With its acquisition and development of 1700 and 1712 Commerce Street, NewcrestImage, led by Mehul “Mike” Patel, is bringing new life to an entire city block in downtown Dallas.
The 93-year-old 1700 Commerce tower (the former Allen Building) will reopen this spring as a 176-room Hampton Inn & Suites, a division of the Hilton brand. The former Mercantile Commerce building at 1712 Commerce is converting to a dual-branded, 209-room Marriott Residence Inn and AC Hotel—the luxury, European-style hotel’s first flag in Texas. The properties will share a swimming pool and a 10-story parking garage that NewcrestImage is adding.
Patel brought in Merriman Associates to oversee design and Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr to guide him through the process of securing $35 million in financial incentives, including federal and state historic tax credits and tax increment financing.
Much of the revitalization work in Dallas’ urban core has been focused on Main Street, says Phillip Geheb, a real estate attorney with Munsch Hardt. NewcrestImage’s project extends those efforts to Commerce Street. “It’s the first true dual-branded hotel project in Dallas and the first lifestyle brand in the heart of downtown,” Geheb says.
FINALISTS
Hillside Village, a retail project in Cedar Hill formerly known as Uptown Village. In 2014, the once-struggling shopping center was acquired by Trademark Property Co., which went on to give it a multimillion-dollar renovation, following its “conscious place” principles.
One Dallas Center, where Todd Interests took a struggling office building in the core of Dallas and transformed it into a beautiful vertical mixed-use complex. The multi-year redevelopment project wrapped up in 2015, when Todd Interests sold the property to Woods Capital.
