M-Line Tower

Location

Dallas, Texas

Product Type

Mixed-Use

Timeline

Project Start: Fall 2015
Project Completion: Summer 2017

Overview

High Street Residential (“HSR”), the residential subsidiary of TCC, partnered with Principal Real Estate Investors to develop M-Line Tower – a 20-story mixed-use project containing 261 for-rent luxury residences and 11,636 square feet of ground-floor retail. Located at the corner of McKinney Avenue and Bowen Street in Uptown, the development is a vibrant living community in the heart of Dallas’ fastest-growing neighborhood.

M-Line Tower’s location in the heart of Uptown, with over 250 feet of frontage on McKinney, aligns with HSR’s strategy of building on best-in-class sites. M-Line Tower fits into the context of the neighborhood while maintaining a significant presence in the Uptown skyline. M-Line Tower is LEED Gold certified.

First-class amenities include a 3,450-square-foot fitness facility and lounge, a 9,000-square-foot amenity deck and pool perched over McKinney Avenue, and a 1,042-square-foot penthouse-level clubroom with 1,053 square feet of outdoor space.

Opportunity, Solutions & Outcomes

Situated on the historic McKinney Avenue Trolley line, the project also had the unique opportunity to house the historic McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (“MATA”) executive offices and trolley barn for MATA’s 7th trolley car, Margaret, which afforded MATA an opportunity to continue to maintain and improve its service level.

In order to provide MATA with a trolley car and storage barn, the HSR team needed to pursue an increase in density, via a zoning change, to offset the costs associated with MATA in the development (at no cost to MATA). This zoning change added eight months to the schedule and introduced additional development risk, but the team believed including the trolley in the development was positive for the real estate and the community. The project was also legally challenging based on the ground lease in place; the existing ground lease was in favor of the existing restaurant user and had to be seamlessly replaced by a longer-term ground lease for the new development, while allowing the current restaurant user to have future operations in the new tower. From a land-use perspective, there are always challenges associated with tight urban development (compounded here by the trolley lines and a trolley barn), but the cooperation of the Oak Lawn Committee, the City and the neighborhood allowed the project to be a win for all constituencies.