DALLAS — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
Dallas’ tallest tower — Bank of America Plaza, nicknamed The Pickle because of its outline at night — is likely getting new life.
Mike Hoque of Hoque Global and Mike Ablon of PegasusAblon have lined up a deal to buy the 72-story building, plus four surrounding low-slung blocks from Chicago-based Metropolis Holdings in the coming months.
Specifically, Hoque and Ablon plan a $350 million redevelopment that could add a 300-key hotel to the tower and recast the surrounding streetscape into a bustling, pedestrian-friendly area with trendy restaurants and shops. As downtown Dallas continues to find its footing after the pandemic, Ablon believes such a scene could become reality with the support of city leaders and other developers.
"When you have more restaurants on the street, more people want to be there,” he said in an interview. "More people want to live around it. More people want to work there and have access either during lunch or after hours."
Food is a big part of what the buyers of Bank of America Plaza envision for the future of the building at 901 Main St. Ablon said he hopes to bring at least three eateries to the street level helmed by successful restaurateurs. That aligns with Hoque's background — he's known for downtown Dallas restaurants such as Wild Salsa, Dallas Chop House and Chop House Burger. Meanwhile, PegasusAblon owns Italian restaurant Sister and recently opened Goodwin’s on Greenville Avenue.
The investors are "focused" on "really supporting our local restaurateurs," Ablon said, pointing to "incredible talent" among chefs in the city.
When asked about when the deal for the skyscraper is expected to go through, Ablon said transactions like these usually take around two quarters, which would put the closing sometime in mid-2025. Financial terms have not been revealed.
New capital
Beyond a makeover of the tower and the addition of a luxury hotel, what do the two investors really have in mind for the area? For starts, a new financial district.
In the office portion of the building, the two would love to have the forthcoming Texas Stock Exchange as an anchor tenant. TXSE Group Inc. revealed earlier this year plans to launch a new stock exchange and begin facilitating trades in 2025. TXSE has indicated it plans to be located downtown but has not revealed where.
Downtown Dallas was the original financial district in town, home to banks, investors and wealth advisers. Yet many financial firms have been departing for Uptown in recent years, including this tower's namesake. BofA is set to move in 2027 to Parkside Uptown near Klyde Warren Park, which is a few miles away on Main Street.
Hoque and Ablon think downtown Dallas will remain an important financial district, one that can figure significantly into the city's emerging "Y'all Street" identity.
The tower is only about a block and a half from Goldman Sachs' new campus. Hoque said buying Bank of America Plaza could help Dallas seize the moment and become the next financial capital of the world.
"I think we’re going to be a new downtown," he said. "Our goal is, how are we going to make a nicer downtown that ... can compete with Boston, New York?"
With a $3 billion convention center overhaul about to start in Dallas, the two investors are confident that their project will align with a reimagined urban core.
But Hoque and Ablon know they have a tough task ahead of them. Hoque pointed to difficulties blending residential and office uses in one tower. They plan separate lobbies for hotel guests and office users so that they won't be bumping into each other.
Their vision for a rejuvenated downtown Dallas might take some time. But five to 10 years from now, if that new downtown takes shape, these two investors are adamant that they want to be part of the change.
Dallas-Fort Worth is well on its way to becoming the country's third-largest metro area, replacing Chicago in the 2030s. Ablon wonders how influential developers like himself will fit into that shift.
"The destiny for Dallas isn’t about whether it will be big," he said. “The question of destiny is, can we be great?“
