Knox-Knox. Who’s There? Oak Lawn Committee Gets Glimpse of Fab Retail, Hotel and (sigh) More Apartments

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It was a busy evening for Cole Avenue at last night’s Oak Lawn Committee meeting. There were a pair of unrelated projects proposed on the Knox Street and Armstrong Avenue cross streets.  First up, was Restoration Hardware … oops, they’ve gone all upmarket and now just use initials … RH. Oooh-la-la.

For those not in the know, RH has been on a tear upsizing their brick-and-mortar stores. Branded RH Galleries, shoppers will finally be able to see a lot of the stuff we previously had to cross our fingers and order blindly via the catalog or website. Amen. Currently there are just nine in the country, one of which is in Austin. Being a Chicagoan, I have to say the Chicago outlet is the most stunning.  It was built in the Three Arts Club building which housed female artists — musical, performing, and visual arts — beginning in 1914.  While the National Register building had been vacant for 20 years, revitalization proposals had included a hotel and a columbarium capable of storing 1,900 funereal urns containing many a great-aunt Millie. RH was definitely an improvement.

The nifty RH Gallery Austin

Since we’re in Dallas, and every cool, century-old building seems to have been torn down, the Dallas RH Gallery will be a new build (just like Austin) and be on the same site currently occupied by Restoration Hardware at Cole and Knox.  But RH Galleries ain’t small, the Chicago outlet is 70,000 square feet —Austin 60,000 — so the current building hits the skids to be replaced by something so nice, I’d be happy to see it out my living room window.

Proposed RH Gallery Dallas Concept Drawings

Yes, the picture is terrible, but what do you expect taking a picture of a screen?  The folks from RH didn’t want to share the image of the proposed building, so I snapped a picture to give you an idea.  The first thing you should see is green.  In addition to trees at ground level that you would expect, there are enormous terraces at every level and on the roof.  Hurrah!

Knox Street elevation

The second thing you will notice is that the front of the building is two stories. This is where the 51,000 square feet of retail therapy happens. Sorta.  RH Galleries aren’t Ikea, where minivans and SUVs stop traffic, blinkers flashing, while a Scanda-whovian flat-pack bookcase is shoveled into the back.  Think of RH Gallery as you would the totsy Design District “to the trade” showrooms but without the “trade” designer requirement to buy.  See it all, feel it all, order it all.  As one quipped, the biggest thing customers will take home is the doggy bag from the restaurant … yes, restaurant (keep reading).

Second floor plate. Knox is left border, Cole is lower border. Retail left, Guesthouse right.

The third thing you might be noticing is that it appears to be a bit taller in the back.  That my friends is a proposed 36-room hotel RH Guesthouse. Folks can book a room and live in a completely RH world of furnishings, lighting and everything.  Considering the only hotels in the area are the La Quinta and The Highland, both located right on Central Expressway, your deeper-pocketed, lighter-sleeping relatives will be thrilled. There will even be a spa to relax you after signing the (large) check for refurnishing your home at RH. Dallas will be the second RH Guesthouse. The first will be opening this autumn in New York City’s Meatpacking District. Expect lessons learned to be incorporated or deleted from this plan.

Side elevation from Cole Avenue

I mentioned a restaurant, didn’t I?  RH Galleries want to blur the line between retail and hospitality.  Clearly the hotel guesthouse goes a long way with that. A restaurant goes further by exposing more people to it.  The Chicago RH Gallery pitches itself almost Starbucks-y in that while there is a designated restaurant area, customers can be served in any vignette in the store.  Want to while away wine with the gals one afternoon on a sofa you’re thinking of buying?  Done. Think of it like Pirch, which allows customers to come in early and schedule time to try out the showers before buying.  They want you to dawdle in the store because you’re spending time in an infomercial … a gorgeous, tasty infomercial.  Ultimately, you’ll buy more than just the food and booze.

RH Gallery Austin roof deck, not your grandma’s furniture store

My thoughts on this are fuzzy.  Like all people, when you like something, your natural bias is to make it work.  Luckily for us, it’s an enormously pretty endeavor.  And I don’t know about you, but it sure beats driving to the Restoration Hardware outlet in San Marcos just to see scratched-up versions of  stuff you only saw in a catalog before buying.  The tenor in the room was similar.  The Oak Lawn Committee seemed generally excited.

