Dallas' tallest skyscraper, the 72-story Bank of America Plaza, faces a Wednesday deadline that could determine whether a $409 million plan to remake the tower into a mixed-use hub of offices, hotel rooms, and retail moves forward or stalls out. Developers Mike Hoque and Mike Ablon were working toward acquiring the downtown tower and surrounding property by the end of September, a deadline tied directly to the $103 million in city incentives backing the project.
According to the Dallas Express, Hoque told the Dallas Business Journal that financing was in place and the project was moving forward. The Dallas City Council approved a tax increment financing agreement with 901 main PAHG Partners LLC in October 2025, authorizing up to $103 million from the Downtown Connection TIF District to support design, engineering, financing, and construction of the redevelopment at 900 Main St., 901 Main St., and 909 Commerce St. That subsidy is payable from current and future tax increments generated in the district and remains subject to annual appropriations.
The stakes behind the deadline reflect just how much the tower's value has slipped. The Dallas Central Appraisal District valued Bank of America Plaza at $130 million, or roughly $70 per square foot, in 2025, according to The Real Deal.
A $409 Million Bet On Reinventing The Pickle
Bank of America Plaza has held the title of Dallas' tallest building since it was constructed between 1983 and 1985, standing 921 feet tall with 72 stories and roughly 1.85 million square feet of space. Locals know it best as “The Pickle,” a nickname tied to its exterior illumination, whose original green argon lighting was replaced with multi-colored LED tubes, per Wikipedia.
The redevelopment plan would shrink the tower's office footprint from approximately 1.8 million square feet to about 1.5 million square feet while adding roughly 280 hotel rooms, a new glass-and-steel structure to house the hotel lobby, and ballroom and meeting space on the tower's concourse level. Plans also call for a new eight-level parking garage with approximately 1,115 spaces, an elevated pedestrian walkway connecting the new structures across Main Street, and restaurant and retail improvements at street level, the Dallas Express reports.
The project has already grown substantially since it was first proposed. The Dallas Express previously reported that Hoque and Ablon secured a contract to acquire the tower and surrounding property in September 2024, when the plan included a roughly 300-room luxury hotel and an estimated cost of about $350 million. Since then, the city's incentive proposal has increased from as much as $98 million to a maximum of $103 million, while the overall project cost has climbed from roughly $350 million to about $409 million — changes that, per The Real Deal, funded design modifications for the new parking garage built to support 200 residential units or hotel rooms stacked above it.
Why Downtown's Legacy Towers Are Bleeding Tenants
The urgency behind the deal traces back to a broader migration of downtown corporate tenants toward newer buildings. Bank of America Plaza was about 70 percent leased by late 2025, according to The Real Deal, as tenants departed, including anchor Bank of America and law firm Carrington Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal. The law firm moved over 100 employees to Dallas Arts Tower, Hoodline reported.
Bank of America's own move is emblematic of the shift. The bank plans to consolidate employees at Bank of America Tower at Parkside, a 30-story Class AA tower under construction near Klyde Warren Park in Uptown Dallas that is expected to be completed in 2027, according to Connect CRE. The Texas Stock Exchange also signed a lease in May 2026 for its primary headquarters at that same Uptown tower, bypassing Bank of America Plaza after downtown stakeholders had originally pitched the Main Street skyscraper for the exchange, per Candy's Dirt.
Developers With A Track Record Betting On Downtown
The two men racing the Tuesday deadline both bring experience repositioning aging Dallas properties. Mike Ablon's firm PegasusAblon previously directed major revitalization efforts in the city's Design District and Lower Greenville, establishing a track record of converting underutilized commercial assets into denser mixed-use hubs. Mike Hoque's firm Hoque Global is part of the Tapestry at University Hills housing development in South Dallas.
Whether that experience is enough to close the deal by Wednesday remains the open question hanging over downtown Dallas' skyline. If the acquisition slips past the deadline, the $103 million in city incentives tied to the Downtown Connection TIF District could be jeopardized, leaving Dallas' tallest tower exposed to the same kind of debt distress now playing out a few blocks away at 2100 Ross Avenue.
