Downtown News

Dallas Morning News building gets bought by Highland Park Village owner

Facade of building at 508 Young St.

Courtesy photo

A. H. Belo Corporation, which owns the Dallas Morning News, has sold the former campus of the newspaper at 508 Young St. in downtown Dallas to Charter DMN Holdings, LP for a purchase price of $28 million.

Charter Holdings is a Dallas-based real estate entity owned by Ray W. Washburne, entrepreneur and commercial real estate developer who most recently was president of the U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

He also owns Highland Park Village, as well as a stake in the Mi Cocina restaurant chain.

According to a release, the price comprises $5.6 million in cash paid at closing on May 17, and a two-year seller-financed promissory note of $22.4 million.

The promissory note bears interest payable in quarterly installments beginning July 1, 2019, continuing through its maturity on June 30, 2021, and includes a pre-payment feature. Taking into consideration the interest on the note and the elimination of carrying costs for the Company, the total realizable value of the transaction is approximately $31.6 million over two years.

Belo has been struggling to find a buyer for the 7.2-acre property since 2017, wooing candidates such as the high-speed train, Amazon, and Dallas businessman Mike Hoque, who offered $33 million before backing out.

A. H. Belo CEO Robert W. Decherd said in a statement that "we are very pleased to conclude the sale process related to the 508 Young Street campus, and consider Charter DMN Holdings to be an outstanding owner and future developer of this important site that was the Company’s home for almost 60 years."

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No Cap

Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z paradise like Dallas?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles — and now Dallas, which had the ninth-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

Dallas' new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Dallas saw an influx of 13,770 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 9 most popular city. That's 4,223 more Gen Zers than the net migration rate from 2022, the report found.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Dallasites may have learned, it's going to take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Dallas are likely to spend over $149,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Dallas saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — "a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

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