1401 Elm Street Went on the Market Today. Which Doesn't Mean It'll Stay There For Long.

Justin Terveen

​Collier's International sent word today that, yet again, 1401 Elm Street is back on the market -- this time, just four months after its owners kicked out the last remaining tenants and locked the doors one last time. The asking price this go-round, though, is considerably less than when Collier's first began marketing George Dahl's former First National two years ago. Back then, the price tag was $51 million. Today, according to the Web site that just went live, the 1.3-million square-footer can be yours for a mere $19 mil.

Then again, it may not be on the market long: Collier's exec veep David Glasscock, who's brokering the sale, tells Unfair Park today that he's "anticipating receiving a letter of intent today." Which is far from a sure thing:  He says the would-be buyer's a local who'd hoped to "preempt the sale process," and he's yet to see the asking price. "They could come out of the chute and offer half the asking price," Glasscock says with a laugh.

Nevertheless, he actually doesn't anticipate 1401 Elm staying on the market too long -- not with its terrific central location and the DART light-rail stop on the building's north side. And, the asking price is awfully low, given the fact it's a historic building -- and the biggest vacant site downtown. (Glasscock says the price took such a steep plunge because it's completely vacant now, and because the two owners -- one has the lower piece; the other, the tower -- have allowed Collier's to co-market the two halves.)

"There are some issues, like some asbestos in the building and updating the infrastructure and bringing it up to current code," Glasscock says. "And to get the building reconditioned and back to occupancy will take a strong development team that has the expertise in adaptive reuse of downtown buildings. But the floors in the building lay out for the conversion to multifamily. But there's definitely interest -- and that's with the press release going out today and the Web site just going up today. It has a great presence. When Dahl designed it, he said it looked like a pinstripe suit."