The Dallas Morning News: Downtown Dallas is getting a luxury Westin Hotel as part of the makeover of a Main Street skyscraper.
Owners of the 33-story One Main Place will convert the top 10 floors as well as space on the lower levels into the 323 hotel rooms and conference space.
Nineteen floors, about 600,000 square feet, will remain as office space. There will also be 50,000 square feet of retail space in the remodeled building.
A large, glass-enclosed event venue will be constructed in the sunken courtyard on the west side of the high-rise, at 1201 Main St.
Construction will be finished by the end of this year, according to One Main Place owner KFK Group and Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Westin brand.
New Orleans-based KFK Group bought the almost 1 million-square-foot One Main Place early last year.
“KFK is committed to downtown Dallas, and this project conveys the confidence we have in the area,” CEO Elie Khoury said in a written statement. “We are thrilled to develop the Westin Dallas Downtown at One Main and expect to attract a variety of travelers with an innovative and welcoming environment.
“The new hotel will meet the demand for high-quality lodging, and we are pleased to partner with Starwood in providing the level of hospitality guests have come to expect.”
Along with the guest rooms, the new Westin will have 27,000 square feet of meeting space on the 32nd, second and third floors. There will also be new restaurant and bar space on the lower floors.
The hotel will have a separate entrance on Elm Street.
“This exciting adaptive reuse project will reintroduce the world-renowned Westin brand to downtown Dallas and play an important role in the ongoing revitalization of the city’s urban core,” Brian Povinelli, global brand leader for Westin Hotels & Resorts and Le Méridien Hotels, said.
Dallas-based architect ForestPerkins has been designing the renovation.
“This a great project for downtown and a great reuse of that building,” said John Crawford, CEO of the economic development group Downtown Dallas Inc. “Getting a luxury, full-service hotel brand like Westin brings a lot.”
One Main Place was less than 50 percent occupied by office tenants when KFK Group bought the tower last year after the previous owners defaulted on more than $60 million in loans.
Built in 1968, One Main Place was once considered Dallas’ most ambitious real estate project. The tower was to be the first phase of a multi-block downtown redevelopment.
But after the first skyscraper was constructed, the rest of the development never got off the ground.
The remodeling of the concrete and glass high-rise is just the latest in a series of large downtown building makeovers underway in Dallas. A handful of other towers are being converted into apartments, updated office space and hotel rooms.
[Steve Brown]
