{"id":107104,"date":"2025-07-31T08:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T08:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/107104\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T08:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T08:40:12","slug":"comerica-tower-parking-garage-isnt-a-good-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/107104\/","title":{"rendered":"Comerica Tower parking garage isn\u2019t a good fit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Comerica Bank Tower is a quintessential downtown Dallas feature, but the building faces low occupancy and an uncertain future. It can\u2019t remain as it is today. That said, it must remain as it is today, at least in one important respect.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Dallas Morning News architecture critic Mark Lamster detailed a proposal to renovate the iconic Philip Johnson structure, and we share concerns he raised<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s absolutely appropriate to contemplate turning the tower into a mixed-use hub featuring office, residential, hotel and retail space, as the developer, Slate Asset Management and Stream Realty Partners, intends.<\/p>\n

But those intentions appear to rest upon removing the signature Banking Hall and plaza that front the tower along Ervay Street and replacing them with a parking garage. That loss would be unbearable for the downtown cityscape, irrevocably altering the building and its relationship to the streets around it. <\/p>\n

Opinion<\/p>\n

Get smart opinions on the topics North Texans care about.<\/p>\n

\"ViewView of the banking hall in Philip Johnson’s Comerica Tower.(Mark Lamster \/ Mark Lamster)<\/p>\n

Yes, converting underused office space<\/a> is an important strategy for preserving and rejuvenating urban cores. And we understand that additional parking is necessary for a successful conversion. <\/p>\n

But we have to disagree with the developer\u2019s assertion that the changes to the building will create \u201ca walkable environment,\u201d as Lamster reported. Whatever you think about the Banking Hall aesthetically, Lamster is correct that tearing it down and replacing it with a garage \u201cwould be a wasteful travesty.\u201d <\/p>\n

The developer is correct that the building doesn\u2019t have enough parking: only 700 spaces in an underground garage for a 1.6 million-square-foot tower. Our hope is that there\u2019s an off-site solution that can fill the need. We strongly encourage the developer and city officials to work together on a plan that keeps this project viable while protecting the Banking Hall and plaza.<\/p>\n

Renderings: Comerica Bank Tower redevelopment<\/p>\n

\"AView Gallery<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question the Comerica Bank Tower needs a little reimagining if it\u2019s going to survive. The building is roughly half occupied right now, and it could sink to 15% to 20% if nothing is done, a representative of the developer explained.<\/p>\n

Comerica Bank Tower is a monument to the city\u2019s mood in the 1980s, a prosperous chapter in Dallas history characterized by grandeur and ambition. No part of the building embodies that like the Banking Hall, and the city would live to regret losing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Comerica Bank Tower is a quintessential downtown Dallas feature, but the building faces low occupancy and an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":107105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14052,6083,4329,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-107104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-downtown-dallas","11":"tag-editorials","12":"tag-real-estate","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114946954010920812","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}