Preston Hollow Residents Ready to Fight Proposed 325-Foot Tower at Preston-Royal
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A proposed mixed-use project at Preston Road and Royal Lane in North Dallas has drawn neighborhood opposition over concerns about increased traffic and building height.
Building in North Dallas can be fraught with community pushback. The yearslong fight over the aging Pepper Square strip center underscored how protective residents can be when new development is proposed — and early signs suggest this project could face a similar uphill battle.
Dallas-based Burk Interests and its partner Greenway Investment Company are working to put up a $650 million mixed-use development that includes a 28-story hotel, 24-story condo tower, office space, and dining at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane.
The project is seeking approval for a planned development district that would allow buildings up to 325 feet. Currently, the site is zoned for “community retail” uses with a maximum height of 54 feet. Surrounding the intersection are primarily single-family neighborhoods.
The seven-acre site at the southwest corner of Preston and Royal is currently developed with low-rise commercial uses — a small shopping center with tenants such as Gazebo Burgers, Escondido Tex-Texas, a Chase Bank branch, and a handful of health-and-wellness shops — and includes a commercial lot that has remained vacant following earlier demolitions. The area was nearly decimated by an EF-3 tornado in 2019 that damaged buildings and homes, and stripped much of the mature tree canopy. The developers plan to plant more than 100 new mature trees as part of their proposal, the Dallas Morning News reported.
“We all moved here because it was a nice, quiet residential neighborhood. It’s zoned that way, and there are no big developments anywhere,” said Bruce Bleakley, who lives on nearby Orchid Lane. “A 325-foot tower of luxury condominiums and hotel rooms would really stick out like a sore thumb here and be totally out of character with the neighborhood.”
Bleakley told CandysDirt.com he attended a community engagement meeting last October where developers previewed their plans for the seven-acre lot at Preston and Royal. He described the feedback as overwhelmingly opposed.
Margaret Chabris, another Orchid Lane resident, said that the neighborhood concerns go beyond just a new building “taller than the Statue of Liberty” jutting out of the landscape.
“There’s concern about increased traffic at the already very stressed-out intersection of Preston and Royal. There’s concern about the safety of students getting picked up and dropped off at Saint Mark’s and the Winston School. There’s concern about adding so much density that it’ll impact the safety and risks associated with fire and EMT traffic trying to get to emergencies,” she said.
In response to traffic concerns, the developers commissioned a traffic study comaring the proposed project to other uses currently allowed under the site’s zoning. According to the study, the development would generate signficantly fewer additional vehicle trips than those alternatives.
Neighborhood residents like Bleakley and Chabris have launched a nonprofit called Preserve Preston Hollow, which they say has collected 1,500 signatures opposing the project.
Preserve Preston Hollow describes itself as a neighborhood group focused on protecting the “scale, character, and livability” of Preston Hollow. On its website, the group argues that rezoning the site would allow development incompatible with the surround areas, which is currently designated for community retail uses with a maximum height of 54 feet.
The group cites concerns about increased traffic at the Preston Road and Royal Lane intersection, potential impacts to nearby schools, and what it characterizes as a broader precedent-setting risk along the Preston Road corridor.
The group has been canvassing the neighborhood, distributing yard signs, collecting petition signatures, and encouraging residents to contact city officials ahead of the project’s review by the City Plan Commission and Dallas City Council.
Anecdotally, early signs suggest this proposal could face more opposition than the Pepper Square rezoning, which dragged on for three years amid multiple neighborhood-led lawsuits and repeated City Council deferrals before it was finally approved — with neighbors still opposed.
Still, the developers are confident that they would be bringing significant value to the neighborhood.
“We believe in the future of Dallas and, specifically, this very special neighborhood in Preston Hollow. That’s why we have thoughtfully designed a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use project (including large, ultra-luxury condominiums and apartments, class A office, a five-star hotel and great new restaurants surrounding a family-friendly park-like green space) that will enhance the neighborhood experience,” said Leland Burk, president of Burk Interests, in a statement to CandysDirt.com.
He said he will be proposing traffic improvements and expanded sidewalks at the expense of Burk Interests and Greenway Investment Company.
“The addition of these amenities is exactly the right infusion of new development needed to continue the legacy of excellence at this important corner,” Burk said.
A newly enacted law aimed at encouraging housing growth, Senate Bill 840, places limits on how aggressively cities can restrict new building height — but only in specific circumstances. The law is designed to prevent municipalities from capping height at 45 feet or lower when a site already allows taller commercial uses. Because the Preston and Royal site currently permits buildings up to 54 feet, the statute does not apply in this case.
