DALLAS—The historic downtown Dallas High School at 2218 Bryan St. is in its final push to lock in a tenant or tenants. The four-story 109,000-square-foot landmark building is slated to open in fourth quarter 2017. The leasing team will be looking for an entity to take the top floor of the former school, which was built in 1907.

Matthews Paradise Office Development has teamed up with Younger Partners' principal Sean Dalton to lease the remaining office space. Matthews Paradise Office Development, the partnership of Jack Matthews of Matthews Southwest and Mitch Paradise, president of Paradise Development, is overseeing the improvements of the building.

Dalton says the project's unique architecture, excellent access to the DART light-rail at the Pearl/Art District station, as well as the on-site restaurant space and numerous hotels/restaurants within walking distance make this project attractive to a variety of office users. The building offers a great surface parking ratio for downtown and has good ingress/egress to surrounding highways including Interstate 75, Interstate 45 and Interstate 30, he says.

“This is special space, a lot of windows, a lot of brick, you get the real feel for the old building and all its history watching Dallas grow up,” Matthews tells GlobeSt.com. “The users who would like this space would be real thinkers who want something different than what comes with a glass box. It could be the creative side of a large company or a single-floor user who just wants something different. My guess it will be a group that sees the world in a different way and knows this space will be the right fit.”

The rehabilitation and office conversion of the high school is the first phase that will be developed on the overall property, which is bounded by Bryan Street, the Interstate 45/Live Oak exit ramp and North Pearl Street.

“This project is really personal to us and we want it to be successful,” Matthews says. “Not only to preserve the history of this building, but to extend the CBD and encourage development that connects the Arts District to the Farmers Market and on to Deep Ellum.”

In addition to the office component, there is 10,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space on the ground floor of the building. Currently, Perkins + Will, the lead tenant, is slated to occupy about 40% of the project's office space, with another 35% of the building's space in the works. The leasing effort is concentrated on filling the remaining 25% on the top floor.

Matthews Paradise will be looking to attain LEED Silver Certification for the project, which is on the National Registry with the National Parks Department.

Matthews Southwest is known for breathing new life into forgotten areas with projects such as South Side on Lamar, the NYLO Dallas and the Omni Dallas.

As previously reported, plans were unveiled for the high school conversion three years ago.

Matthews Paradise will be looking to attain LEED Silver Certification for the project, which is on the National Registry with the National Parks Department.

Matthews Southwest is known for breathing new life into forgotten areas with projects such as South Side on Lamar, the NYLO Dallas and the Omni Dallas.

As previously reported, plans were unveiled for the high school conversion three years ago.

Instant Insights /

Iconic High School Has Top Floor Open for Leasing

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