Dallas, Texas: Council Approves Preston-Royal Towers 9 to 6 in Preston Hollow

The Dallas City Council voted 9 to 6 on Tuesday in Dallas, Texas, to approve rezoning for an $800 million mixed use development at Preston Road and Royal Lane, clearing the way for towers up to 199 feet tall in Preston Hollow, where current zoning allows buildings of about five stories.

What the council approved

The project covers about 7.3 acres at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane. Developer Leland Burk has owned the land since 2017, and several buildings on the site were destroyed by the 2019 tornado, FOX 4 reported. The approved zoning allows three main buildings with maximum heights of 199 feet, 199 feet and 190 feet, CandysDirt reported. FOX 4 said the plans include a 19 story hotel and an 18 story apartment tower. The wider plans call for luxury residences, hotel rooms, offices, restaurants, retail space, landscaped open space and underground parking.

Today the corner carries a 54 foot limit. The original plan called for one building up to 325 feet, and a later revision allowed a 240 foot hotel and condominium tower and a 210 foot residential building, before the height came down again in the final days.

How the vote went

Council Member Gay Donnell Willis, who represents the district, introduced the revised proposal and said she had mediated talks between the development team and the neighborhood group Preserve Preston Hollow in the week before the vote. "Through all of this input, the height of this project has been reduced by almost 40%. This includes another meaningful reduction of 41 feet just in the last couple of days," Willis said, according to CandysDirt.

City staff and the City Plan Commission had both recommended approval, and staff said the project fits the ForwardDallas 2.0 plan, FOX 4 reported. Council Member Bill Roth offered an amendment to cut the maximum height to about 110 feet, near 12 stories. His amendment failed 9 to 6. A proposal to postpone the decision until December 9 also failed 9 to 6. The rezoning passed with Council Members Cara Mendelsohn and Bill Roth, Mayor Eric Johnson, and Council Members Jesse Moreno, Laura Cadena and Paul Ridley voting against it.

What residents told the council

Opponents outnumbered supporters by about 2 to 1 during public comment, CandysDirt reported, and opponents said about 5,300 people had signed a petition against the project. Staff reported 262 responses from property owners within 500 feet of the site opposing the rezoning and eight supporting it. Laura Green, who said she lives in a condo about 150 feet from the site, told the council, "At the proposed height, I will no longer have morning sun again," and pointed to traffic, shadow, glare and light pollution. District resident John Wimberley asked, "Why does the city even bother to send out rezoning notifications when it doesn't respect the responses they receive?"

Some residents spoke for the project. Kenzey Shelton Hayman told FOX 4, "We could go down to one car because I can walk to the post office, Tom Thumb, restaurants." Burk told the council the project would produce an estimated $13.5 million a year in property tax revenue. Willis faces a recall election effort from district residents tied to the case, CandysDirt reported. No construction start date was given in the reports.