The long-vacant Cabana Motor Hotel on Stemmons Freeway has officially come back to life as Cabana Design District, a mixed-income conversion of the Mid‑Century Modern landmark that is now accepting pre-leasing. Developer Sycamore Development, which bought the property in 2023, has turned the 1960s tower and courtyard into apartments and townhomes while preserving much of the building's distinctive concrete screen. After years of stalled plans and slow decay, the project drops dozens of new homes into the Design District just west of downtown Dallas.
What Opened
Cabana Design District now totals 175 apartments, with about 40% set aside as income-restricted for households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income. The development, at 899 North Stemmons Freeway, is taking lease applications and marketing a revived tower and courtyard paired with modern interiors and new two-story townhomes. These details were announced by Hunt Capital Partners, which also highlighted the grand opening held on April 23.
Price Tags Do Not Quite Match
Public reporting on what it cost to pull this off does not line up neatly. Earlier local coverage and planning materials pegged the overhaul at roughly $116 million, according to The Dallas Morning News, while the Dallas Business Journal later headlined the conversion as a $70 million project. State permit records, for their part, list a construction estimate close to $55 million. The differing totals reflect shifting project scope over time, the split between hard construction costs and full development outlays, and the stack of tax credits and subsidies needed to make the numbers work.
Public Support And Tax Credits
The City of Dallas authorized up to $41 million from the Design District TIF District to help finance the redevelopment, according to council documents. State and federal housing and historic-preservation tax credits were also part of the capital stack, as detailed in a project feature by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Those layered incentives were key to turning a long-vacant landmark with serious deferred maintenance into something lenders would touch.
A Storied Past
Built in the early 1960s in a New Formalist idiom, the Cabana Motor Hotel quickly became known for high-profile guests, including The Beatles during their September 18, 1964, Dallas stop, before later serving as a minimum-security county jail. From rock royalty to inmates, then years of decline, the building has seen a little bit of everything. Its architecture, history, and period significance are laid out in its National Register nomination, which helped guide preservation decisions during the rehab and gave developers and the city a roadmap for balancing historic character with new housing.
Who Will Live Here And What It Costs
The property offers floor plans from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Posted starting rents on the project's leasing site run around $2,425 for studios and $2,525 for one-bedrooms, and the marketing materials tout six weeks free on select homes. RPM Living manages the community, and prospective tenants can check availability and apply through the Cabana Design District leasing portal. The pitch leans heavily on preserved historic features, contemporary finishes, and downtown skyline views.
Why The City Backed It
"I think nostalgia is the feeling we hear about most when we talk to people about this development," Sycamore Development principal Zach Krochtengel said in a project feature, noting residents' memories of the hotel's heyday. Developers and city officials framed the rehab as a way to keep a locally significant example of Mid‑Century Modern design on the map while adding income-restricted homes in a slice of the Design District that has largely seen market-rate construction. That preservation-plus-housing argument was central when TIF support went before the City of Dallas.
With units now coming online, Cabana Design District stands as a preservation-led, mixed-income addition to the Design District's housing stock just outside downtown. Leasing information, floor plans, and current availability are posted on the Cabana Design District website for renters and neighbors curious to see how the Beatles-era motor hotel has been remade.
