Hong Kong Money Flows Into Downtown

OCEANS OF MONEY ARE POUR-ing out of Hong Kong as the island braces for its 1997 unifient ion with mainland China, and some of that cash is finding its way to downtown Dallas. The Far East Consortium Ltd., which owns the Dallas Grand Hotel, has purchased an office building one block away at 1712 Commerce, as well as the old main library site adjacent to the hotel. Investors hope that growth on the east end of downtown will buttress business at the hotel.

The 24-story office tower, unused for the past five years, will become an apartment building, says Jahan Sabzkooh, general manager of The Grand and local representative of the Far East Consortium. He says the first floor will be set aside for retail shops, such as a grocery, a cleaners, and other merchants needed by apartment dwellers. The next few floors will be designated for parking and a health club. Eighteen floors will be turned into 140 apartments, from 800 to 1,250 square feet.

As for the old library, a four-story building with 128,000 square feet of space, the new owners plan to turn it into an international food-and-retail bazaar, much like San Antonio’s Market Square. They hope the market and apartment building will stimulate other development on the east end of downtown, much as the West End Marketplace has down on the other end.

Since purchasing the710-room hotel in 1992, Sabzkooh says, the consortium has put $7,5 million into renovating it. Now, he says, the city should add landscaping and connect the buildings being renovated to the underground network. “There’s only so much business can do,” says Sabzkooh.