Airline News
Vintage Dallas building that was Braniff Hostess College is up for sale
The interior of the Braniff College building still has this "Passion Pit."
A vintage building near Dallas Love Field that was once part of Braniff Airlines is now on the market.
Located at 2801 Wycliff Ave., the building was home to Braniff International's Hostess College, built in 1968 as a dormitory and training center for flight attendants. (Braniff Airways is the former airline, based in Dallas; the company is now a branding/marketing and tour firm.)
The building, which is in a prime spot facing the Dallas North Tollway, was slated to become a hotel, developed by MM Property Holdings, Inc. (Centurion American); "MM" is Mehrdad Moayed who restored the Statler Hilton Hotel in downtown Dallas in 2018.
Braniff Airways chairman Richard Ben Cass signed a deal with MM Property Holdings in 2020. At that time, the plan was to create a luxury hotel with 75 rooms, plus pool, restaurant, and Braniff branding including a Braniff-themed gift shop.
However, the property is now listed for sale — a sale that Cass says came as a surprise.
"All of us at Braniff were saddened to learn that the former Braniff Hostess College is apparently back on the market," he says.
The building itself is minimal: a five-story rectangle with windows on the top three floors — "mid-century internationalism style," according to the Texas Historical Commission.
The price is not listed but a statement from Davidson & Bogel Real Estate LLC which is representing the seller says that it's a "very special building and we are interested in understanding the future intentions of potential buyers before finalizing a price."
Braniff went out of business as an airline in 1982. But nostalgia for the airline's mid-century modern flair lingers. The renovation of the building would have retained some of its original character, including its famous sunken fireplace lounge, nicknamed the Passion Pit.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Cass remains hopeful that, whatever the outcome of the building, Braniff might in some way be involved.
"We signed a licensing agreement to use the Braniff name, and the agreement is transferrable to the new owner, so it may not be dead in the water," he says.
