Uptown Dallas is bracing for a luxury growth spurt, as a developer pitches a boutique hotel and residential tower on Maple Avenue that could cost as much as $250 million and take the place of the Victorian-era Hotel St. Germain. The proposed Montclair Hotel and Residences would climb about 23 stories, pairing a small high-end hotel with roughly a dozen for-sale homes. Developer Robert Colombo is asking the city for a zoning variance to go taller than current rules allow, with the case headed to the City Plan Commission this week.
Project details and timeline
According to The Dallas Morning News, plans call for about 65 hotel rooms and suites and roughly a dozen private residences, with the building height capped at about 350 feet under the variance request. The top 10 floors would be carved into roughly 3,000-square-foot for-sale units, and buyers could choose to purchase an entire floor of about 6,000 square feet. Colombo pegs the total investment between $200 million and $250 million and told the paper the team hopes to break ground in May 2027, targeting a spring 2030 opening.
Community review and earlier pitches
The project earned an early thumbs-up from the Oak Lawn Committee last summer, according to CandysDirt, although the design has been tweaked along the way. Earlier versions floated a slightly different mix of uses and height, and those shifts illustrate how neighborhood feedback has helped reshape what is now on the table.
What happens to the Hotel St. Germain
Colombo told The Dallas Morning News that the tower would replace the Hotel St. Germain, a Victorian mansion built in 1897, and that the development team is exploring ways to preserve the house instead of simply knocking it down. Consultants have estimated that moving the structure could run between $300,000 and $500,000. “We are going to do everything in our power, and we have talked to city planning about not tearing it down,” Colombo said in the story.
Next steps at city hall
The City Plan Commission reviews zoning cases and makes recommendations to the City Council, which has the final say, according to the City of Dallas planning office. Public hearings give residents a chance to weigh in before any votes. Staff reports and case materials typically go online ahead of time so commissioners and neighbors can pore over design details, traffic studies and other impact analyses. Colombo has said he plans to move the case to the City Council by the end of the month if the commission recommends approval.
Neighborhood questions and context
Neighbors have already pressed the development team on parking and traffic. Earlier presentations budgeted about 128 underground spaces across multiple levels and floated valet-heavy strategies, according to CandysDirt. With other high-rises in the pipeline along Maple Avenue, city commissioners will have to weigh the Montclair’s luxury pitch against everyday street-level realities and the bigger-picture development goals for Uptown.
