A storied property near the Dallas Design District that fell from a swinging night spot and hotel for rock stars in the 1960s to housing for county prisoners and sex offenders in the 1980s and 1990s may be on the rise again.
According to this Dallas Morning News story first reported by Robert Wilonsky, the Dallas County Commissioners Court sold the old Cabana Motor Hotel / Decker Detention Center yesterday to Lincoln Property Company, the third largest residential property manager in the U.S. The property, located at 899 N. Stemmons Freeway, is 399,000 square feet sitting on 3.275 acres of prime real estate northwest of Downtown Dallas. Lincoln paid $8.7 million (half a million less than the county paid for the place in 1985).
While no one from Lincoln or the county will confirm plans for the property, rumor has it that Lincoln intends to create a residential tower and data center. This development will be another bright spot in the redevelopment of that area, which has bloomed over the past decade into an eclectic destination, with high-end rentals like 1400 Hi Line and Trinity Loft, and swanky restaurants like Ascension and Matt McCallister’s FT33.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says the Lincoln development will “have a ripple effect on strengthening the economy of that entire area.” 
It’s possible that the development could mean a tear down for the Cabana, something that will undoubtedly get the attention of Preservation Dallas, which has urged officials to halt demolitions in and around downtown. They’ve said the property is “one of the additional buildings we’ve added to the list we hope the city will put more protections in place for.”
So while the glory days of the Cabana are long gone—and memories of overnight stays by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix and onetime ownership by Doris Day—the possibilities for Lincoln’s ownership of the land are promising. The company, which is headquartered in Uptown, has 51 residential developments in DFW, including upscale urban living at Gallery at Turtle Creek, McKinney Uptown and the Paseo Apartments.
