The largest landlord in the Historic West End has broken ground on the tallest building in the neighborhood.
After closing on the land in late September, Crescent Real Estate and Long Wharf Capital immediately started work on the 100,000-square-foot office building on Houston Street and Ross Avenue, now called the Luminary.
“We’re in the midst of a rebirth in the West End. There’s been no multi-tenant office building built [in the West End] in over 30 years, so [The Luminary] is telling developers it’s OK to come back,” Crescent Managing Director John Zogg says.
Corgan architecture firm will expand its existing adjacent office by leasing 23,268 square feet in the new building. The remaining space in the Luminary will be marketed to potential tenants by JLL.
This development was complicated in a lot of ways, Crescent Managing Director Joseph Pitchford says. Crescent bought Corgan’s existing office and leased it back to them, while simultaneously buying Corgan’s surface parking lot with plans to develop it into what will become the Luminary.
Corgan, which has expanded rapidly since its founding in 1938, previously used the code name One Roof as a poetic nod to its desire to house all employees in one place in the West End. The architecture firm designed the new building, which will pursue LEED Gold certification.
The new development will have 462 parking spaces, giving it a higher-than-average parking ratio for downtown, and 52 bike racks. A rooftop terrace atop the building’s seven stories—making it the tallest building in the West End—will have panoramic views of downtown Dallas.
“Two years ago, Crescent and Long Wharf invested in the West End because we saw an opportunity to bring our management skills to a precious resource—beautiful, lofty, unique space,” Pitchford says. The Luminary was inspired largely by Crescent’s other Historic West End properties. “The building embraces everything everyone loves about historic buildings, all in a technologically advanced package,” Pitchford says.
The Luminary plans to open in early 2019.
