One Uptown – Dallas Business Journal

Published: August 6, 2013

Uptown tower planned for former Hard Rock site

Dallas Business Journal | Candace Carlisle | August 6, 2013

A high-profile Uptown property will be home to a new high-rise.

Illinois-based Stoneleigh Companies LLC, along with Dallas-based Cheng Investments, plans to develop a 18-story to 20-story residential and retail tower at the northeast corner of McKinney Avenue and Routh Street in Uptown.

Early plans for the high-rise tower include 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, along with 200 luxury apartment homes on the nearly 1-acre tract of land once occupied by the Hard Rock Cafe.

The acquisition of the property gives Stoneleigh the ability to bring a luxury multifamily project to Uptown, where there’s not a lot of undeveloped land, said President Rick Cavenaugh, who purchased the tract for an undisclosed sum.

“Land prices have gotten crazy, but we were fortunate to get a pretty good value for our use for the property,” Cavenaugh told the Dallas Business Journal.

Cavenaugh says he expects to break ground on the project in early 2014, with a scheduled completion in late 2015 to early 2016.

The development, dubbed One Dallas, will sit kitty-corner to the Gables Residential development and Whole Foods grocery store currently under development off McKinney Avenue. The Whole Foods is expected to open in 2015.

“The market for existing properties in Uptown is very strong and we feel there’s a trend moving toward an urban lifestyle and that’s something that’s going to continue for the foreseeable future,” Cavenaugh told me.

Phil Shepherd is the project architect. Stoneleigh is interviewing general contractors, who “can still get in” on the project, Cavenaugh said.

The project has letters of intent out to two separate undisclosed restaurants.

Once complete, the residential tower will be managed by Stoneleigh’s management company, Waterford Residential. The apartments will be leased for $2.25 to $2.50 per square foot.

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