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Here is a list of memorable tall buildings
proposed from 1946 through 2000. The buildings never got off the ground
but made quite a stir, particularly during the building boom of the 1980s
in which Dallas built about 15 million square feet of space. In contrast,
during the 1980s we saw the most proposals of un-built projects. From the first
building to the last, the developer trumpeted plans for, and
then didn't build some 30 towers in 20 projects in downtown Dallas. This
is 22 million square feet
of space, which equals to more than three-quarters of downtown Dallas.
You
can only imagine how Dallas could have looked with all that extra
space. Here is a one of kind look at the incredible skyscraper aspirations that did not
come true.
Note, all
information is not guaranteed to be correct and other major high-rise
projects may be missing particularly between 1946 through 1980. The drawings are by
Artist Greg
Garza and each drawing will vary to some extent from the original design. More
drawings will be added and information is subject to change at any time as research continues. Use full screen view
for better viewing.
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Year announced and Description |
Drawings
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| 1946-Rogers Lacy Hotel 40-stories,
Rogers Lacy an East Texas oil wildcatter commissioned Frank Lloyd
Wright to design a futuristic skyscraper hotel in downtown Dallas. The
glass facade hotel was to feature no interior corridors, therefore
believed to introduce the first atrium lobby. The project was
announced but terminated after the sudden death of Mr. Lacy. |
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| 1957-Fair Park Tower, a free
standing tower up to 800-ft high was to be the centerpiece of Fair
Park where the world famous annual State Fair of Texas is held. Funding for this project never materialized and plans quickly
faded away. |
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| 1968-Two Main Place a 45-story
tower and a hotel was the second and third phases of existing One Main
Place. In relation to
One Main Place, the 45-story tower was to be constructed in a cross-position
across Griffin Street where the tallest skyscraper Bank of America Plaza now
stands. |
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| 1969-Griffin Square-Dallas Tower
60-stories, a 913-foot high circular office-hotel tower, to contain
one million square feet of floor space and cost $30 million. The
project's developer was Wesley C. Goyer Jr. and was designed by a
Dallas architectural firm. The cylindrical concrete structure, was to be located at Griffin Street near Young Street adjacent
to the Dallas Convention Center. Office suites were to occupy the lower
floors and a 600-room hotel for the upper 28 floors. Glass-enclosed
express elevators on the tower's outer rim were to provide visitors
with a breathtaking ride to a revolving restaurant and indoor and
outdoor observation areas at the top of the tower. The tower for that era,
would have been the world's tallest concrete building and the tallest
building in Texas. The project was
nearing a ground breaking schedule in 1970, but canceled when the major hotel operator Harvey Hotels withdrew from the project. |
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| 1971-Dallas Convention Center
Hotel Tower 40 to 45-stories, following the failure of
Griffin Square-Dallas Tower yet another hotel and office project failed.
The Convention Center Hotel Tower was proposed at Griffin and Young Streets where Pioneer
Plaza now stands. The overall hotel tower project was to include other
office towers and expansion plans for the Dallas Convention Center. Although
the convention center has been expanding, today there is still talk
about the much-needed high-rise hotel. With Dallas near the
top in convention business, surely a landmark
high-rise hotel would serve well. |
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| 1978-The Portman Project, a
$145-million multi-use complex downtown along Main Street from the
famous Neiman Marcus store to the historic Magnolia Building. The
project consisted of a 3-story shopping mall anchored by Neiman
Marcus, a 900-room 51-story hotel tower and underground parking. The
project was well received but never made the design stage. City
leaders refused immediately when Portman Properties presented the city
with a $22 million bill to condemn buy the land and build the
underground parking with truck docks. |
No design
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| 1978-Two Dallas Centre designed by
I.M. Pei, a 50-story
V-shape tower and a 500-room hotel were the second phase of One
Dallas Centre. The tower location was adjacent to One Dallas Centre within the block bounded by Saint Paul, Live
Oak, Harwood and Bryan streets, the hotel was to be across Harwood Street.
The design was later modified to resemble two 52-story hexagonal
shaped towers that connected. The hotel was also modified to blend
in with the office tower. |
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| 1978-Dallas Independent School
District office complex was to include a 50-story centerpiece tower
with two 15 to 20-story towers and a large hotel on a 5.2 acre site. The
development was to be located between Central Expressway and Pearl
Street. One
factor the development failed was demolition of the school campus, which has sparked controversy in the past as well as today from activists who lobbied to preserve the campus. The only remaining
structure on the site is the oldest standing high school building in the city,
the three-story former Dallas High School, also known as Crozier Tech
High School built in 1907.
Today DART Rail-Pearl Street Station is
next to the site making the property much more attractive for a
major development. |
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| 1981-Dallas Main Center phase two,
a 72-story 1.8 million square foot office tower, the twin tower of
Dallas' tallest Bank of America
Plaza, although this concept would have been in gold and silver glass.
