Redevelopment would add apartments to North Dallas retail center

The owners of a high-profile North Dallas shopping center want to add urban residential units to the mix.

The Hill retail center is located at the northeast corner of North Central Expressway and Walnut Hill Lane near DART’s Walnut Hill rail station.

Since 2021, the 200,000-square-foot retail property has been owned by North Carolina-based Asana Partners. Asana is the same company that’s a major owner in Dallas’ Deep Ellum district.

The commercial property firm is seeking zoning to “allow for future redevelopment of the entire property with mixed uses including multifamily,” according to filings with the Dallas city plan commission.

“The applicant’s intent is to gradually redevelop the entire property in phases over time, ultimately leading to a dense, walkable, mixed-use development with immediate access to transit,” according to the city filings. “In addition to the overall rezoning of the property, the first phase of this redevelopment is included in this request and includes multifamily with structured parking.”

Asana is seeking approvals to build as high as almost 20 stories on part of its property.

The requested zoning would allow construction of up to 1,200 multifamily units for the entire project if all units are market rate. And the developer could expand with as many as 1,740 multifamily units if the project includes mixed-income units.

Built in 1977, the almost 20-acre property was originally called the Corner Shopping Center. It’s located between U.S. Highway 75 and Presbyterian Hospital and the area around it includes both apartments and high-rise buildings.

City planners are giving a thumbs up to the Hill redeployment plan. WDG Architecture is designing the project.

“Staff finds the applicant’s proposal for mixed uses to be compatible with the surrounding area, which already has a healthy mix of uses and has immediate access to both a rail station and North Central Expressway,” according to the zoning report.

The plan commission will consider the case later this week.

Asana Partners owns urban properties nationwide, including real estate in Austin and Houston. The company has a track record of mixed-use and retail redevelopment totaling more than $2 billion.

Along with its holdings in Deep Ellum, Asana Partners has owned more than 400,000 square feet of retail and office space in Dallas’ Victory Park since 2019.