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Uptown Dallas’ Central Market project will add hundreds of residential units

Developers are ditching office and hotel buildings in favor of more multifamily construction.

Developers are giving more details about updated plans for a long-awaited Uptown Dallas project.

Dallas-based commercial property firm KDC has been working on plans for the $200 million mixed-use development at McKinney and Lemmon avenues for two years.

The high-rise project would include a Central Market grocery store on the lower levels.

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In January, KDC said it was redrawing plans for the development because of the COVID-19. An office tower and high-rise hotel originally proposed for the development were being deleted because of market changes resulting from the pandemic.

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“The unexpected COVID-19 pandemic has decimated commercial real estate financing and eliminated KDC’s planned 156-room Marriott AC Hotel and 500,000-square-foot Class A office building,” KDC representatives said in a letter to city planners.

Instead of the office and hotel buildings, the developer is asking for zoning changes to build more residential units in the one-block project.

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“The purpose of this request is to allow an increase in residential density by increasing the allowable number of units from 432 to 800,” according to the zoning filing. “The request for the residential portion increase that still supports a mixed-use project is compatible with the surrounding uses and area’s character.

“The quality of the design has the potential to make the site a feature within the neighborhood and of the area.”

It’s no surprise that KDC had to ditch its office plans for the McKinney Avenue development.

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Office occupancy in the Dallas-Fort Worth area fell by more than 4 million square feet in 2020 — the biggest decline in decades.

And net office leasing in the first quarter of 2021 showed another 2-million-square-foot decrease.

KDC’s McKinney Avenue development has been one of the most anticipated projects in Uptown because of the Central Market store. The high-end grocer has a big following in Dallas but no close-in location.

Updated plans for the almost 5-acre project show the tallest residential tower would be more than 20 floors.

Dallas architect Omniplan and San Antonio design firm Lake Flato did the original designs for the development, which will take up most of the block between McKinney and Oak Grove at Lemmon Avenue.

The supermarket on the high-profile Uptown site closed more than five years ago, leaving the property derelict.

Original plans for the project anchored by a Central Market grocery store included a...
Original plans for the project anchored by a Central Market grocery store included a high-rise office and retail hotel on the McKinney Avenue block.(Omniplan)
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