Case Study

Corrigan Tower (1900 Pacific)

Adaptive Reuse — Modernist Revival

Vacant 1952 office tower reborn as 150 luxury apartments with rooftop amenities. LEED certified.

Project Type: Adaptive Reuse / Multifamily
Location: Dallas, TX
Original Structure: 20-Story 1952 Modernist Office Tower
Total Value: $28.7M
Square Footage: 247,842 SF
Units: 150
Completed: 2018
Developer: Kirtland Realty Group
Architect: Merriman Anderson Architects

Fifteen Years Vacant

Corrigan Tower sat empty since 2003 — a 20-story modernist office building at 1900 Pacific that most developers had written off. The structure was sound, but every system inside it was obsolete. ANDRES took on a complete gut renovation, stripping the building to its concrete frame and rebuilding it as 150 luxury apartments with a rooftop amenity deck, pool, gym, and ground-floor retail. The project required threading all-new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems through a structure that was never designed for residential use.

Preservation Meets Performance

The 1952 modernist facade carried preservation significance that constrained exterior modifications. ANDRES worked within those constraints while delivering a building that met LEED certification standards — a rare combination for adaptive reuse. The rooftop amenity deck, carved from what had been a mechanical penthouse, became the signature feature: pool, outdoor lounge, and unobstructed downtown views from a building most people had forgotten existed.

Complexity highlights

Full Gut of Obsolete Systems

Every mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system in the 247,842 SF tower had to be replaced. The original office-grade infrastructure — centralized HVAC, minimal plumbing risers, single electrical service — was incompatible with 150 individual residential units. ANDRES designed and installed entirely new vertical distribution systems within the existing structural grid.

Rooftop Transformation

Converting the mechanical penthouse into a rooftop amenity deck with pool required significant structural reinforcement. The original roof was designed for equipment loads concentrated at specific points, not the distributed live loads of a pool deck and gathering space. ANDRES engineered new load paths without altering the building's exterior profile.

ANDRES's adaptive reuse team brought direct experience from multiple Dallas high-rise conversions, allowing them to anticipate the structural and regulatory challenges specific to mid-century office towers before they became schedule problems.