Missouri-based hospitality groups want to turn a historic downtown Dallas office tower into workforce apartments.
Lotus Holdings and O’Reilly Hospitality plan to renovate and convert the 14-story Hartford Building at 400 N. Saint Paul St. into 217 apartments.
A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows estimated construction costs are more than $41 million. Work is expected to begin in September and be completed by January 2027.
Details in TDLR filings are preliminary and subject to change.
Mihir Patel, Lotus’ CEO, said the construction timeline is an attainable goal for the partners. The firms will invest an estimated $60 million to $70 million in the project.
Patel said the city is encouraged by the project because of its location near the St. Paul DART station and the need for workforce housing downtown.
“We initially acquired the building in anticipation of doing a hospitality project. But you know, the increases in construction cost as well as financing costs and market conditions just changed in the last two years,” he said. “We pivoted to (apartments).”
The apartments will occupy floors two through 13, and the 14th floor will serve as a residential amenity space. Apartments may range from 500 to 800 or 900 square feet, Patel said.
Built in 1959, the brick tower was the first downtown high-rise built by legendary developer Trammell Crow. The 175,000-square-foot building was constructed for Hartford Fire Insurance Group of Connecticut.
Patel said the plan is to preserve the mid-century structure, which is shadowed by more modern glass towers. The group will seek federal and state historic preservation tax credits for the redevelopment.
“It’s very hard to keep history and structures that were built in the past and to keep them viable. We do a good job at that,” he said.
Lotus Holdings and O’Reilly Hospitality purchased the property in 2021.
A real estate partnership headed by Dallas investor and developer Ken Good Jr. previously owned the property. It received incentives of more than $1 million from the City of Dallas to restore the building’s brick façade and make streetscape improvements including outdoor dining and a pocket park.
The Dallas metro remains one of the nation’s top office-to-residential conversion markets.
The region’s 2025 pipeline shows an estimated 2,725 apartments will be created from conversion projects — the fifth most in the nation, according to a February study from RentCafe.com.