Dallas Pastor Raphael Adebayo gestures as he gives a tour of The Winners Plaza complex on July 3, 2025, in Dallas. Adebayo is asking the zoning commission for permission to redevelop his church into a 25-story luxury tower with a 150-160 room hotel, 60 condos and ground floor retail.
Shafkat Anowar/Staff Photographer
After months of delays, the Dallas City Council denied a zoning change that would’ve made room for Winners Tower, a proposed 25-story high-rise in South Dallas.
The project has drawn support and criticism, with plans to bring a hotel, condos and retail to the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Colonial Avenue, an area surrounded by businesses and single-family homes.
Supporters have said the project is a well-intentioned effort to create wealth in a neglected part of the city. Those in opposition have said the tower doesn’t fit into a vision to bring balanced growth to South Dallas.
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About a year ago, the city plan commission unanimously recommended denying the zoning change. Commissioners cited concerns about the building’s height, lack of community engagement and incompatibility with the neighborhood’s character.
When the zoning got to City Council, it was deferred three times starting in January. On Wednesday, council member Adam Bazaldua, who represents the area, introduced the denial for the zoning change.
“I tried to do just about everything I could to find some middle ground,” Bazaldua said, adding, “I didn’t have much to fight for, and I want to make it very clear that the group did not come with concrete plans.”
Edward Okpa, the lead consultant on the project and a former mayoral candidate, said the estimated $250 million project would bring benefits to the community, like a grocery store, bank, jobs and condos that boost tax value, without displacement.
“We had good intentions,” Okpa said in a phone interview.
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City records show the applicant asked for permission for the 25-story tower, but the zoning change being sought typically allows buildings up to 270 feet tall, which is about 20 stories.
Julie Saqueton, who leads community development work at the nearby St. Philip’s School and Community Center, was the only community member to speak on the issue. She was part of the group that spent years crafting a wide-ranging plan for the area’s zoning, which codifies how the community would like to shape and attract future growth.
The two available renderings of Winners Tower, which is the 25-story high-rise being proposed at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Colonial Avenue.
Winners Development Corporation
To make an individual zoning change so soon, she said, risks “undermining the value of that planning process.”
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“It would dwarf important historic buildings such as the Forest Theater, which is currently being restored,” she added.
Related: 25 story high rise planned for South Dallas faces hurdles with city
The Winners Tower project is led by Raphael Adebayo, pastor of Winners Assembly Christian Church and the property’s owner. He has been acquiring land in the area since 2007. The team planned to use multiple developers to build the separate parts of the project.
Okpa said the group is not giving up. Under the city’s development code, a city spokesperson said, further zoning change applications can’t be considered on the property for two years.
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This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.