Floor by floor, Santander Tower is becoming a vertical neighborhood in Dallas’ urban core.

One of the 10 tallest buildings in Dallas, the iconic 50-story tower at 1601 Elm St.—formerly known as Thanksgiving Tower—now includes Peridot Residences apartments, the Mint House boutique hotel on the upper floors, Class A office space, dining and retail, and the private Tower Club on the 48th floor.

Now the residential piece is about to grow again.

Construction is underway on phase two of Pacific Elm Properties’ Peridot Residences, the multifamily adaptive reuse project inside the tower. Adolfson & Peterson Construction (AP) said it has started converting five additional floors that will add 105 one- and two-bedroom apartments to the mixed-use high-rise.

Phase one of Peridot Residences wrapped in October 2024, when AP completed the conversion of 14 floors into 291 apartment units and amenity spaces. Dallas-based Pacific Elm worked with Dallas-based Mintwood Real Estate on the redevelopment, turning former office floors into what both companies describe as luxury multifamily housing.

The Peridot Lounge [Photo: Adolfson & Peterson]

Pacific Elm secured $132.5 million for Phase Two construction in September

The new construction push follows fresh financing for the tower’s transformation. In September, CIM Group announced it had closed a $132.5 million whole loan through its CIM Real Estate Debt Solutions business to recapitalize Santander Tower and fund construction of Peridot’s second phase.

CIM Group said the loan will support construction of the additional apartments and bring Peridot to 396 total residences. Since the Peridot conversion began, roughly 350,000 square feet of office leases have been signed at Santander Tower in a sign of the building’s strengthening mixed-use identity, the lender said.

Meeting the demand for downtown living

Pacific Elm CEO Billy Prewitt said the momentum from phase one reflects the rising demand for downtown housing.

“The continued transformation of Santander Tower reflects our vision for revitalizing Dallas’ urban core through innovative mixed-use redevelopment,” Prewitt said in a statement. He added that phase one revealed “strong demand for luxury living in the heart of downtown,” and that phase two will bring “new energy, residents and experiences to one of the city’s most iconic addresses.”

Resident amenities include a swimming pool, dog park, fitness center, pickleball court, and Pilates studio, along with meeting rooms and lounges for gatherings and events.

AP’s Richardson-based regional president, Granger Hassmann, said the added units build on the tower’s evolving mix of uses. “The Peridot Residences offer a holistic lifestyle, inspired by comfort and luxury,” he said in a statement, calling Santander Tower “a great example of what underutilized office buildings can become.”

[Photo: Adolfson & Peterson]

Reimagining offices as amenity-rich housing

Katy Slade, founder and principal of Mintwood Real Estate, said the project fits the firm’s approach to city-building. Mintwood, which has developed more than 4,000 residential units and over 500,000 square feet of retail in Texas and nationally, believes “great cities are built through creativity and collaboration,” Slade said.

“Projects like Peridot Residences reflect our commitment to adding much-needed housing to Dallas’ urban core while reimagining how people live, work and connect in the city,” she said. “We’re proud to be a part of the continued momentum of downtown’s residential growth.”

Slade’s company, along with Pacific Elm, WDG Architecture, Swoon the Studio, and others, has worked to create what they call a vertical mixed-use environment—combining dining, a boutique hotel, offices, and luxury residences within one tower.

[Photo: Adolfson & Peterson]

Part of a national office-to-housing conversion wave

Pacific Elm said the Peridot Residences project contributes to the adaptive reuse movement spreading across the country.

More than 12,700 U.S. apartments came from non-residential conversions in the most recent year, up 17.6% from 2022, rentcafe.com reported. The National Apartment Association counted 55,000 adaptive reuse projects, with Dallas, Washington, D.C., and New York among the top cities.

Pacific Elm has been steering the tower’s reboot since Woods Capital acquired the property for $57.4 million in 2013, according to Yardi Research Data reported by Multi-Housing News. After the residential and hotel conversions, the tower will retain more than 858,700 square feet of Class A office space, along with dining, retail, hotel units, and the Tower Club on the 48th floor.

The company, which has completed more than $6 billion in acquisitions and development deals, said it now owns a portfolio of seven Class A towers totaling 6.5 million square feet, plus 10 acres of developable land in Uptown and Downtown Dallas and 80 acres in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Minneapolis-based Adolfson & Peterson Construction, which is marking 25 years with its Texas regional office, was awarded the contract for the tower’s multifamily adaptive reuse in 2022. The family-owned construction firm said it is also working on several North Texas projects, including The Seam in Dallas’ Design District, Christ the King Catholic Church and School in Dallas, the East Dallas Government Center, KDFW Fox 4’s new studio in Irving, along with the SportsPark Center and The Reecy Davis Center with the city of Greenville.

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