Prime Arlington property hits the market, brings ‘opportunity to really impact’ community

A prime piece of downtown Arlington real estate is on the market, and the 4.5-acre property is being touted as a potential mixed-use development in the heart of the city.

The L-shaped property at 201 E. Abram St. spans three city blocks near the University of Texas at Arlington and is about a mile from Arlington’s Entertainment District. Three buildings sit on the tract.

Among the zoning approved for that location are townhomes, senior living, apartments, office space, hotels and retail, among others. The property is being marketed by Arlington-based Harvest MXD’s Chris Harden, Sky Miller, and Danial Mitlyng.

Tenants of buildings currently on the tract are on month-to-month leases with less than 12 months left on their contracts, Harvest MXD said. The tract is owned by Afallon Investments Inc., which is the majority owner of software company Pinnacle Corp., a tenant of one of the existing buildings.

“The property owner has owned the property for 26 years, and he is one of the owners of one of the businesses, so they just officed there for that period of time,” Harden said.

What’s in store for the Abram Street property is yet to be determined, Harden said. It’s possible the building housing Pinnacle Corp. could see an adaptive reuse.

“But, I think for the most part, most of the groups that we’re talking to are thinking to tear it down and do something better and new because it’s such a critical piece of downtown,” Harden said.

“I’d say demand for hotel, retail, market-rate multifamily housing, could be student housing,” Harden said. “We wanted to do something a little different than what’s out there today. But generally, I would say retail and market-rate multifamily.”

Harden said that there has been interest in the property for a hotel because of its proximity to UT-Arlington.

“There’s definitely a hotel void,” he said. “There’s no hotel anywhere close to the university in walking distance that’s quality. So, we’ve got some hotel groups that have shown some interest there.”

The property sits next to a large multistory office building owned by the city of Arlington and contains administrative offices.

Harden said his company is excited about the opportunity the property brings.

“We’ve done a lot of nifty stuff, but it’s incredible,” Harden said. “We look for these kinds of high-profile, mixed-use sites where there’s an opportunity to really impact the community.” 

Commercial real estate has been active in Arlington recently.

For example, the city recently approved incentives to attract three headquarters to Arlington, one of which could create 3,355 new high-paying jobs in the next three decades.

Council members approved the entry of the city and the Arlington Economic Development Corp. into a public-private partnership with a satellite manufacturer called E-Space to build a 750,000-square-foot manufacturing and office space at the Arlington Municipal Airport. It is expected to create 2,000 jobs over the next decade, the city said.

Also, the city has supported the redevelopment of Lincoln Square by Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. The longtime shopping center will be replaced by Anthem, a mixed-use development with retail and office space, apartments and restaurant space.

Trademark said it will demolish parts of the shopping area.

In the northern section of the development between Interstate 30 and Road to Six Flags Street, Trademark will build a combined 277,000 square feet of additional retail and office space, a 125-key hotel and 355 apartment units.

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