Centurion American Selling Stalled Cabana Hotel in Dallas

A landmark Dallas hotel has hit the market four years after a redevelopment project stalled.

Davidson Bogel Real Estate is marketing the 10-story Cabana Hotel at 899 Stemmons Freeway, near downtown, as an opportunity to finish the renovation, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Centurion American Development Group bought the vacant building for $8.1 million in 2017 from Dallas County. The Farmers Branch-based firm had demolished the building’s interior before halting the redevelopment in 2019 due to delays in historic designations, city permitting problems and the pandemic.

The building is currently under contract to a buyer, Jake Milner of Davidson & Bogel told the outlet.

Centurion, led by CEO Mehrdad Moayedi, planned to convert the site into a 268-room hotel, carrying an estimated cost of about $100 million.

The Cabana Hotel was built in 1962 by Jay Sarno, who also built Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The Cabana was once considered a top destination for travelers, hosting the likes of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Richard Nixon. It closed in the 1970s and was later turned into a county jail, the outlet said.

For Centurion, the listing marks its second historic property to hit the market. The firm is also selling the Braniff Airways hostess college, built in 1968 as a training center for the Dallas-based airline’s flight attendants. The five-story site has been vacant for over eight years.

The firm has been adding to its portfolio elsewhere, though. Earlier this year, Centurion acquired 680 acres in Grayson County, 55 miles north of downtown Dallas, to build a master-planned community called Cottonwood.

The firm bought 1,100 acres in Terrell last fall to build Las Lomas — a massive mixed-use project slated for 2,390 single-family homes, along with multifamily, industrial and educational developments.

—Quinn Donoghue