Builder Tearing Down Apartments For Mixed-Use

Dallas' apartment teardown craze is heading to the north loop with a new project in the works. Inland American Communities - one of the busiest apartment builders in the area - is preparing plans for a mixed-use apartment development just south of LBJ Freeway. The development would replace older rental units on the north side of Harvest Hill Road just east of the Dallas North Tollway, according to documents filed with the city of Dallas.

Inland American is seeking to build a combination of apartments, retirement living, retail and office space and single-family homes on the property between Montfort Drive and Noel Road, according to filings with the city Plan Commission. That area is now occupied by about 400 apartments built in the 1970s and 1980s. Officials with Inland American declined to discuss the company's latest deal. But analysts say the location is ripe for redevelopment.

Greg Willet, vice president of apartment analyst M/PF YieldStar, said he isn't surprised that the old apartments on Harvest Hill are slated for demolition. In 2007, almost 7,000 Dallas-area apartments were torn down. "I don't see that stopping this year," Mr. Willett said.

The Harvest Hill site is just south of LBJ Freeway and the Galleria shopping mall. Several old apartment properties on the north side of the freeway have already been earmarked for redevelopment. The biggest obstacle to developers who want to reuse these choice sites is the high cost of such land, said consultant Mike Puls of Foley & Puls. "That gets to be a big percentage of the cost of the new development," Mr. Puls said.

Inland American has projects under way in several Dallas-area urban locations. Late last year, the Georgia-based developer combined its operations with Dallas builder FirstWorthing Corp. Since then, the firm has been aggressively expanding its operations. Inland American recently broke ground for its Oak Park apartment community redevelopment off Lemmon Avenue near the Dallas North Tollway. And on Haskell Avenue north of downtown, the developer is working on plans for an apartment and retail complex that would replace the Loews Cityplace theater.