Hoque Global, PegasusAblon Join Forces To Acquire 72-Story Bank of America Plaza

Hoque Global and PegasusAblon have joined forces to buy the Bank of America Plaza and four adjacent blocks in downtown Dallas with designs of the properties being the nexus of a robust financial district in the central city.

At 72 stories and 1.9 million square feet, the elegantly proportioned building is the tallest in Dallas and among the tallest west of the Mississippi. 

The developers and investors plan a $350 million redevelopment that will add a 300-room luxury hotel to the tower and bring an office environment alive with a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly street life with restaurants and retail, all designed to accommodate for the new essentials of a downtown urban setting: work, live, and play.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. Terms were not disclosed. The seller is Metropolis Holdings of Chicago, which has had ownership since 1998.

The properties sit on the doorstep of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, currently undergoing a $3.5 billion renovation and expansion.

“Right after we did the Adolphus Tower renovation, we were looking to do something bigger and that's when we started looking for a good opportunity and as you know a lot of office buildings traded in downtown, but our eyes were on a better opportunity that we can do something to catalyze the area,” said Mike Hoque, CEO of Hoque Global. “So, when we saw Bank of America opportunity come, we took on and our vision there is try to build a new financial district because we are block and a half away from the new convention center and Goldman Sachs new headquarters.”

Hoque made his first serious foray into the commercial real estate market in 2015 by purchasing and refurbishing the Adolphus Tower in Dallas.

His other projects in Dallas include SoGood @ Cedars, a 15-acre complex with apartments and a brewery. The Newpark District, which in just its first $380 million phase will include a 38-story tower, is 225,000 square feet of office space, a hotel and nearly 300 residential units.  University Hills is a 270-acre urban village near the University of North Texas with hundreds of homes, plus commercial buildings and a town center.

The Smith & Elm development in downtown Mansfield is a $50 million mixed-use development with 249 residences, nearly 12,000 square feet of retail, office, and restaurant space, and a nearly 8,000-square-foot civic plaza.

He has plays outside of North Texas, too.

The Vineyard at Florence, a $500 million “residential winery” with 1,000 homes under development, 50 miles north of Austin.

Hoque was also the developer on the Evans & Rosedale project in southeast Fort Worth until the developer and city parted ways in December.

Mike Ablon, principal of PegasusAblon, is best known for leading the redevelopment of the Dallas Design District. He earned degrees in architecture and engineering at University of Texas and master’s degree from Harvard.

He studied in Paris and was an apprentice under American architect Robert Venturi. Venturi was an acclaimed theorist and thinker on the built environment and how individuals experience and interact with their surroundings, influencing everything from health and well-being to economic activity, social connections, and environmental impact.

Hoque and Ablon have floated the idea of the Texas Stock Exchange as an anchor tenant for the office building.

“That's a kind of client that would fit in, as an example,” Ablon said of the Texas Stock Exchange. “That would be a client that would fit. What's catalytic for that part of town is the migration of financial services firms. JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Comerica relocating from Detroit. You've seen it over in Fort Worth at the Circle T Ranch area, and you've seen what's coming to Dallas.”

Hoque said the group is in the final stages of negotiation with the hotel brand.

“You guys are going to love it,” Hoque said. “It’s an international brand. We should be able to expand on in the next 30-to-60 days.”

One key element will be separate lobbies for the hotel and office.

The tower, initially developed by Bramalea Texas as the Dallas Main Center and designed by JPJ Architects, opened in 1985 as the InterFirst Plaza, touted as the city’s “landmark building.” At its opening the building was the 10^th-tallest in the world. The building has since taken on a number of identities, including Bank of America in 1998. Last year, Bank of America announced that it was moving to a 30-story building in Dallas' Uptown. 

Ablon noted that many of downtown Dallas’ projects are being led by local investors and developers, such as Lucy Crow Billingsley, Craig Hall, Ray Hunt, Jack Matthews, and Ray Washburne.

Up until the 1970s, he recalled, most of downtown Dallas was “owned by Dallas people.” In the 1980s, as development increased, there was a lot of outside ownership.

Development being driven by locals “is really a wonderful thing,” Ablon said.

“If Dallas can go into a healthy high growth mode, with the ownership of the CBD with a lot of people who live here, that can be a special moment. It's analogous to what Fort Worth families did for Fort Worth because of Fort Worth ownership.

“So, I'm excited about that piece of city fabric and what it can do with each of those different constituents playing their own role, doing their own piece. And I can say that we, our collective entity, Hoque Global and PegasusAblon, look forward to being a part of that puzzle and contributing to the fabric of Dallas.”