I think we’re all looking forward to the final plans when I don’t have to 007 a picture.

The Broadstone?

I’m calling this project the Broadstone because one of the images seems to have that name attached to it.  I’m not using that image because it’s the one we all know is in the pack somewhere.  You know, the one with groups of people … one of every race and gender, natch … hanging around the front entrance like church was about to begin.

The Broadstone is big.  It’s a combination of five- and seven-story heights packing 340 apartments averaging 900-ish square feet under its roofs.  Approximately 25 percent will be two bedrooms while 75 percent will be one-bedrooms.  Suffice it to say that with so many singles in such a tight space, smoke may pour out of the various Tinder, Bumble, and Grindr apps.

Think of the building as having a seven-story “T” shape (orange) bisected by five-story arms.  Or it’s a double “H” design.  Whatever works for you.  One of the benefits of the recesses is that at ground level it’s visual green space for passersby.  For the developer, the shape allows a more dense structure than the “T” alone.

Note, I’ve been seeing a lot of seven-story apartment buildings recently and the reason is economic.  Over seven stories, you’re into steel-reinforced concrete construction versus wood.  I’ve been told that the jump from timber to concrete is about 30 percent.

Another note. These non-concrete buildings generally have more bland exteriors because of the weight and cost of better looking materials. It’s why on the Broadstone we see a good use of brick on the shorter sections with more lightweight materials on the taller portions.

This is not to slam the Broadstone.  While I’m unexcited by the overabundance of one-bedroom units, the exterior is a lot better than much of the stucco-y dreck littering Dallas these days.

What I will fault the developer on is their desire to short-sheet balconies. One of the things they want in their design is to not have a balcony for each unit.  Their thought is that tons of tiny balconies impacts curb appeal.  And I will grant them that.  But were the balconies more generous, it wouldn’t be the visual issue that 340 postage stamp balconies produce. I also suspect, of course, that there’s a profit motive here as well. Balcony space is less chargeable than enclosed living space.

Another fault in the plan is that not all bedrooms will have a window.  In order to do this, the wall separating the bedroom and the living area doesn’t reach the ceiling.  This smacks of studio loft space and another way to pack more people into too little space.  Who thought a bedroom window was a luxury?

Those little horizontal slit windows you see above in the brick?  Those are window backsplashes in the kitchens.  Instead of tile or something, you get a window.  I’ve seen this done in townhomes and it does provide interesting light to the kitchen area. Mind you, it’s all about more light because there’s no view out while you’re in the kitchen (unless you’re also counter height).

Overall, the exterior is better than many I could name, but I fear this is more of a pricey flophouse than anyone’s home.  I will give OLC president Brenda Marks props for asking about a lower-income component to the project. After all, Knox-Henderson is full of low-paying jobs, like RH Gallery employees, that are vital to its restaurants and shopping, wouldn’t it be nice if they could afford to live locally too? (As some may already do in the buildings being torn down.)

The developer’s representatives told Marks they’d discuss it. But we all know that without city ordinances requiring a few affordable housing units in new projects (that are found in other municipalities), talk is all we’re going to get.  Certainly City Hall has been talking, talking, talking for years about it with no end to the talking in sight.

 

Remember:  High-rises, HOAs and renovation are my beat. But I also appreciate modern and historical architecture balanced against the YIMBY movement.  If you’re interested in hosting a Candysdirt.com Staff Meeting event, I’m your guy. In 2016 and 2017, the National Association of Real Estate Editors has recognized my writing with two Bronze (2016, 2017) and two Silver (2016, 2017) awards.  Have a story to tell or a marriage proposal to make?  Shoot me an email [email protected].

Jon Anderson is CandysDirt.com's condo/HOA and developer columnist, but also covers second home trends on SecondShelters.com. An award-winning columnist, Jon has earned silver and bronze awards for his columns from the National Association of Real Estate Editors in both 2016, 2017 and 2018. When he isn't in Hawaii, Jon enjoys life in the sky in Dallas.

