Aloft Apartments

This adaptive reuse in the CBD of Dallas is very interesting. They have applied for historical status on the building and have received tax credits through this process.

Click play for photos of the project



Their view was to "leave the historical things in their original condition while building in new and improved things where necessary. Bare concrete walls are a common theme in the building. An anecdote shared with us was of an older lady, not in the target demographic, who called the front desk asking why they had not finished the construction process on her room.

They have pretty good occupancy in their building but complained that the market is shopping around too much. They feel a lot of pressure with people asking for discounts ALL the time. This has driven their rental rates down to the $110 range. They would budgeted and planned to be in the $150 range on this $105k per room cost hotel. This is below their usual room cost of $135k per room, and one of the owners mentioned that they would be looking to reuse more buildings in other markets as the unique feel and lower costs make it an attractive prospect.

The hotel is designed as a loft-condo feel, with a broad range of features that appeal to 30'ish year old people. The i-Phone generation they jokingly called us. Ted, one of the owners, lived up to the name as he was poking around on his i-Phone a few times during the meeting.

They presented a short history of the building, and its usage, a highlight of which is a chute which used to run the entire way down the building to the train tracks that ran under the property. This is now a conversation piece and has been closed off despite the expression of interest in using it for a "fast escape fire safety device" by some of the team.

All in all, this project is well done and well positioned to take good advantage of the convention center and new market of younger executives.