At long last, Crescent Holdings has decided how to fill that property at McKinney and Olive, which, per its announcement this morning, the Crescent has been sitting on for more than 15 years with the intention of developing "when we believed the market was ready," in the words of bossman John Goff. It would appear the market's now ready, set, go:
According to the initial design, the new development will be a mixed-use project comprised of approximately 400,000 square feet of office, 60,000 square feet of retail and 50 luxury residences (final weighting to be determined by market demand).And the project, across the street from the Ritz-Carlton, won't be any ol' mixed-use development, they say, but one designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, which is fronted by 1995 AIA Gold Medal-winner César Pelli and responsible for projects from Austin to Philly to Malaysia. It probably won't rival the Xiao Bai Lo tower due to rise in Tianjin, China, come 2013. Nevertheless, offers the architect in the Crescent's what-for ...
Cesar Pelli said about the project, "It was clear from the beginning that we shared the same vision as Crescent in developing this incredible Uptown Dallas site. Dallas is a market that is respected for its innovation around the world, and we believe that its architecture should reflect that." As for the firm's plan to ensure the design embraces the community, Pelli added, "We are paying particular attention to the way the project will meet the street. Uptown is the most vibrant and pedestrian-oriented urban district in the state of Texas, and we intend to visually invite the neighborhood in."Are we world-class yet?