Case Study

The Cabana

Adaptive Reuse — Dallas Design District

Where The Beatles played. Now 300 apartments. Rebar cages six drills deep.

Project Type: Adaptive Reuse
Location: Dallas, TX
Total Value: $116M
Square Footage: 420,000 SF
Program: 300 apartments
Stories: 10
Original Structure: Historic hotel (1960s)
Completed: 2026
Developer: Sycamore Strategies
Architect
Project Director: ANDRES Senior PM, 15 years with the firm

A Landmark Reborn

The Cabana Motor Hotel opened in 1962 as the most glamorous stop on the Dallas social circuit. The Beatles stayed here. Led Zeppelin stayed here. Jay Sebring cut hair in the penthouse. By the time ANDRES started work, decades of deferred maintenance had left the structure in serious condition. The rebar cages were six drills deep — layers of reinforcement from multiple eras of renovation, none documented. ANDRES couldn't rely on as-built drawings because none existed that matched reality. Every wall opened was a discovery.

Building Without Blueprints

When as-built drawings don't exist, every demolition scope becomes investigative. ANDRES developed field-verification protocols for each floor — opening walls, documenting conditions, and redesigning structural connections in real time. The kind of adaptive reuse work that separates experienced teams from contractors who've only built new.

Complexity highlights

Six Drills Deep

Decades of undocumented renovations left rebar cages stacked six layers deep in some locations. Standard core drilling couldn't penetrate. ANDRES had to map the existing reinforcement before any new structural work could proceed — a forensic exercise that added complexity to every penetration.

No Reliable As-Builts

The original 1962 drawings bore little resemblance to what existed on site after 60 years of modifications. ANDRES field-verified every structural element, treating the building as an unknown until proven otherwise.

The Cabana required a team that could make decisions on the fly — superintendents who understand structure, not just schedules. ANDRES's employee-owners bring that depth because they stay long enough to develop it. The project manager on The Cabana had over a decade of adaptive reuse experience with ANDRES before this project started.