East Quarter: a New Neighborhood Is Brewing Downtown, And We Already Love It!

“I was driving down Commerce Street about four years ago, and I looked at all these great, old, vacant buildings,” says Patrick Todd, principal in the family-owned-and-operated developer Todd Interests. “A year later, we bought ’em all up — more than a dozen old commercial buildings.”

Today, those buildings are being turned into what is a truly exciting part of most southeastern swath of downtown Dallas. Or maybe it’s the most western part of Deep Ellum. Or perhaps something in-between, like maybe the name Todd Interests came up with: The East Quarter.

It’s the perfect name. It has caché, reflecting the luxury lifestyle it will offer. And it’s loaded with heritage, emanating from the deeply historical buildings that are staying, not being wiped out or demolished. In what is a rather rare move for a Dallas developer — NOT this developer, of course — Todd Interests is keeping old buildings and enhancing them, building within the shells and expanding, and making use of inner alleyways and narrow space between buildings to create cool glassy corridors.

My favorite touch: bricks used in the walls of the East Quarter Residences’ lobby are from Chicago, old bricks, some of which survived the Chicago fire, some still sporting the ghosts of old painted signage. Bricks were also saved and moved from local buildings. The caring salvage reminds me of an amazing home we once covered in Highland Park.

One example of an old building: the century-plus-years-old Meletio Building, as in Meletio Electrics, an electric supply company warehouse now converted into a luxury rental community that will more than hold its own against the luxe buildings of Turtle Creek and Uptown.

In fact, when we toured it, we compared notes to places like Bleu Ciel and The Stoneleigh, both multimillion-dollar luxury condos.

We were impressed: while I whined about no laundry sinks in every units’ laundry rooms, I have to admit the outdoor flatscreen TVs hanging above the high-end grills — several of them — more than made up for it.

The amenities clearly reflect the family’s Millennial influence: Patrick, a young father, knows how guys don’t want to miss the game when grilling.

And then there is the walkability live/work/play factor: the ground floor is retail, with six floors of office above, then two towers of new construction apartments crowning all. Great restaurants are nearby, including restauranteur extraordinaire Nick Badovinus’ National Anthem and next summer, Chicago chef Danny Grant’s Etta. Office tenants in EQ already include Therabody, moving here from LA, Dialexa, OrderMyGear, Interior Architects, and Pearl Street Dental. Other retail includes Lighthouse Art Space and E.Q. Dental.

Not surprisingly, a smattering of first residential tenants are now moving in.

The building was designed by Dallas-based Merriman Anderson Architects, and the building boasts 180,000 square feet of offices plus lower-level retail space. There are 335 apartments with rents starting at $1,900 a month for a 550-square-foot pad, but larger spaces are available, such as the 3,000-square-foot penthouses with massive outdoor spaces. Eight super-large units on the ninth floor hover above the amenity deck, with outdoor turfed patios almost as big as the apartment.

One of those is leasing for… are you ready? $6,000 a month!

The eighth-floor amenity deck is loaded with (high-quality) barbecue grills and an infinity-edge lap pool with a sunbathing pod, lounge areas, and an indoor tenant lounge and meeting area. There are multiple fireplaces and fire pits and cabanas alongside the pool, plus those aforementioned grills with widescreen TVs.

The Residences have an abundance of outdoor living areas, both public and private. The vast use of glass abutted to brick yields undisrupted views of the Dallas skyline, including Deep Ellum and Farmer’s Market, just a few blocks away. Views will remain undisturbed for a while: downtown Dallas’ new Harwood Park is being built between the East Quarter Residences and downtown’s skyscrapers, ensuring views won’t be blocked, says the developer, Patrick Todd.

In fact, Todd has had to fight “fake photo syndrome” with some believing his photos were renderings, not reality. But having seen this building first-hand along with Editor Karen Eubank, we can assure you: it’s all real!

“Someone we showed a picture to thought it was a rendering — it’s not a rendering,” says Todd. “It’s really the skyline that close!”

The old Meletio buildings are equipped with a modern, large entry lounge and a conference room built inside what was once a huge vehicle elevator. There is a massive safe once used by the old businesses in the building, now sitting in the lounge area and evoking more rich history.

As for the second floor, there is a state-of-the-art fitness center with weights and machines personally selected by the Todd family, all of whom are or have been competitive athletes. There is also a private bar club open only to tenants and for office tenants: private clubs are the hottest new amenity to hit commercial real estate. Stay tuned for more on this hot trend.