Construction is underway on M-Line Tower, the 20-story luxury residential building going in at 3200 McKinney Ave., where Cafe Express used to be. The tower will house 262 units, plus ground floor retail anchored by a new Cafe Express and a new McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) trolley barn and executive office.
Joel Behrens, principal of Trammell Crow Company and MATA board member, says that they're thrilled to have broken ground after more than two years of predevelopment work, including working with the nonprofit McKinney Avenue Transit Authority to provide additional space for the expansion of the trolley service in Uptown.
"M-Line Tower is located in the heart of Dallas' most walkable and culturally vibrant 24-hour live, work, and play neighborhoods," he says in a release.
M-Line Tower will take up 1.28 acres at the corner of McKinney Avenue and Bowen Street and will feature one- and two-bedroom luxury rentals. Amenities will include a pool; two-story fitness center; outdoor living space; clubroom; business center; and rooftop sky lounge with views of downtown, Uptown, and Turtle Creek.
The southeast corner of the ground floor will provide a new trolley barn and executive offices for the M-Line trolley. High Street Residential, the residential subsidiary of Trammell Crow, and partner Principal Real Estate Investors will provide MATA with an allowance for a seventh trolley car, 1,730 square feet of space, a build-out allowance for its new space, and new trolley tracks and switch along Bowen Street.
Cafe Express originally opened on that corner in 1996. Vice president John Attra said that the reopening will happen in 2017. There are two other Dallas locations of Cafe Express, at Mockingbird Station and Lovers Lane.
