North Dallas has plenty of office buildings that haven't had tenants in a while. One of those sites along the LBJ Freeway is now on its way to becoming apartments, and the builders are keeping one big piece of the old property.
A joint venture led by High Street Residential, the residential arm of Trammell Crow Company, has broken ground on a 435-unit apartment community at 5550 Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway. According to Trammell Crow Company's Oct. 12 announcement, the project is being developed with Acram Group as co-general partner, and Parse Capital is providing preferred equity. Completion is expected by summer 2028.
Offices out, garage stays
The community sits on about 5.4 acres inside a larger 8.6-acre redevelopment site. The plan replaces three vacant office buildings with a five-story building and a seven-story building.
What the team isn't tearing down is just as interesting. Instead of demolishing everything and starting over, the developers are keeping the existing structured parking garage, upgrading it and tying the new residential buildings into it. The company described it as a more efficient way to redevelop the site.
For anyone who has priced a new parking structure lately, that decision makes sense. Garages are expensive to build, and reusing a sound one can save money and time on a large project like this.
The amenity list is what you'd expect at a large new apartment community. It includes a clubroom, co-working space, sports lounge, resort-style pool, grilling stations, fire pits, fitness center, a seventh-floor sky lounge, bike storage, a dog wash station and a package room. Inside the units, plans call for stainless-steel appliances, quartz countertops, tile backsplashes, keyless entry and full-size washers and dryers.
Half market-rate, half affordable
The project is structured as a Dallas Public Facility Corporation development. That means it will mix 217 market-rate apartments with 218 affordable housing units.
The public partner here is the City of Dallas Public Facility Corporation. The release says the mix will expand housing choice in one of Dallas' most established employment and residential corridors.
"This project demonstrates the power of public-private collaboration to deliver much-needed housing in a highly desirable area of Dallas," said Kevin Hickman, a principal with Trammell Crow Company in Dallas. "We are proud to partner with the City of Dallas Public Facility Corporation and our capital partners to create a community that expands access to quality housing while revitalizing an underutilized site."
The release names the full project team. WDG Architecture is the architect, and OHT Partners is the general contractor. Bank OZK is the senior lender. Urban Structure is the structural engineer, Schmidt & Stacy is handling mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, Kimley-Horn is the civil engineer, TBG Partners is the landscape architect and Ellie Aiello Interiors is the interior designer.
Trammell Crow Company, founded in 1948, is a subsidiary of Dallas-based CBRE Group. High Street Residential says it has about 14,700 units in process or in its pipeline nationwide and has completed about 18,500 units over the last two decades.
For North Dallas neighbors, the project means a site full of empty offices will soon turn into a construction zone, with new residents arriving by 2028.
Why it matters for Contractors
Office-to-residential redevelopment is going to keep showing up across Texas as older office parks sit empty. This project is a good example of how teams are approaching it. They aren't always gutting old buildings. Sometimes they're clearing them and keeping the parts that still have value, like a parking garage.
That kind of job brings its own set of challenges. Demolition crews have to take down three office buildings next to a structure that's staying. The new buildings have to connect cleanly to an existing garage, and the garage itself is getting upgraded. Engineers and contractors who can work with existing conditions have an edge on jobs like this.
The schedule is long, too. With completion set for summer 2028, a 435-unit project with five- and seven-story buildings means close to two years of work for concrete, framing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, drywall and finish trades. Subcontractors in the Dallas area who want a piece of it should know who's running the job: OHT Partners is the general contractor named by the developer.