Pacific Elm Properties has secured a $132.5 million loan from CIM Group to support the ongoing conversion of Santander Tower in downtown Dallas from office space to residential use, according to the Dallas Business Journal. The 50-story building at 1601 Elm Street is undergoing significant redevelopment as part of Pacific Elm’s broader adaptive reuse strategy.
The financing will fund the second phase of the Peridot Residences project within Santander Tower, which will add 105 apartments to the property. The first phase, completed last year, delivered 291 units. Once finished, the building will offer a mix of rental apartments alongside 858,000 square feet of office space, a two-story Mint House hotel, the private Tower Club, and ground-floor retail options.
“About 350,000 square feet of office leases have been signed at the tower since the redevelopment launched. Those include New York-based law firm Wilson Elser, which downsized into 19,000 square feet on the 26th floor late last year. Santander Consumer USA, the auto lender and namesake tenant, occupies more than 200,000 square feet.”
The recapitalization comes after Pacific Elm recently faced foreclosure on another downtown residential holding and lost its stake in Comerica Bank Tower at 1717 Main Street last year.
Pacific Elm’s holdings in Dallas include six Class A towers totaling about 4.4 million square feet. The company is also planning another office-to-apartment conversion at Bryan Tower on Bryan Street.
Santander Tower was one of North Texas’ largest office properties with a total area of approximately 1.4 million square feet before its repositioning began. The shift toward mixed-use development among owners of large office buildings reflects changing work patterns and evolving tenant demands in Dallas’ commercial real estate market.
The transformation aligns with a broader trend in downtown Dallas where landlords are increasingly converting underused office buildings into residential spaces to meet growing demand for housing.
