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Before the sun had even risen on the first Monday of the new year, a text message lit up my phone with the news no one wanted but everyone expected eventually: AT&T would be decamping from its downtown Dallas digs for Plano sprawl come 2028<\/a>. Shortly thereafter, downtown developer Shawn Todd asked to meet. At first, he didn\u2019t say why, only that it was important \u2013 that the time had come, he said, to \u201crip off the Band-Aid.\u201d<\/p>\n Todd then explained the need for the sit-down: He was turning over his celebrated 52-story downtown Dallas high-rise,<\/a> The National, to the lender at week\u2019s end. Come Friday, the 1.5 million-square-foot pinstriped monolith will be posted for foreclosure, with the lender, Starwood Capital Group, taking possession the first Tuesday of next month.<\/p>\n At which point Todd will no longer have ties to or money in downtown \u2013 where his company, Todd Interests, which includes sons Philip and Patrick, has over the last two decades invested some $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd successfully invested,\u201d Todd would say during follow-up conversations. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a good run downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n But for now, that run is over, with the largest adaptive reuse project in state history \u2013 a $465-million makeover of the 1965 First National Bank Tower on Main Street<\/a> \u2013 in foreclosure.<\/p>\n Opinion<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Shawn Todd, founder and CEO of Todd Interests, center, with his sons, Patrick, left, and Philip of Todd Interests, atop one of the East Quarter buildings with which they parted in December 2025.<\/p>\n David Woo \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Todd said he wanted to talk before the news broke because he didn\u2019t want The National\u2019s foreclosure \u201cto tarnish downtown, to be misconstrued that downtown was a failure.\u201d Over the course of two days\u2019 worth of interviews, he would insist, again and again, he did not believe that. He knew, too, few would believe him.<\/p>\n After all, news of The National\u2019s foreclosure \u2013 and Todd\u2019s exit from downtown \u2013 comes at the worst possible moment<\/a> for a central business district whose recent resurrection has begun to yellow like old newsprint.<\/p>\n As recently as the spring of 2014, this newspaper ran a headline, \u201cWho knew: Downtown Dallas is running out of empty buildings<\/a>,\u201d spurred by investments in First National and the Statler Hilton<\/a>, long eyed for demolition by mayors who threatened razing the historic hotel and replacing it with a park. Just a decade ago, downtown was no longer a lifeless crater in the city\u2019s center. You could again walk down its streets without wondering what that smell was.<\/p>\n Yet now AT&T has begun its long goodbye. A newly merged Comerica weighs likely layoffs<\/a> amid a near-certain move to Uptown. Saks Global steers into a bankruptcy<\/a> that could again imperil Neiman Marcus\u2019 downtown flagship<\/a>, which Todd helped save from closure last year<\/a>. And Dallas may well scrap City Hall for a megasportsarenacasinoplex.<\/p>\n The National, the 52-story former First National Bank Tower, is the biggest adaptive reuse project involving a historic Texas property. As of Friday. it’s in foreclosure.<\/p>\n Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Todd, that guy you\u2019d call whenever you needed a good quote from \u201ca downtown developer,\u201d is going Uptown \u2013 like everyone else, it seems, back to where he began in 1990. I told him that isn\u2019t going to make people feel good about the state of things.<\/p>\n \u201cThe asset just didn\u2019t work for us,\u201d he said, referring to The National, which is also home to, among other things, the Thompson Hotel, the Michelin Guide-recommended Monarch, a Lucchese store, White Rhino Coffee and Downtown Dallas, Inc. <\/p>\n He said occupancy in The National\u2019s apartments has fallen in recent years, from nearly 95% to 71% \u2013 the result, he said, of an uptick in violent crime that went largely unchecked<\/a> until last year\u2019s launch of the private-public Safe in the City initiative that resulted in some 120 Dallas Police officers assigned to the city\u2019s center.