Reunion's new development plan by Hunt Realty Investments is the latest design in 60 years for the property on the southwest corner of downtown Dallas.
Beginning in the early 1960s, as passenger rail traffic began to decline, the city and developers began considering new uses for the land around Dallas' Union Station.
One of the earliest plans was known as Terminal City, one of the worst projects ever considered. Fortunately, that proposal in the 1960s was never proposed in the first place.
A number of dazzling skyscrapers and observation towers were proposed for the site before a final Reunion plan was decided on in the 1970s. The runner-up design showed a kind of ungainly masonry façade in place of the signature mirrored glass and lighted bowls of the landmark Hyatt Regency Hotel and Reunion Tower.
The final design by architects Welton Beckett & Associates has stood the test of time. It is a timeless symbol of the Big D skyline.
The Hyatt Regency and Reunion Tower became a landmark on its opening day.
“The fact that Reunion Tower became such an icon for Dallas was a surprise to us,” Ray Hunt, the Dallas businessman who bought the land for Reunion in 1972, said in an interview on the project's 35th anniversary. He spoke at “It wasn't because we planned it or because it was our goal. It just happened.”
Architect Hart Howerton's 2023 Reunion vision would replace acres of office towers with high-rise apartments, hotels, retail and entertainment venues, while keeping some offices near freeways. The design depicted in the new renderings also eschews the cookie-cutter look of previous plans, in which all buildings attempted to match materials and style.
How Reunion will ultimately develop is anyone's guess.
Over 60 years of master planning shows that there is only one constant in the project.
