February 23, 2007

Best Real Estate Deals 2006 -
Best Rehabilitation or Re-Use - FINALIST

Christine Perez / Staff Writer

In the early 1900s, Lake Cliff Park in Oak Cliff was the place to be. With a Ferris wheel carousel, theater, musical shows and a 30-acre lake, it was known, according to news reports, as “the Southwest’s greatest playground.”

Visitors to the area frequented the luxurious Lake Cliff Tower Hotel on Colorado Boulevard. Built in 1928, the property began life as a 10-story apartment complex. It was converted to a hotel and three floors were added in the early 1930s. In the 1960s, it became a nursing home. By the late 1990s it was a shuttered, forgotten relic of the past.

Enter Evergreen Realty Advisors. Led by Steve Everbach and Doug Deason, the real estate investors pumped $17 million into the property, painstakingly restoring the building’s exterior, keeping the prized details such as ornate entry columns and Art Deco interior features but gutting the rest, and adding new amenities such as a pool, outdoor fire pit, secured parking, theater room, wine cellar and game room.

The renovation has opened up the gateway to Oak Cliff and served as a catalyst for other redevelopment projects in the area. The tower’s 56 condominium homes range in size from 900 to 2,000 square feet and in price from $200,000 to $600,000.

About half of the units have already been sold. pb2 Architecture and Engineering oversaw design of the project; Precept Builders served as the general contractor.