The former site of the Ambassador Hotel — one of Dallas’ most historic landmarks — has been sold to make way for a new apartment project.
The more than century-old former hotel on South Ervay Street was empty when Jim Lake Companies bought the building in 2015 with plans to turn it into apartments. The developer was working out details of the project when a late-night fire burned down the building in 2019. The Dallas-based real estate developer had been planning to rebuild on the vacant lot on South Ervay Street, but has instead opted to sell the landmark site to Austin apartment builder OHT Partners, according to the Dallas Morning News.
OHT has built a number of multifamily properties across Texas’ major metros. Last month, the company broke ground on a 750-unit multifamily development in South Austin.
Built in 1904, The Ambassador was first called The Majestic, and was believed to be the oldest luxury hotel still standing in Dallas. Located next to Dallas’ Old City Park in The Cedars neighborhood, the six-story hotel was considered a high rise at the height of its popularity, attracting famous guests like Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.
It changed hands several times over the years, being repurposed as a senior housing community and then a religious center. By 1982, the Great Texas Development Corporation bought the Ambassador and announced it would complete a major renovation. After the company declared bankruptcy and reorganized as TAP Historic Properties, it opened the property once again as a luxury hotel in 1983.
By 1990, times were hard again, and the hotel temporarily closed due to lack of funds. It was purchased for $800,000 by conservative pastor Bill Gothard to establish the controversial Christian ministry Institute in Basic Life Principles. In 2014, more than 30 women accused Bill Gothard of sexual harassment and with the institute was losing millions of dollars a year, he sold the property to Jim Lake Jr. a year later.
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[DMN] — Maddy Sperling