By mosaicredallas – Dallas Neighborhoods Janelle Rawlston – Dallas and North Dallas Suburbs | MBA · Certified Senior Advisor · Relocation | Founder – Mosaic RE Group

Where the Project Really Stands, and What It Does and Doesn’t Change for Homeowners

If you own a home anywhere near Preston and Royal, here’s the short version of where the $800 million project stands: it has a recommendation, not an approval. On August 6, 2026, the Dallas City Plan Commission voted 10-4 to advance the zoning change to the City Council. The Council holds the final vote, and as of late August it hasn’t been scheduled.

That distinction matters, because of the number underneath it. Of the 283 property owners the city formally notified ahead of that hearing, 261 registered opposition. Eight said they were in favor. The commission advanced the project anyway.

Both of those things are true at once, and neither one settles anything. So let’s walk through what was actually voted on, why it moved forward, and what a proposed project does and doesn’t mean for a home you already own.

What Exactly Was Approved at Preston and Royal?

Nothing has been built or permitted. What the commission recommended is a rezoning.

The site is roughly seven acres at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane — land that took heavy damage in the 2019 tornado. Developer Leland Burk of Burk Interests and Gerald Stool’s Greenway Investment Company are asking the city for a Planned Development District, with design work by GFF.

The central request is height. Current Community Retail zoning caps buildings at 54 feet. The application asks for up to 240 feet.

Under the plan that went before the commission, that would cover:

• A 19-story hotel and condominium tower reaching the full 240 feet
• An 18-story residential tower of roughly 210 feet, including mixed-income units
• A 12-story office building
• Ground-floor retail and dining
• A half-acre public green space, with the developers planning to plant at least 200 trees

On the south side of the site, closest to single-family homes, the height would be held to 54 feet for the first 50 feet of depth before stepping up.

Why Did the Project Advance When Most Notified Neighbors Opposed It?

Because the plan commission’s job is to make a recommendation on zoning, not to hold a referendum. The Council decides.

The opposition has been organized and sustained. Preserve Preston Hollow has been working against the project for months, and petitions circulated by opponents gathered somewhere in the range of 4,500 signatures. In early August, residents launched the D13 Together Coalition, which has pressed District 13 Council Member Gay Donnell Willis on this case and others.

The debate itself ran more than three hours, and the commission split. Four commissioners voted no.

The arguments are worth understanding on their own terms, because they aren’t really about whether the corner should be redeveloped. Speaking for Preserve Preston Hollow, Doug Hazelbaker told the commission the group fully supports development at the site and has no quarrel with the proposed uses — the objection is to the height. Adam Murphy of the Oak Lawn Committee, speaking in support, made the counterargument that Dallas can’t simultaneously ask for more housing, more tax revenue and better infrastructure while turning down a project that offers all of it.

That’s the actual disagreement. Not whether, but how tall.

What Has Already Changed About the Plan?

More than most coverage makes clear, which is a useful signal in itself.

The tallest element started as a 28-story concept. An iteration circulating in May 2026 still called for a hotel and condominium tower near 299 feet, a residential tower around 250 feet, and an 11-story office building. The version the commission recommended is meaningfully shorter across the board, and Burk has said publicly that the tallest building was pulled farther from nearby single-family homes.

The timeline moved too. The case was scheduled for June, then pulled after opponents argued that neighboring property owners hadn’t been properly notified of significant revisions, and rescheduled for August.

A plan that has been redrawn this many times is, by definition, still a plan.

What This Means for You as a Preston Hollow Homeowner

There are three separate gates here, and it’s easy to collapse them into one: a commission recommendation, a Council approval, and an actual building. Only the first has happened. Plenty of Dallas projects have cleared the first and never reached the third.

So the honest answer about your home is that a proposed development a few blocks away isn’t what sets its value. Condition, location on the block, recent comparable sales, and the rate environment do most of that work. A large project can eventually widen or narrow the pool of buyers who consider an area, but that depends on what actually gets built, how it’s executed, and how buyers respond over years — not on a zoning vote.

What’s genuinely useful right now is knowing your own position rather than trying to forecast the Council’s.

If a move is anywhere on your horizon in the next year or two, this is a good moment to get a clear read on where your home currently sits — both what it would realistically bring today and how your specific pocket of North Dallas is performing. That’s knowable. The Council calendar isn’t yet.

And if you’re staying put, the practical lever is simply that the public hearing hasn’t been scheduled. Whichever side of this you land on, that window is still open.

The Local Reality

Preston and Royal is a corner most of North Dallas passes through without thinking about it — until something like this puts it on the agenda. It’s also a corner that’s been waiting on a real answer since the 2019 tornado tore through it.

What’s struck us watching this unfold is how little of the argument is actually about redevelopment. Almost nobody is arguing the site should stay as it is. The fight is over a number: 54 feet versus 240. That’s a narrower disagreement than the headlines suggest, and it’s also the kind of disagreement that tends to get settled in the last round of negotiation rather than the first.

FAQ

Has the Preston-Royal Development Been Approved? Not yet. The Dallas City Plan Commission voted 10-4 on August 6, 2026 to recommend the zoning change, which sends it to the Dallas City Council for the final decision on the Planned Development District. As of late August, no Council hearing date had been announced.

How Tall Would the Preston-Royal Towers Be? The application seeks a maximum height of 240 feet, against a current zoning cap of 54 feet. The plan includes a 19-story hotel and condominium tower at that full height, an 18-story residential tower of roughly 210 feet, and a 12-story office building.

Will the Preston-Royal Project Affect Preston Hollow Home Values? There’s no way to say, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing. A home’s value depends on its condition, its specific location, comparable sales, and market conditions. Large developments can influence how buyers perceive an area over time, but that hinges on the final outcome, the execution, and the timeline — none of which are settled here.

If you own in Preston Hollow and this has you wondering where your home actually stands, we’re happy to pull together a real read on it — what it would bring in today’s market, and how your particular stretch of North Dallas is moving. No agenda, no pitch, and no opinion required from you on the towers. We’re always in your corner.

Let’s connect.

Warmest, Janelle, Kaity & Kristi

Blog Article by Janelle Rawlston | with Mosaic RE Group at Compass, Kaity Gonzalez and Kristi Stacy

Let Mosaic RE Group guide you through your next move, and make your experience seamless. Call us at 469-360-2161 or email us at mosaicregroup@compass.com.