10/01/2024
Dallas’ Former Ambassador Hotel Site To Be Transformed Into Luxury Apartments
Dallas-Fort WorthMultifamily
September 25, 2024 Billy Wadsack, Dallas-Fort Worth
Work is underway near Downtown Dallas on a project that will turn the site of the former Ambassador Hotel into luxury apartments.
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Courtesy of Corgan
Work has begun on a luxury apartment community on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel.
The first units of the 299-unit multifamily community from Texas-based developer OHT Partners are expected to be available in Q3 of 2026. The full project, located on about 2.5 acres at 1300 S. Ervay St. in the Cedars area of Dallas, is expected to wrap up in 2027.
OHT Partners is working with Dallas-based architecture firm Corgan to follow historic preservation guidelines established with the assistance of the Historic Landmark Commission, local advocacy groups and the city of Dallas.
“The new building uses many of the architectural details that harken back to the original hotel,” Corgan Associate Principal Stephen Lohr said in a statement.
Planned amenities for the property include a pool that overlooks downtown, a micromarket, an indoor/outdoor club with a kitchen and a dog park with grooming stations.
OHT Partners Construction is the general contractor on the project, while Spiars Engineering Inc. is the civil engineer, United Structural Consultants Inc. is the structural engineer, Ink + ORO Creative is doing interior design, Bud Creative is the landscape architect and V3 Consulting Engineers is a consultant. IBC Bank is serving as the project’s bank.
The Ambassador project is in a qualified opportunity zone, a federal program that offers tax incentives for development in its designated area. Private equity firm BluePrint Local facilitated the investment in the project for OHT Partners, per a press release from developer.
“Ambassador is exactly why the Opportunity Zone program was designed,” BluePrint Local founder and CEO Ross Baird said in a statement. “It will provide high quality housing in Dallas, a city that has a shortage of 100,000 housing units, and it's part of a much broader plan to reshape the Cedars and downtown Dallas.”
DFW developers have also been behind a series of adaptive reuse and redevelopment projects that have injected new life into areas of the Metroplex. The Santander Tower was adapted from an office building to multifamily housing, and office tower Energy Plaza was rebranded as The Sinclair after it was converted to offer 239 luxury apartments.
Redevelopment in downtown is also a continuing trend in the Metroplex. Last week, PegasusAblon and Hoque Global confirmed plans to purchase Bank of America Plaza and undertake a $350M redevelopment that will include the addition of a 300-room luxury hotel.
Hunt Realty Investments also last year announced its $5B redevelopment plan for its more than 20-acre property around Reunion Tower in Downtown Dallas. That development is intended to support the city’s effort to replace the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which was approved by voters in 2022.
CORRECTION, SEPT. 26, 10:45 A.M. CT: This story has been updated to clarify the project is a redevelopment and not an adaptive reuse.
Contact Billy Wadsack at [email protected]
