Knox Street News

Construction begins on Dallas' Knox St project with Auberge Resorts luxury hotel

Hotel and residences coming to Knox Street in 2026.

Rendering courtesy of Trammell Crow

Construction has begun on a massive mixed-use development in the Knox Street neighborhood that will include a hotel, office, residential, restaurants, and retail.

The project is a joint venture partnership of MSD Partners, Trammell Crow Company, The Retail Connection, and Highland Park Village Associates. It sits on a four-acre site adjacent to the Katy Trail and according to a release is expected to open in 2026.

Upon completion, it will total one million square feet of mixed-use space, including a hotel managed by the Auberge Resorts Collection.

The components are as follows:

The Knox Hotel and Residences: Managed by Auberge Resorts Collection, the Knox Hotel and Residences will consist of a 140-room hotel and 48 ultra-luxury condominiums ranging in size from 2,500 square feet to more than 15,000 square feet.

The hotel is designed by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio and will include restaurants, bars, lounges, event spaces, and a full-floor spa and wellness destination connected to an outdoor pool and bar with views of downtown Dallas.

The residences are designed by Dallas-based interior designer Chad Dorsey and will feature private residential amenities including a clubroom, bar & lounge, entertaining spaces, fitness center, and indoor pool. Allie Beth Allman & Associates is the listing agent for the residences and according to the release has overseen a highly successful pre-sale launch.

Office space: Fronting Knox Street, the development’s 150,000-square-foot office building will rise nine stories above two floors of retail and restaurants. Dallas-based ISN Software Corporation will anchor the office building, leasing the top four floors. Office amenities will include a fitness center with locker rooms, tenant lounge, and café. A CBRE team led by Dennis Barnes is handling leasing for the remaining office space.

Retail and restaurant space: The Knox Street development will provide more than 100,000 square feet of ground-floor and second-story retail and restaurant space, which will be leased to a mix of local and national operators to bring in shopping, art, culinary, and health & wellness experiences. Stephen Summers and Kaitlin Travis with Highland Park Village Associates are leading the retail leasing for the project, which is now underway.

Multifamily Residential: The development will include a 27-story, 173-unit multifamily building featuring expansive amenity spaces, ultra-luxury interiors, and oversized balconies.

Park: The development will be anchored by a half-acre park with a direct connection to the Katy Trail.

"We are thrilled to have reached this important milestone and to begin construction on what we believe is the most exciting mixed-use development in Dallas," says MSD partner and head of real estate Coburn Packard in a statement. "The project reflects our commitment to creating incredible spaces and experiences, and we look forward to bringing our vision for Knox Street to life."

TCC managing director Joel Behrens says that, “with its array of premier offerings in an irreplaceable location, this project is positioned to fill a void in the Dallas market and cater to the unmet demand for world-class, mixed-use space in the city.”

Roll the credits: The New York office of Australia-based Woods Bagot is leading the design of the hotel and residences, while New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) is designing the office building. Dallas-based HKS is the architect of record and OJB Landscape Architecture is designing the green space. Balfour Beatty and Andres Construction are providing construction services, JLL Capital Markets served as financial advisor, and construction financing is being provided by Plano-based Beal Bank.

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This is the income you need to buy a starter home in Dallas right now

Photo by Zac Gudakov on Unsplash

Dallas and Austin lead the nation for improving starter-home affordability.

A new housing affordability report shows Dallas is among the nation's top metros for improving starter-home affordability. First-time buyers are finally catching a small break, with the income needed to purchase a median-priced starter home falling in 2026.

Dallas residents need to earn $83,096 to afford a median-priced home in the metro area, or 5.1 percent less than they did last year, the Redfin report found.

Dallas had the third-biggest decline in the income needed to afford a starter home out of the 50 U.S. metros analyzed in the report. Redfin also determined that all starter home listings in Dallas are "affordable" based on the city's median household income — which the report estimates at $103,144.

Dallas still has a far higher income required to afford a starter home compared to the national average, but affordability is improving slightly across the board. Americans need to make $70,693 to afford the typical starter home, according to the report's findings.

"The income needed to buy a starter home is declining while earnings are rising," the report said. "The typical American household earns an estimated $87,599, about $17,000 more than what’s needed to buy the median-priced U.S. starter home. That gap is widening: A year ago, the typical American earned roughly $12,500 more than they needed to buy a starter home."

Still, starter home affordability is "still often out of reach" for first-time homebuyers in expensive real estate markets due to "near high record" sale prices and soaring mortgage rates, the study said.

In neighboring Fort Worth, residents only need to make $77,886 to afford a starter home — an attainable milestone based on the city's estimated median household income of $93,102. Fort Worth ranks fourth nationwide for its year-over-year improvement in starter home affordability.

For additional comparison, this is the income needed to afford a starter home in other major Texas metros:

Austin – $92,607 (down 6.1 percent)
Houston – $70,384 (down 4 percent)
San Antonio – $62,859 (down 3.7 percent)

Unfortunately, affording a home in the overall housing market is further straining Americans' wallets. American households need to make just under $110,000 afford the typical U.S. home, but Redfin's evaluation found the typical household makes about $22,000 less than that.

"The discrepancy is partly because the overall market is driven by outsized price increases in the luxury segment, and outsized price increases in places like San Francisco and West Palm Beach, where affluent buyers are active," the report said. "At the same time, some would-be buyers of starter homes are pulling back because they typically earn less money and are more sensitive to affordability pressures."

The top 10 U.S. metros with the biggest declines in the income required to afford the typical starter home are:

No. 1 – Austin, Texas
No. 2 – Oakland, California
No. 3 – Dallas, Texas
No. 4 – Fort Worth, Texas
No. 5 – Denver, Colorado
No. 6 – San Francisco, California
No. 7 – Phoenix, Arizona
No. 8 – Las Vegas, Nevada
No. 9 – Houston, Texas
No. 10 – Los Angeles, California