Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC has a $225 million investment in Uptown, and now we have a better idea of what that investment will look like.
In a word, stunning. Architect Cesar Pelli has released preliminary renderings of Crescent’s 600,000 square foot, mixed-use high rise project at McKinney Avenue and Olive Street, right across the street from the Tower Residences at the Ritz-Carlton.
Currently that 3.1 acre site looks like any empty lot in Uptown where cars can be parked, weeds whacked.
But oh, just you wait. This will be Crescent’s crown commercial jewel.
“It will be a crescent-shaped building facing the Ritz,” says Joseph Pitchford, Senior Vice President of Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC. “Office and retail. All doors to retail will face a one-acre green space.”
Think of a mini Klyde Warren Park with a lot more retail nearby. Like 50,000 square feet of retail, including a gourmet food market. There will be several restaurants, too, but also coffee shops. Crescent is very focused on offering a range for diners — fast and casual as well as leisurely.
And Crescent is being smart about parking, too, understanding that cars are still a part of our fabric. There will be seven layers of above ground parking, and two stories of underground garage space. All the parking will be wrapped with the retail.
“Buildings have changed, and the technology has improved dramatically,” Pitchford told Steve Brown. “This will be a more contemporary expression than you see in Uptown.”
Most of the building will be clad in glass and metal. Crescent plans to break ground in the middle of this summer, and opening is slated for mid-summer 2016.
The Argentinian-born Cesar Pelli became Dean of the Yale University School of Architecture in 1977, about the time he founded Cesar Pelli & Associates. He resigned his post as Dean in 1984, but continues to lecture on architecture. He has received twelve Honorary Degrees, more than 200 awards for design excellence, and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, the International Academy of Architecture, and of l’Academie d’Architecture de France.
In 1995, the American Institute of Architects awarded Mr. Pelli the Gold Medal, in recognition of a lifetime of distinguished achievement in architecture. In 2004, Mr. Pelli was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the design of the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is Mr. Pelli’s first major Dallas development.