15 Comments

  1. Stacey Warnix on July 12, 2017 at 6:49 pm

    Thank you for this news! Just an FYI- RH opened an outlet at Grapevine Mills last month. It’s the same location as where they held their warehouse sale in May, close to the Neiman Marcus Last Call.

    • Jon Anderson on July 12, 2017 at 9:02 pm

      Thanks! When I was renovating, I literally made a few trips to San Marcos, partly to visit the RH outlet for bathroom mirrors, lights and the like. Great prices and I could touch them.

  2. Jeff Salmon on July 13, 2017 at 10:26 am

    The RH in Austin looks fabulous…. Why can’t the proposed one for Dallas look that good? I’m very disappointed. Is there time to make design revisions???

    • Jon Anderson on July 13, 2017 at 10:37 am

      Trust me, the Dallas store looks just as nice. My photograph is admittedly poor but it really is an impressive design. Taking a picture of an image projected on a screen was the best I could do (and as far as I know, as bad as it is, it’s the only picture in town).

      • Eric on July 13, 2017 at 2:47 pm

        The Dallas one looks closest to the LA one.

        • Jon Anderson on July 13, 2017 at 5:06 pm

          Agreed.

  3. Patrick on July 13, 2017 at 11:37 am

    I so commend RH for what they’re doing.
    .
    In the height if the recession, they made a bold and audacious move to change direction and expand – and it sure seems to have paid off.
    .
    I wish some retail like RH would take up residence in the beautiful old (and abandoned) Masonic Lodge in the Historic Harwood Dist DWNTWN.
    .
    Or Maybe the Old Red Courthouse.
    .
    Last heard on the property was Stephanie and Hunter Hunt ( of the oil Hunts) were to open a Non-Profit Community space in it – but that appears to not be happening ???

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas-city-hall/2014/01/04/hunter-stephanie-hunt-to-turn-downtown-masonic-temple-into-center-aimed-at-solving-dallas-biggest-challenges

    • Jon Anderson on July 13, 2017 at 1:52 pm

      I thought of Old Red, but I figured I’d be strung up for suggesting it.
      .
      Knox is shaping up to be the walkable, edible, Design District for consumers with Design Within reach, Mitchel Gold, Crate & Barrel, the newly opened Kohler showroom and others.

  4. Eric on July 13, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    I like the way it seems to be broken up into smaller buildings. The long-view was not so attractive, but no one can ever see the entire building that way.

  5. DTDallasite on July 13, 2017 at 6:13 pm

    Why sigh? More apartments = lower rent. This is better for everyone in the city who is struggling to pay for housing.

    • Jon Anderson on July 13, 2017 at 6:27 pm

      My biggest sigh is because buyers nationwide are screaming for more mid-priced condos that no one is building.
      .
      Rents are not going down because the amount of apartments, and housing in general, needed to make that happen have not been built at the levels required since the Recession. Even with all the cranes littering the skyline, we’re still not building enough housing for historical needs, let alone enough to begin to chip away at the housing deficit created by 10 years (and counting) of sub-minimum housing starts.
      .
      Yes, we need more apartments, but we need more condos too, and all we’re getting are apartments.
      .
      The longer renters who could afford to buy continue to rent (but aren’t because there’s nothing to buy), the further behind they fall in affording a home. Wages aren’t increasing as fast (or at all) compared to housing increases.

  6. Sarah on July 18, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    Jon, was there any hint of when the Broadstone project would start or should I say when they plan to demolish the current standing structures?

    • Jon Anderson on July 18, 2017 at 9:24 pm

      I’m trying to remember, but I think Restoration Hardware and Broadstone will overlap in time (maybe not completely). I want to say a year-ish, but I’m not sure. Neither plan is even final yet.

  7. Leslie Ann Fowler on November 12, 2017 at 10:12 pm

    Restoration Hardware and what’s the name of the furniture store so well known on Knox Street? I live now in Denton County and my last visit to that area included the Chuy’s Restaurant that tried to replicate its Austin TX roots, and old Church popular bar/restaurant was on its way downhill.

  8. Henke on October 9, 2020 at 4:56 pm

    This building is complete garbage. It’s like a huge wooden treehouse. No chance I’d recommend anyone renting here. Unless you want to hear your neighbors and for them to hear you through the flimsy wooden walls.

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