Location was at the southeast and southwest corners of Main and
Griffin streets. Phase three was
a 27 to 30-story office tower and a 16-story 450-room hotel with supporting retail space. |
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| 1981-Plaza of the Americas phase
two, a 26-story tower that was later redesigned to a 42-story tower
when trying to lure a major oil company to occupy the majority of the
office space. It was canceled when the oil company selected a new
office tower near NorthPark Shopping Mall. |
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| 1982-SPG International Tower
54-stories. Location was the block bounded by Commerce, Poydras,
Jackson and Lamar streets. |
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| 1982-1212 Main 20-stories. |
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| 1982-Two Fountain Place 60-stories
720-ft.; Initially two 60-story office towers were announced for
Fountain Place, but only one was built. The tower location was Field at Munger streets, just
north adjacent to the
existing tower, although turned at 90-degrees. |
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| 1983-LAP
Building 40-stories. |
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| 1983-Baptist General Convention
Tower 20 to 25-stories. |
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| 1983-1717 Ross a 40-story tower
was planned at the block bounded by Ross, Ervay, San Jacinto and Saint
Paul streets. Little is known about this tower but it was part of the announcement
of the built 45-story Lincoln Plaza by Lincoln Property Company and could have been in the long
term future plans for the developer. It was to rise later above a new
five story parking garage, the parking garage was built but the tower
was not. The year may be wrong but I will research further info on
this. |
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| 1984-Lone Star project. Two 50-story,
1.1 million square foot office towers. Location was the block
bounded by Ross Avenue, Crockett, Flora and Leonard streets.
Construction started but only for the 7-story underground parking
garage. The towers would then rise above the underground parking
garage when the time was right. But this never happened, the
developer could never obtain the tenants to justify construction of the towers. Today the
underground parking garage serves very well for the Arts District Area
and the footing for the towers at ground
level is evident testimony
of what could have risen from there; certainly we can only
imagine. |
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| 1984-One Texas Place 56-stories, a
1.4 million square foot office tower with a parking garage, location
was at Pacific and Lamar streets. The tower was to feature a
church like rooftop complete with spire, with an estimated height of
890-feet to the tip. |
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| 1984-Reunion Complex four 28-story
towers surrounding the existing Hyatt Regency Hotel, Reunion Tower and Reunion
Arena. |
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| 1984-Dallas Downtown Station Tower
a 34-story 700,000 square foot tower on top of the existing 5-story U.S. Post
Office for a total of 39 floors. |
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| 1984-Ross Place 40 to 50-stories
700,000 square foot tower. Location Southwest corner of Ross and Field
streets |
No design
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| 1985-Akard & Ross project 4.2
million square feet in twin 54-story towers (742-ft.), one 45-story tower
(600-ft.) and a 15 to 20-story
hotel. Location was at the block bounded by Akard, Ross, Saint Paul and at Woodall Rodgers
Freeway. This project was by Lincoln Property Company and was the largest during the building boom,
projected to cost $600 million-$700 million. |
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| 1985-Woodall Rodgers & Griffin
Tower up to 100-stories, " City skyline may get 100-story
structure." Bold announcements such as this one during the
building boom were so infectious, that some developers were announcing
plans even before calling the architects. The owner put the land
on sale shortly after and today still remains a
huge parking lot. |
No design
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| 1985-Cotton Exchange Tower 40-50
stories. Location was Southeast corner of Saint Paul and San
Jacinto streets. This was the same developer from the Woodall Rogers
& Griffin Tower. The land was put on sale shortly after the
project was canceled. |
No design
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| 1985-San Jacinto & Harwood
27-stories. Location was Northwest corner of San Jacinto and Harwood. |
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| 1985-Pacific Place 56-stories, a
design was released and this tower was to be located across from the
existing Fountain Place at the Southeast corner of Ross Ave, and Field
streets. |
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| 1985-LaSalle Project two towers up
to 30-stories. |
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| 1985-RepublicBank Center
60-stories 781-ft., the new headquarters for Republic Bank; plans were
released and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The tower was
to rise at Saint Pual St. and Live Oak streets. but due to a series of bank
mergers the project faded along with the fortunes of the banking
company. |
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| 1985-Bright Banc Plaza 30 to
40-stories up to 500,000 square feet of office space was proposed next to the catholic church at Ross Ave.,
Pearl, Flora and Crockett streets. |
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| 1985-Cityplace Center West Tower-phase
two 42-stories, was the twin tower to existing Cityplace Center East
Tower, it was to include a sky-bridge walkway over Central Expressway connecting
both towers. When the project was first announced the design of the
twin towers were different and were the centerpiece to other surrounding
low rise buildings. The design was later modified as seen in the
existing Cityplace Center East Tower. The plans for the
west tower faded away
when Southland Corp. hit rocky times in the late 1980s, and then
rescued in 1991 by a Japanese firm, by then Southland Corp. had no
plans to build. DART Rail, Ciityplace Subway
Station opened last year and development has been in progress such as the
$50 million West Village a mixed-use project.
Don't be alarmed but in the long term future there may yet be a
tower up to 43-stories on the west side of Central Expressway. |
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| 2000-MGF Tower over 100 stories
1657-ft. was part of a mixed-use project at The Colony suburb north of Dallas, the tower was to be the
world's tallest. The Colony city council refused zoning for this
tower, while
the F. A. A. office in Fort Worth never came to a conclusion on
approving the height. The developer may sell part of
the land but is still planning a much smaller commercial project called Global
Centre,
at State Hwy. 121 and Plano Parkway. |
No design
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The Dallas building boom of the 1980s lead the nation several times in
office construction during that decade and built about 15 million square feet of
space. All of that built office space was enough to equal the entire size of downtown Detroit. Now you know why
Dallas was overbuilt.
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