Back in April, the DMN, noted that John Kirtland had snapped up both the Tower Petroleum Building and Corrigan Tower downtown. There weren't many details then, just that Kirtland planned to do something with the two vacant art deco structures, but now we know exactly what.
Kirtland, who in addition to owning a record label and being the former drummer for Deep Blue Something helps run the family-owned EFO Holdings, unveiled his plans this morning.
Kirtland's idea is to split 258 residential units between the two adjacent buildings, with a small park sandwiched in between. The ground floor will have some retail along Elm and St. Paul, and a car elevator leading to a 137-car garage. The facades will be cleaned up, the windows on the Corrigan Building replaced, and the terrazzo flooring left intact. The sidewalk will be done in a colored star-burst style to match the historic pattern you can still see faintly. The developers have no control over the second-floor skywalk, which will remain in place.
The whole shebang will cost $44.7 million with, pending City Council approval, $10.3 million kicked in by the downtown tax-increment financing district. But as Downtown Dallas Inc. President John Crawford pointed out yesterday, Kirtland will have to get in line behind a couple of dozen other projects that have been approved but are waiting for funding. Right now, it's looking to be 2018 before there's money for Tower Petroleum and Corrigan Tower.
Not that it will stall the current renovation plans. The $10.3 million will be reimbursement, and Kirtland said he already has financing lined up, with $9 million or so in the form of private equity and the rest in loans. Under TIF rules, he'll have to get demolition permits by January 2013 and a certificate of occupancy by March 2015, but Kirtland told the TIF board this morning things will be starting much, much sooner than that.
There were renderings and floor plans at this morning's meeting, but they were on 5-foot-tall posters. Kirtland has promised to email me digital copies.
