New construction permits filed earlier this week show work at an Uptown site tied to Morgan Stanley’s planned $1.2 billion regional headquarters is moving forward.
The series of filings calls for the construction of a below-grade parking garage for a “future office tower” at 2401 McKinney Ave. The site is currently home to seafood restaurant Truluck’s. An additional commercial plumbing permit was filed for the neighboring parcel at 2425 McKinney Ave. Estimated project costs for the garage work are $45 million.
Morgan Stanley is not named in the filings. The business name listed in the permits is McKinney & Maple. However, both addresses were referenced in city documents as sites the investment banking giant is eyeing for its tower.
Requests for comment from Morgan Stanley were not immediately returned before publication. Developer Trammell Crow Co., which owns or controls the land for the planned tower, declined to comment on the filings.
The permit requests are the latest evidence that Dallas is likely to land the Morgan Stanley hub.
The Dallas Morning News reported in August that Morgan Stanley had signed a lease for 123,000 square feet in Fountain Place, a green, rocket-shaped tower at 1445 Ross Ave. The deal, signed in mid-July, includes an option for Morgan Stanley to increase its footprint as needed. The lease will run for about five years, two people with knowledge of the deal previously said.
That lease is part of a two-pronged development process.
Under the plan, Fountain Place would serve as a temporary base. Morgan Stanley would lease 255,000 square feet in the downtown skyscraper while it waits for the new Uptown development. In 2031, the banking giant is expected to occupy roughly 700,000 feet at a tower along McKinney Avenue.
Morgan Stanley plans to invest nearly $97 million and bring 1,500 jobs to Fountain Place by 2031. The firm would invest more than $587 million in the new Uptown building by 2031, city documents show. The company would employ 3,800 people in Dallas by the end of 2035, with the possibility of additional relocations. The developer is expected to invest another $650 million to build Morgan Stanley’s new office, bringing the estimated value of the development to more than $1.2 billion, updated city documents show.
Dallas City Council approved an $18.5 million incentive package to support the project in June. Morgan Stanley has made no official announcement regarding its plans. But there are plenty of signs that North Texas will land the project.
The Dallas City Plan and Zoning Commission recently approved a request for Morgan Stanley’s signage on the Fountain Place tower, and crews began tearing down the former Gold’s Gym at 2425 McKinney Ave. last month.
Filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation appear to show that Truluck’s restaurant will also move from 2401 McKinney Ave. to 2619 McKinney Ave. in the One Uptown high-rise. Construction is expected to start in October and be finished by March 2027. The estimated construction cost is $2 million.
The move would be yet another win for Dallas’ burgeoning Y’all Street financial district, centered around the city’s Uptown and Victory Park neighborhoods.