September 15, 2006

Will New Tower Spur Trend?

Paige Phelps / Real Estate Editor

Lisa Peters, a mortgage banker and resident of Oak Cliff, thought long and hard about which view she wanted from her Lake Cliff Tower condo windows: the view of downtown Dallas’ skyline and the Trinity River or the green of Lake Cliff Park and the pond that’s centered there.

“You know what? Yes,” she said with a laugh. “I wanted both those views and the only way to get both views was to buy both sides.”

Peters purchased two condos in the building and had them converted into one.

“It’s such an incredible place with incredible views,” she said. “The neighbors are going to be great, eclectic people. It’s going to be fun.”

Of course, fun isn’t exactly the first word that pops into Steve Everbach’s mind when he thinks of this project.

Everbach, Lake Cliff Tower’s developer Steve Everbach of Evergreen Realty Advisors, said: “This was a painstaking renovation. The quality of the building before was pretty poor. We literally demolished the entire interior of the building, we took out every single wall,” he said.

The 1926 10-story apartment complex, which was originally touted as “Your castle in Italy” and was designed by architectural firm Thompson and Swaine, eventually bore out its life as, among many things, a nursing home, a hotel, and the headquarters of a radio station.

Today, the condos in the rehabbed tower are priced at $180,000 to $600,000 and are listed exclusively through Abio AHK Realty. The builders should be finished with the tower’s 56 units by the end of September, with residents moving in the first part of October.

Precept Builders bought the building in October 2003 and purchased the two tracts across the street in 2004, with the intent of developing retail in the area, but so far it has remained undeveloped land that, Everbach said, helps control residents’ views. So far, 60 percent of the building has been closed on.

“I think this will be the anchor piece for revitalization of the entire neighborhood of North Oak Cliff.”

He said that both developers and residents are watching for opportunities that will take Oak Cliff to the next level of development. And Lake Cliff Tower, he added, may be the sought-after catalyst.

“I think Oak Cliff may be at the beginning of a resurgence of significant activity. … There’s a tremendous amount of interest from developers mainly because there are just not enough geographically interesting neighborhoods that have yet to be developed in the central core of Dallas. There is great topography at reasonable prices.”

Ron Wills, owner of Beckley Brewhouse, is hopeful to see the fruits of Everbach’s “resurgence.” He said he recently opened his business on the street adjacent to the tower because of the “affordable rents and a rejuvenated spirit” in the neighborhood.

“Anytime you increase the population, it’s going to be good for business,” he said of the area’s impending condo owners. “It’s [Lake Cliff Tower] been under construction forever. I think when it opens it’ll be good for business around here.”

As for Peters, she feels that buying in Lake Cliff makes her part of something much bigger than the redevelopment of one property in the Oak Cliff gateway.

“It’s so close to downtown and as downtown grows and the Trinity project grows, this is going to be the first of many [condo buildings] to come, and that has significant value,” she said. “When you’re the first, others will follow but you can only be first but once.”