History
The complex was originally designed by Welton Becket & Associates from Los Angeles for the Southland Life Insurance Company. When groundbreaking for the buildings took place in 1955 it was compared to Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, as Southland Center was the first mixed-use project in downtown containing both hotel and office space.
Southland Center was the second major development in the northeast end of downtown now known as the City Center District. The original two buildings, completed in 1958, consisted of the 42 story (550 ft) center tower Southland Life Building and the 28 story (353 ft) south tower Sheraton Dallas Hotel. In early 1981, the 31 story (448 ft) North Tower was added as additional office space. All three buildings are rectangular slab structures and surrounded by a common base. The facade was covered with curtain walls of glass and 1,000+ spandrel panels of light weight precast concrete faced with blue Italian glass mosaic tiles.
From 1959 to 1964 the tower overtook the Republic National Bank Building and became the tallest in the city and tallest building west of the Mississippi River. Its height was later surpassed in the city by Republic Center Tower II. For many years after the building's opening the most exclusive restaurant in downtown Dallas was the Chaparral Club on the 37th floor, and an observation deck was located at the top of the tower.
Southland Life vacated the complex when Cityplace Center was opened in 1988. The Sheraton Dallas Hotel closed soon after. In 1990 a central tower addition of 25 floors and bay windows was proposed to make the complex competitive to newer projects going up in the city. However, the complex sat vacant for many years until the Adam's Mark hotel chain purchased and redeveloped all three towers of the complex into one large hotel in 1998. DART's adjacent light rail line and Pearl Station were major factors in converting the complex into a first-rate convention facility. A parking garage and 3-story convention building were constructed on an adjoining block to the southwest, and the building's facade of glass mosaics was painted gray during the building's conversion.
In 2007, the Adam's Mark Dallas was sold and the new owners reflagged it as a Sheraton, returning to the shortest tower's original name from its construction fifty years before, the Sheraton Dallas Hotel. A $90 million project began in 2009 to renovate guestrooms, public spaces, and the convention center.
Read more about this topic: Sheraton Dallas Hotel
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