoked a huge incentive deal it had given the project.
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Dallas officials withdrew a $96M incentive agreement for Hoque Global’s 20-acre Newpark district after the developer failed to meet financing and building permit deadlines, The Dallas Morning News reported. When the incentive was approved in 2022, Newpark was set to feature a 38-story mixed-use tower with office space, multifamily units and a hotel between Canton and Cadiz streets near Dallas City Hall.
However, Hoque Global didn’t secure permits and failed to show Dallas officials evidence of its plan to finance construction before the end of 2024, according to DMN, citing city records. The city informed Hoque Global this summer that the incentive had lapsed because work on Newpark hadn’t begun ahead of another 2027 deadline.
Hoque Global CEO Mike Hoque said he still intends to build the Newpark project and wants to buy more land around his current holdings in downtown. But he needs more clarity on the future of nearby buildings and the ongoing redevelopment of the city’s Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
“We just need to know what’s really going to happen before we break ground on a $450 million dollar project and waste my money, my investors' money, and the city’s money,” Hoque told the DMN.
Work on the city’s $3.7B overhaul and expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is underway, but its opening was pushed back two years to 2030.
The future of Dallas’ iconic 1M SF City Hall building is much more up in the air. Debate over whether to spend more than $1B to repair the nearly 50-year-old building designed by architect I.M. Pei or redevelop it has raged for months.
The city council is expected to hear new options for the structure in December, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Hoque didn’t give a new timeline for moving forward with the Newpark project but said elevated interest rates aren’t conducive to building a hotel without an active convention center, according to the DMN. He said he is open to working with Dallas officials on a new incentive deal for the development once the futures of the convention center and City Hall have been settled.
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