DALLAS — This article was originally published in the Dallas Business Journal. Read the original article and more business content here.
One of the possible locations for the future Dallas City Hall has been revealed, as Pacific Elm Properties LLC confirmed March 10 that it has submitted the 40-floor Bryan Tower for consideration as a new site of the municipal headquarters.
Billy Prewitt, CEO of Dallas-based Pacific Elm, told Dallas Business Journal the firm has submitted the entire 1.1 million-square-foot tower in downtown to the city and CBRE, the real estate company handling the search for a potential new city hall. Prewitt also confirmed that city staff has toured the building.
The debate around Dallas City Hall reached a climax in the early morning hours of March 5 after City Council approved a measure to explore options for a new chief administrative building, while also seeking sites to house 911, police and fire dispatch and other emergency communications functions. Council voted 9-6 in favor of a resolution directing the city manager to research costs related to a move, building options for a potential relocation and what the city could potentially get for the sale of the City Hall site for redevelopment. The outcome angered preservationists who want to keep the current building, although as City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert noted, the vote does not represent “the finish line.”
Prewitt said the currently unoccupied Bryan Tower was listed in the National Registry of Historic Places a few years ago, with Pacific Elm working on an adaptive reuse plan, noting “the city is catching us at a unique time.”
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