NewPark One: “This Is Cementing A Mistake For The Next 100 Years”

On the same day Mill Creek presented to Dallas’ Urban Design Peer Review Board, NewPark One was there. While there was general consensus on the design of the building among the group, its location proved very controversial. But first, some background.

Back in 2018, one of Dallas’ happily lost attempts to woo Amazon’s second headquarters included the promise of an 18-acre custom-built campus between City Hall and I-30. A plan is now unfolding to develop those acres. The first is NewPark One, a mixed-use office, hotel, residential, retail, and restaurant all stacked into one tower. 

Its far-from-the-record-books 488-foot height will make it the new 20^th tallest building in Dallas – 24 feet shorter than 1973’s Bryan Tower and just five feet taller than 1983’s Harwood Tower. Ambitious, it’s not.

As you can see above, a couple of the penciled-in (possible, maybe) future buildings may be slightly taller than this first attempt, but not by much. Clearly Bank of America Plaza’s 921-foot height faces no imminent competition for the “tallest” crown it’s held for 35 years.

The site plan above shows a near-square plan with the lower-left cutout being Dallas Fire and Rescue’s Station 4 (not to be confused with Oak Lawn’s Station 4). East-west across the top is the footprint of the high-rise with the section to the right of the fire station being the 104-foot tumor balancing six stories of parking on top of various amenity, lobby, and retail spaces.

As much as I hate parking podium tumors, the fire station is an even bigger problem. The lot’s owners, Hoque Global, don’t own the fire station and while there’s talk about it relocating to plusher digs, it’s still just talk. The result is an orphan lot on the corner that will forever look like the last hold-out to development – which it will be. The developer’s answer is to adorn the space with banal corporate plop art.

Compounding that is that it’s also the leading corner connecting the NewPark district to the coming I-30 deck park – graphic below. The Peer Reviewers called out the problem to the developers. They also noted that the convention center’s coming expansion might also impact their project – positively or negatively – and that they should wait and see what that is.

The issue is very clear above.  The face of the building towards the deck park will be fragmented. The thin edge of a high-rise that really faces north (not towards the deck park) next to an incongruous fire station. No one made such a façade orientation mistake facing Klyde Warren Park.

And then there’s Browder Street. This little road is set to reconnect The Cedars to downtown when the I-30 renovation is complete and the Browder bridge is restored. And yet, the developers want to close Browder between Cadiz and Canton so their parking podium can overflow to make the math work.

I agree with the Peer Reviewers who said if Browder gets closed, the bridge shouldn’t be built. But surely the City of Dallas has the power to deny the closure of Browder? Surely restoring an artery between The Cedars and the city is of more value than the needs of another aboveground parking garage?

And here’s the thing, all of these lot issues – the fire station and Browder Street — disappear if the developers moved their project a block east on land they already own slated for phase two. The reviewers rightly pointed out that taking the time for these issues to be worked out by the convention center, deck park, fire station and Browder Street, will not, as one reviewer said, cement “a mistake for the next 100 years.”

Why aren’t the developers doing this?  They have a tenant interested in the office space – who seemingly wouldn’t be interested in office space a block down the street?

Say “no” to a 100 year mistake.

The Building Itself

The architects talk about how the tall building with its sidecar garage tumor steps down to meet The Cedars neighborhood across I-30 (barely visible on the right side above). Personally, I see it as placing the ugly bits to the south. The Cadiz Street side is definitely the backside (although apparently the lighted bicycle storage on Cadiz will enliven the street – eye roll).

And it’s wrong for multiple reasons. As noted earlier, the building isn’t oriented towards the coming deck park over I-30. However, across Cadiz Street is an 11,500-square-foot lot owned by the Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios used as parking. I’m betting they’d sell the land to Hoque Global in exchange for parking in their building. This small parcel could extend the deck park and give the project another side of green space to a development footprint that offers little – and a reason to activate the southern Cadiz side of the project – especially if Browder Street is restored.

All its issues aside, I do like that I.M. Pei’s Dallas City Hall will no longer sit on the cliff-edge of downtown Dallas. It pulls interest south — neglected for far too long. Of course, design is critical here as Hoque Global’s lots form a straight line that could all too easily become a wall across southern downtown. One wonders why the city isn’t reviewing and approving the plan in its entirety to avoid this problem? (A topic for another column.)

Overall, the area is a parking lot wasteland that’s very convenient to Farmer’s Market, Main Street, Deep Ellum, and the chugging-along East Quarter. And that’s part of what scares me. Farmers Market is a dud of mid-rise apartments and townhouses – and Victory Park and the Museum District are as alive as my Purell-scrubbed hands. And Deep Ellum is being overrun by the same high-rises sitting atop enormous parking garages seen in Victory Park. I’m trying to think of a big urban masterplan that’s worked well. Even all the money in the world couldn’t save Hudson Yards in New York City.

NewPark One is no different

Dallas has enough aboveground parking. Yet this project calls for six stories of parking spread across its whole footprint (the lower “white” section of above left graphic) with just three stories below. This parking seems to be the whole reason to close Browder Street. While there’s a certain irony in trading a place that moves cars for one that parks them, it blocks a thoroughfare on the eve of its reconnection.

Zooming out, we see a 488-foot main tower with a 104-foot “tumor” on the southern side. I am mystified by the upper look of the building. First off, I get the lower office and hotel floors having no outdoor balcony spaces – although with COVID-19, one wonders if operable windows are being contemplated. 

On the upper residential floors, I don’t see universal balcony space. The right side “cuff” of horizontal ribs appears to contain balconies, however, the right side of the main building has no outdoor space for those residential units. Pre-COVID, that might have flown (especially the side facing towards I-30), however, are high-rise dwellers still keen on zero outdoor space? Couple that with vertical ribbing on the upper residential floors, it seems like anything but residential design (more 1950-60s International Style office building).

And then there’s its striking similarity to the W Hotel and Residences over in Victory Park. The “blank” amenity floor separating uses has been done to death around the world. What was exciting 20 years ago, is now simply derivative.

“But We Understand“

While the Peer Reviewers had major issues with the closure of Browder and the building’s interaction with the fire station, convention center, City Hall, and deck park, they still said they understood if the developer was too far along to stop the “cementing [of] a mistake for the next 100 years.”

Are you kidding me?