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people don\u2019t feel safe, whether an environment\u2019s safe or not, if they don\u2019t feel safe, they\u2019re not going to lease an apartment, they\u2019re not going to eat at a restaurant, they\u2019re not going to occupy office space,\u201d he said. \u201cPerception is reality. But we\u2019re not throwing in the towel. I don\u2019t want it to be misconstrued that we\u2019re throwing in the towel on our city. I believe in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n What he really means is that he believes in Downtown Dallas Inc. President and CEO Jennifer Scripps, who, starting in 2022, began asking then-Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia and then-City Manager T.C. Broadnax to send more officers to the city\u2019s center, to protect its 15,000 residents and some 130,000 workers. <\/p>\n From left: Shawn Todd, founder of Todd Interests; Linda McMahon, CEO of the Dallas Economic Development Corporation; District 14 council member Paul Ridley and Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert shared a laugh last February as Jennifer Scripps, CEO of Downtown Dallas, Inc., spoke during a Downtown Dallas Inc. press conference at the downtown Neiman Marcus they fought to keep open when Saks Global threatened to turn out the lights.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n What he really means is that he believes in City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, who, with Scripps and Todd, fought to keep Neiman\u2019s open and did what Broadnax and Garcia wouldn\u2019t when she launched Safe in the City, which Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux credited Thursday with helping reduce downtown crime<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a strong believer in Kim Tolbert, and I can\u2019t imagine what mayhem would exist without DDI \u2013 I\u2019m just being candid,\u201d Todd said. \u201cThey\u2019re executing well. But that being said, it\u2019s a lot to catch up on. The timing now for Dallas is good. The National is still thriving. It just isn\u2019t working economically for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Todd wouldn\u2019t say how much he lost on The National, only that until the last 12 months, he\u2019d never lost money \u201con any transaction of any kind, and I am deeply disappointed for our investors.\u201d<\/p>\n Beginning with an old federal courthouse and post office tucked away on Ervay Street, the 1985 Baylor University graduate has rescued and resurrected vacant towers that once hovered over a desolate downtown, among them the 30-story One Dallas Center and the 49-story tower formerly known as Energy Plaza since rebranded The Sinclair \u2013 each designed by I.M. Pei. Ironically, Todd recently wrote a piece for this paper calling for the demolition of Pei\u2019s Dallas City Hall<\/a>, deeming it \u201ctoo costly to occupy\u201d and \u201cvirtually unusable.\u201d<\/p>\n Todd Interests\u2019 catalog also filled with stagnant landmarks, including 2020 Live Oak Street, dating back to 1938, and, most notably, the 20-acre East Quarter, whose structures include the 1920 Magnolia Oil service station (and former KLIF-AM studios) that in 2021 became restaurateur Nick Badovinus\u2019 National Anthem on Commerce Street.<\/p>\n But days before Christmas, Todd Interests exited the East Quarter<\/a>, returning that assemblage to partner J.P. Morgan Asset Management for an undisclosed sum. That was the beginning of the end of Todd\u2019s time in downtown.<\/p>\n Developer Shawn Todd’s first downtown project involved turning the historic Post Office and U.S. Courthouse on Ervay Street into 78 luxury apartments.<\/p>\n Sonya N. Hebert \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Around the same time, Todd called Scripps to tell her The National\u2019s foreclosure was imminent. She was cooking for Christmas when he called. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very disappointing, because Shawn has been a real champion,\u201d Scripps said. \u201cEvery meeting he is in, he raises the standards for everyone \u2013 city development people, other developers. He has been generous with his time, energy and passion. We\u2019re losing that kind of vision, and that\u2019s a real loss.\u201d<\/p>\n I first met Todd some 20 years ago, around the time he started eyeing the long-dormant Post Office and Court House, built in 1929. It was a storied property that included the courtroom where Roe v. Wade was first argued in 1970. It also proved to be a nightmare introduction to downtown redevelopment.<\/p>\n Initially, Todd intended to retrofit the limestone-and-marble landmark into what he called in 2005 \u201ca boutique office building,\u201d which he hoped to have completed in two years. The City Council approved some $250,000 in historic property tax abatements, over the objections of then-Mayor Laura Miller, but in the midst of the makeover, the economy collapsed.<\/p>\n So the project was tabled until January 2011, when it was announced, again<\/a>, this time as a 78-unit apartment building. Preservationists and elected officials hailed the project, with then-downtown City Council member Angela Hunt noting that it would help \u201ccreate a vibrant downtown with a great mix of retail and residential.\u201d<\/p>\n Todd had a chance to offload the building in 2014, but held onto it until 2016, when he sold it to an out-of-town investor.<\/p>\n![\"Shawn](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ZQQULDUZ7G24XRRQTROYNQAG44.jpg\")
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