“This is a valuable piece of land that should be generating tax revenue — all we’re asking is that any development there be within the confines of the existing zoning regulations,” the neighbor Bleakley said.
A date has yet to be scheduled for a hearing before the City Plan Commission, but we’ll keep you posted.
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1/2 THE HEIGHT WOULD BE MORE APPROPRIATE ON THAT SMALL SPACE,
THE GREEN SPACE REFLECTED IS THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL BACKYARD,
AND APPEARS TO BE JUST FOR WALKWAYS BETWEEN BUILDINGS, NOT A PARK
FOR RESIDENTS.
WHAT ARE THOSE DIMENSIONS? X FEET BY X FEET…..HOLDING 3 LAWN CHAIRS?
Anyone who thinks the Pepper Square residents “won” should think again. They spent a couple of years fighting, spent who knows how much on the legal fight, and they are still getting a large dense project they don’t want, but instead of getting a project that has significant community give-backs and good design, they will get the by-right product where the developer has no reason to provide things like the open space, the trail connector, the senior housing we badly need, etc. That isn’t a win. And if these people go down that path instead of negotiating in good faith, they will end of in the same boat. If what they want is that the property won’t be redeveloped, that will never happen. This property will absolutely get redeveloped – the question is how. The developer’s initial concept is never the final offer. There’s always room to move if people are working in good faith. With new state laws like SB840, these people should really consider what could be built here. 54 feet with no limit on density, limited required parking, limits on what infrastructure improvements the city can require, no limit on FAR, no design standards, and no requirement for community give-backs. Unfortunately, I think the collective “we” are going to have to see some of these by-right projects before we understand the value of negotiating to get a well-designed project.
As members of the City Plan Commission serve in a quasi-judicial role, the public reasonably expects them to approach each zoning case with neutrality and an open mind. Public commentary by Commissioner Kingston suggesting that residents “should really consider what could be built” if they don’t negotiate, or that redevelopment intensity is inevitable, risks creating the appearance that outcomes are predetermined rather than decided on the record. Community participation in rezoning cases is not an act of bad faith — it is a right built into the process itself. While thoughtful negotiation can certainly produce better projects, it is not inappropriate for neighbors to oppose a request they believe conflicts with adopted land-use policy or neighborhood character. When a commissioner’s public remarks sound less like impartial oversight and more like strategic advice to one side (where’s the admonition to the developer), it suggests that the upcoming hearing room is not a forum for deliberation — but rather just a formality. I’ve seen this play out first hand.
This project looks fantastic and will only get better with some community give backs after negotiating!
The arguments about traffic are way overblown. This project is promoting walk ability and making walking more likely. The arguments about it negatively impacting school drop offs is laughable.
We need more developments like this in Dallas!
Zoning cases are not quasi-judicial. Commissioners can and should engage with the public. In the modern world, that includes on social media.
if you ask me should be taller, dallas needs to dream BIG… BURJ DALLAS here
NIMBYism is a scourge.
This may be an attractive project, but it does not belong in the Preston Royal neighborhood. It takes away the neighborhood feel. It is inconsistent with the area. This is our neighborhood where we eat and shop. Please NO Hotel, NO Skyscraper (which is proposed to be taller than the Statue of Liberty).
Along with Pepper Square, Dallas needs more of this type of development. As it becomes more expensive to provide public services, including libraries, parks, and transit, we must more efficiently use land. Using vacant and underutilized land for this project is a win, particularly because it encourages walkability (less car traffic), adds housing (greatly needed), and reduces pressure on undeveloped sites further away (including natural areas).
I chaired the City Plan Commission years ago. Unfortunately, SB-840 now potentially allows 5-story apartments to cover the site at maximum density and minimum parking — with no zoning approval needed or community input considered. Much of the property is vacant or obsolescent, and the question might be: Will it be redeveloped as 5-story apartments, or a deal with the developer to lower the height by half? Or maybe something else — there are no guarantees. At least in this part of town, it would not be cheap apartments.
Our home will be completely shaded from this mammoth tower. Trying to sell the sidewalks and green space is a joke. Ironically, the developer opposed adding stadium lights at Ursuline’s soccer field because it would be a distraction for him and his neighbors, yet feels cramming 4 buildings — including a 24 and 28 story building on a 7 acre lot, makes sense and everyone should welcome it. We all know what’s happening here.
The walkability comments are a joke. No one walks in Dallas!