| Notes |
If you drive along the Dallas North Tollway, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the Jeffersonesque red-brick, columned buildings — one with a huge copper dome — going up one after another.
The landmark complex currently consists of two converted historic medical buildings and seven office buildings built since 2011. The 10th and final building is under construction and is nearly fully leased.
The original hospital building at Old Parkland in Dallas was converted to office space, and several new buildings have been added to the complex.
The original hospital building at Old Parkland in Dallas was converted to office space, and several new buildings have been added to the complex.(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)
More than 135 companies — financial, real estate and investment firms, family offices, foundations and corporate headquarters — are located in this luxe project where money seems to be no object.
Cathy Golden, general manager of Old Parkland operations, won’t give rental specifics but says it’s safe to say that Old Parkland’s leases are among the priciest in town, and more than double Dallas’ average rate of $27 a square foot.
Just how much the complex is worth is mostly conjecture. Crow Holdings places its value “in excess of $250 million,” which seems like a bit of a lowball.
When pigs fly
This is an American fantasyland created by Crow as an homage to the American Experiment.
Towering bronze statues of founding fathers George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin stand as sentinels at three buildings.
A hallway lit with lanterns and decorated with gold-leaf framed oil portraits leads to a fireplace in the Pecan Room inside the old nurses quarters building at Old Parkland in Dallas. The original hospital and nurses quarters were converted to office space, and several new buildings have been added to the complex.
A hallway lit with lanterns and decorated with gold-leaf framed oil portraits leads to a fireplace in the Pecan Room inside the old nurses quarters building at Old Parkland in Dallas. The original hospital and nurses quarters were converted to office space, and several new buildings have been added to the complex. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)
“The idea was to celebrate the ideas of the American founding using specific founders, but also their intellectual antecedents from the Enlightenment,” says Crow, who’s more than just a history buff. “So there’s a lot of John Locke and Adam Smith and guys from the Enlightenment who never came to America but who greatly influenced the founders.”
More than two dozen sculptures by Auguste Rodin, Antoine Bourdelle and Aristide Maillol grace the 9.5-acre grounds, half of which is communal green space.
Old Parkland is not open to the public. Round-the-clock security discourages the uninvited. “But we refer to them as courtesy officers more than security,” says Golden. “They spend more time directing people to the correct office they’re visiting than turning people away at the gate.”
The Pig Room at Old Parkland is a whimsical meeting room with a pig theme outside the very serious Debate Room.
The Pig Room at Old Parkland is a whimsical meeting room with a pig theme outside the very serious Debate Room.(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)
Amenities abound: a fitness center with locker rooms, sauna, squash and basketball courts, a jogging trail, a barbershop, a laundry, a restaurant, a private tavern and concierge services.
The Nurses Quarters, a converted dormitory for nurses who used to come from around Texas to work at the hospital, features the Pecan Room, a manor-like hall with pecan wood paneling, two huge fireplaces, commissioned art and historical artifacts.
But there are also touches of whimsy.
“Everything is so serious, we decided to do something lighthearted,” says Crow. “We made a conference room that we call the Pig Room.”
It features large wooden pig sculptures flanking a large glass panel of a pig with wings — as in when pigs fly.
'Goofy' becomes brilliant
Crow has played a hand in every inch of Old Parkland.
But the most surprising thing about Old Parkland is that he never had a master plan.
“I wish I could claim that there was a vision, but there wasn’t,” he says. “This place evolved organically.”
A historic marker is posted outside the original hospital building at Old Parkland on Wednesday, January 10, 2018 in Dallas. The original hospital and nurses quarters were converted to office space, and several new buildings have been added to the complex. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)
A historic marker is posted outside the original hospital building at Old Parkland on Wednesday, January 10, 2018 in Dallas. The original hospital and nurses quarters were converted to office space, and several new buildings have been added to the complex. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)
The fact that it even exists is a bit of a fluke.
The hospital building had been sitting fallow for years when Dallas County put it up for bid in 2005. One of Crow’s executives, Dodge Carter, suggested that Crow take a look at it for the company’s new headquarters.
“I said, ‘OK, that’s a goofy idea,’ ” Crow recalls. “But I decided to look at it. It had a beautiful shell, and the location was very good. So I said, ‘We could save the building and make it work, and that’s kinda cool.’ Then I fell in love with it.”
Crow Holdings and Alliance Residential placed the winning bid of $16.5 million, and the deal closed in late 2006. But instead of adding apartments, as the partnership originally planned, Crow became smitten with the idea of restoring the property and saving the grounds and quickly bought out Alliance.
The location was greatly enhanced by serendipity when Oak Lawn exit ramps were added to the Dallas North Tollway in 2008. |