The Meadows Building, one of Dallas' most storied midcentury office towers, has a new owner. August Real Estate Co., a Dallas-based firm, closed on the purchase of the nine-story, roughly 209,000-square-foot property at 5646 Milton St. on Monday, taking over from Chicago-based Glenstar and San Antonio-based Affinius Capital, which had owned the building for more than a decade.
The off-market deal, first reported by The Dallas Morning News, came together after nearly a year of work, according to the outlet. The sales price was not disclosed. Glenstar and Affinius Capital were willing to sell both the Meadows Building and a nearby annex, and the two together are currently 70% leased, the Morning News reported. The sellers had owned the entire Energy Square campus surrounding the tower.
A Landmark Built on Oil Money and Pension Funds
Built in 1955, the Meadows Building was designed by Dallas architect J.N. MacCammon and originally served as the headquarters for General American Oil Company. The building takes its name from company founder Algur Meadows, whose oil business grew into one of the largest independent producers in the country before it was sold to Phillips Petroleum in 1983, according to the Texas State Historical Association. The tower itself was financed using General American Oil's employee pension funds, per Preservation Texas.
According to Preservation Texas, the building is considered one of the best examples of midcentury modern architecture in the state, distinguished by blue tile exterior panels, Georgia Pink marble cladding, terrazzo lobby flooring, and expansive glass windows. Preservation Dallas honored renovation work on the building with its 2021 Preservation Achievement Award. The building also stands as Dallas' first suburban office tower, according to Preservation Texas.
From a Single Tower to a 1.1 Million-Square-Foot Campus
For nearly two decades after it opened, the Meadows Building stood alone on its site. That changed in 1973, when a 10-acre adjacent plot was cleared to begin construction on the Energy Square campus, which opened its first tower in 1975, according to Energy Square. The Meadows Building has remained the architectural centerpiece of that campus through subsequent expansions.
Glenstar and Affinius Capital, who acquired Energy Square in 2015, later invested more than $50 million in upgrades and completed a $70 million renovation of the three adjacent Energy Square towers in 2019, according to Energy Square's history page. That modernization touched shared plazas, fitness facilities, and tenant conference centers across the 1.1 million-square-foot campus. The combined preservation and modernization work on both the Meadows Building and Energy Square earned national recognition in August 2024, when the Meadows Building won an International TOBY award in the Historical Building category from the Building Owners and Managers Association, while the Energy Square towers won in the Renovated Building category, per Taylor Johnson.
New Owner Commits $10 Million Over Five Years
Under its new ownership, the Meadows Building still runs off its original 75-year-old boiler, one of several aging systems August Real Estate Co. now plans to modernize. The firm has committed to spending $10 million over the next five years on capital improvements, including new spec suites, conference rooms and building amenities, plus a stronger presence in the lobby, according to the Morning News.
Evan August, of August Real Estate Co., described the Meadows Building as a property his firm hopes to own for generations, per the same account. The company says it wants to honor the building's historical integrity even as it modernizes its infrastructure, a balancing act made more urgent by the building's current tenant roster, which includes Gensler, SHM Architects and SWA Group. SHM Architects moved its headquarters into 12,218 square feet of penthouse space in the building in late 2022, joining a design-focused tenant base that has helped anchor the property, according to Transwestern.
A Familiar Playbook From a Local Buyer
The acquisition marks a shift from institutional, out-of-town ownership back to a Dallas firm with a track record in historic adaptive reuse. August Real Estate Co. now owns and operates approximately 900,000 square feet of space around Dallas, including Lakewood Tower, the Continental Gin Building in Deep Ellum, 333 1st Ave., and portions of the Exposition Park neighborhood near Fair Park.
The firm's Exposition Park holdings stem from a June 2023 purchase of a 17-building, 400,000-square-foot historic portfolio spanning nine acres, acquired from longtime owner David Gibson at 97% leased, according to The Real Deal. Its Deep Ellum experience dates to 2021, when the firm converted the historic 1888 Continental Gin Building, a former cotton manufacturing plant, into creative office space, coworking facilities and retail, partnering with Common Desk and launching its Fiction Coffee flagship on site. In 2021, the firm also expanded into East Dallas by acquiring Lakewood Tower, a nine-story, 120,000-square-foot Class A office building on 3.5 acres near Lakewood Village, marking its third major East Dallas commercial acquisition at the time.
A Tough Market for Suburban Office Towers
The Meadows Building's new ownership arrives amid a challenging office market in its submarket. Cushman & Wakefield recorded a 27.9% office vacancy rate in the North Central Expressway submarket during the first quarter of 2026, with Class A full-service asking rents averaging $40.39 per square foot. That backdrop helps explain why a well-located, historically significant property sitting at 70% occupancy still requires significant new capital to compete for design-minded tenants.
Hoodline covered the Meadows Building's design pedigree once before, when a 2019 preservation event was held inside Gensler's office in the newly renovated tower. Nearly seven years later, the building has changed hands entirely, with its next chapter now in the care of a local owner betting on historic character to carry it through a soft office market.
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