With Preston Road lined with aging retail redevelopments and new apartment proposals, one question seems inevitable: Could Preston Plaza become multifamily housing? The Far North Dallas office tower at 17950 Preston Rd. — long challenged by rising vacancy — went to auction earlier this month. No winning bid has been reported, but a new state law could clear the way for a new residential high-rise up to 27 stories tall.
Cushman & Wakefield, which marketed the 6.3-acre property, emphasized its conversion potential, noting that the 10-story tower could be repositioned as apartments, a hotel, or a retail-focused mixed-use site. The new twist comes courtesy of Senate Bill 840, a state law that allows properties with General Office (GO) zoning — like Preston Plaza — to be redeveloped for multifamily housing without a separate rezoning approval.
And unlike city rezoning that often sets maximum height restrictions, the new state rules do not set a maximum for developed floor area, meaning a developer could build a tower of up to 270 feet — roughly 27 stories.
In his recent Dallas Morning News column, Masterplan founder and owner Dallas Cothrum said the path to multifamily is much more straightforward than it would have been just a few years ago.
Dallas Cothrum
“Without the new state legislation, this project would have no chance to redevelop as multifamily,” he wrote. “Now, the site gets a chance to participate in the free market.”
Built in 1985, the 290,000-square-foot structure underwent a 2015 renovation that delivered a modern atrium lobby with retail space, an updated conference center, and a fitness facility. But Preston Plaza has had a tough run.
“Far North Dallas has too many office buildings. These were built during the heyday of North Dallas being the engine that drove the city,” Cothrum wrote. “Tenants either want to be in Preston Center or farther north into Plano or Frisco. There is a giant surplus of aging office space in Far North Dallas.”
Houston-based Tanglewood Property Group acquired it in 2017 when occupancy was 91%, but the building eventually defaulted on its mortgage. K-Star Asset Management picked it up at a foreclosure auction in April 2025 for $13.85 million, leaving the property in the lender’s hands once more.
But Preston Plaza won’t likely face the same redevelopment challenges that another Preston Road property had recently.
In one of Dallas’ most contentious zoning battles in recent history, Cothrum’s company Masterplan represented developer Henry S. Miller’s bid to transform part of the aging, largely vacant Pepper Square shopping center at Preston and Belt Line into a mixed-use project with high-density multifamily housing and retail. The Pepper Square project was ultimately approved by the city council over the protests of angry residents who claimed the introduction of apartment towers with approximately 900 units would lead to traffic congestion and distort the character of nearby single-family neighborhoods.
Cothrum visited Preston Plaza recently, where occupancy is down to 35%, and described the building’s current state: “It was so quiet it makes downtown on a Friday afternoon look busy.”
Representatives for Cushman and Wakefield could not be reached for comment before publication, but we’ll update you when we hear back.