Dallas’ zoning commission rejected a 25-story development in South Dallas. Why is it still on the city council docket?

After the Winners Tower project was rejected by the City of Dallas’ City Plan Commission last year, developers are now considering a scaled down size and looking for more community input.

Applicants from the Winners Assembly Christian Church requested a zoning change last April for a 25-story mixed-use project for hotel, multifamily and retail uses on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Colonial Avenue.

City reports said the request was inconsistent for the surrounding area, with staff recommending a 5-story height maximum for the development.

A now-defunct website promoting the project showed the proposed “Winners Tower” equipped with luxury condos, a bank and a helipad.

Commissioners criticized the request and officially denied it last fall.

The applicants then filed an appeal and pushed the item through to Dallas City Council. The request was on the council agenda in January, but has since been deferred twice in an attempt to get a more compatible project that has community buy-in.

“I don’t support going to that extreme of a height,” District 7 councilmember Adam Bazaldua said at the January 14 meeting. “It would not be compatible at all to this PD, but at the same time, I don’t want to send a message… that we are not welcoming an inevitable growth that’s coming to South Dallas. We just need to make sure that it’s something that is going to be compatible.”

At an April community meeting, developers for the project proposed a 10-story mixed-use building with updated architecture to match the area.

The development would include a bank, grocery store and office and conference spaces. This new proposal has not been updated on any city staff report as of June 22.

Community members were still uncertain about the scaled-down plan, according to the Dallas Weekly, as residents were skeptical of how the project would positively impact the neighborhood.

The project would also still be well above the recommended height for the area, even as zoning has changed in South Dallas through updates to PD 595, a process that was labored over by city staff and community members for years.

The amendments to PD 595, which were approved earlier this month, have changed the MLK corridor to a Community Mixed-Use District, but still limit height in the area to about 3 stories. Additional height is allowed, up to 100 feet in some cases, when specific standards are met, like having strong street frontage along primary roads.

The Winners Tower item is currently on the Wednesday city council agenda, but a representative of Bazaldua’s office said the item will be deferred until September 23 to allow for another community meeting, which is currently planned for mid-August.