Therme Dallas is asking city planners to sign off on a pedestrian skybridge and expanded non-residential zoning as it pushes ahead with an $800 million wellness resort on the Trinity River. The company is pitching a sprawling riverfront campus in the Cedars that would pack in thermal pools, swim-up bars, saunas, restaurants and a retractable glass roof. The City Plan Commission is slated to take up the zoning amendment and a specific-use permit on Thursday.
According to planning filings from the City of Dallas, Therme Dallas LLC has submitted case Z-25-000094. The application seeks an amendment to Planned Development District No. 800 and a Specific Use Permit for a pedestrian skybridge. The case report says the move is intended to allow a regional wellness campus and comes with a staff recommendation for approval, subject to a development plan, amended exhibits and site conditions.
Earlier coverage has sketched out the project as roughly a 24-acre, 500,000-square-foot resort at 1500 South Riverfront Boulevard, with the skybridge connecting two planned buildings, according to The Real Deal. That reporting also noted that Therme hopes to break ground in 2027 and has pitched Dallas as the first step in a planned U.S. rollout of wellness resorts.
Therme's own project materials describe a climate-controlled, year-round "wellbeing destination" and tout local benefits like internships, MWBE participation and new public-space connections to the Dallas Water Commons. On its site, Therme Dallas lists the facility at roughly 450,000 square feet and says a project of this scale would take about two years to build once approvals are in place.
The Dallas proposal is rolling forward as the company faces wider scrutiny. A New York Times investigation alleged Therme had exaggerated its track record while pursuing a major spa contract in Toronto, according to CityNews. Therme has pushed back on that account, arguing the coverage mischaracterized its history, as reported by The Real Deal.
Closer to home, local media have pointed out that the site itself comes with baggage. D Magazine has detailed a string of failed proposals for the riverfront parcel and argued that significant remediation and infrastructure work will be required before Therme's glossy renderings can turn into anything concrete.
What city planners will decide
City staff have recommended approval of both the PD amendments and the Specific Use Permit. In the case report, planners write that the request is intended to allow a regional wellness campus and that the proposed skybridge would not be detrimental to the welfare of the surrounding area, per the City Plan Commission docket filed with the City of Dallas. The item is listed on Thursday's consent docket, with a public hearing scheduled and time set aside for registered speakers, as outlined in the meeting materials.
If the commission signs off, Therme has said it wants to roll its concept out to several U.S. cities over the coming decade, and it has pegged construction of a Dallas site at roughly two years once approvals are in hand, according to Therme Dallas. Thursday's vote will serve as an early test of how much appetite Dallas planners and residents have for a giant riverfront spa from a company with big ambitions, a growing paper trail and a site where big ideas have not always gone as planned.
