Swiss Developer Buys Downtown Dallas Site For Market-Rate Multifamily Development

Switzerland-based Empira Group, an institutional real estate investment firm, continues its expansion in the U.S. with the acquisition of a development site strategically located steps from the vibrant Dallas Arts District and right in the heart of the central business district. 

Empira acquired a 1.1-acre site to build a market-rate multifamily development consisting of 375 apartments. The ground floor will offer 7,300 square feet of restaurant space and 2,500 square feet of outdoor seating overlooking the peaceful and serene Celebration of Life park. The building is designed to further strengthen the area’s sense of community by becoming a destination for locals and visitors alike.  

The high-rise will be located at 711 N. Pearl Street, three blocks from the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation. The apartments will cater to residents who want to live right in Dallas’ urban core surrounded by an attractive mixed-use environment including Dallas’ largest employment hubs and a rich culinary and entertainment scene. Within a few blocks, residents can reach the most prominent visual and performing arts venues, such as the AT&T Performing Arts Center, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the Meyerson Symphony Center, and the Dallas Museum of Art. 

“Dallas has been on our radar for several years as the city has rapidly transformed into a national powerhouse, attracting new residents, professional talent, and businesses,” said Lahcen Knapp, Empira‘s Chairman. “From highly-educated young professionals to empty nesters looking for a vibrant lifestyle, everyone wants to live in Dallas. Billions of dollars in private capital and public funds have been invested in Dallas’ urban core over the last few years to accommodate for the metro´s remarkable population growth. Our state-of-the-art development will provide new housing options to individuals and families who want to live within walking distance of the Dallas Arts District, shops, restaurants, parks and their workplace.”

In addition to the Arts District attracting more than 1.5 million visitors a year, downtown Dallas is the largest employment center in North Texas with approximately 135,000 daytime employees. Today, the area encompasses over 35 million square feet of office space, over 2,500 businesses, and approximately 200 corporate or regional headquarters including four Fortune 500 headquarters and notable employers that include AT&T, Jacobs Engineering, Willis Towers Watson, Comerica Bank, Neiman Marcus, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Invesco. 

As a result, the multifamily submarket containing Uptown and downtown Dallas sees strong demand for housing, which translates into high occupancy rates. Several ongoing large-scale projects, such as the new Goldman Sachs campus, which is expected to add more than 5,000 additional jobs to the urban core, will keep the demand for housing high.  

The broader Dallas-Fort Worth metro is home to 23 Fortune 500 company headquarters and has the fifth largest concentration of high-tech jobs in the U.S. The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is the second-busiest airport globally in terms of passengers and operations and plans to expand by adding a $1.6 billion terminal. By 2030, D-FW is projected to reach a population of 10 million and displace Chicago as the third-largest metro in the U.S. All of these facts demonstrate that DFW has the economic scale and infrastructure to be one of the world’s leading metropolitan areas for decades to come.

The development site is within walking distance of St. Paul and Pearl/Arts District DART stations and only a few blocks away from the M-Line Trolley, which offers free daily travel to uptown and downtown Dallas. Klyde Warren Park, a spectacular 5.2-acre outdoor park that cost $110 million to build, is also within walking distance. All of this will allow residents to experience an attractive urban lifestyle with superior walkability and be surrounded by countless attractive indoor and outdoor amenities. 

“Dallas has absolutely everything our future residents need to enjoy a true ‘live, work and play’ environment,“ said Rafael Aregger, Empira’s Head of Investments U.S. “This is such a vibrant city and we are looking forward to continuing to grow our footprint in this community building developments that will make the city proud.”

The Dallas transactions follow Empira’s acquisitions of two high-profile development sites in downtown Miami near Brickell Avenue, known as the “Wall Street of the South.” Brickell’s Financial District is the second-largest international banking center in the country. Empira plans to develop market-rate multifamily projects to cater to Miami’s growing workforce.