According to the Dallas Morning News, transforming the former First National Bank Tower into a $350 million mixed-use project is not only the largest skyscraper redo in Downtown Dallas history, the landmark tower is the last major building in the city’s core awaiting redevelopment. But the owner defaulting on a $55 million loan has put the property in jeopardy of a forced sale to repay the debt. 

Ironically, the property owner and borrower, California-based Drever Capital Management, acquired the building out of bankruptcy after the original owners ran out of cash. Armed with five decades of restoration experience and an extensive history in the Dallas market, Drever tweaked the masterplan, and the Drever family has spent the last two years reconstructing the 1.3 million-square-foot skyscraper that once contained offices for oilman H.L. Hunt and members of the Murchison the family into a 52-story mixed-use development with a combination of retail, offices, residences, and hotel rooms. 

In the meantime, Texas lender, GCP Income Opportunities I LLC, filed the default claim through Dallas County, which appointed a trustee to "sell the property to satisfy a portion or all of the indebtedness." 

While legal filings give the lender the right to sell property, it doesn’t mean that a foreclosure is imminent. In addition to selling property, trustees also serve in a bargaining capacity between the lender and borrower, and Drever can halt the forced sale by paying the loan off, refinancing the debt, or seeking court protection.

"We remain in ongoing discussions with the lender," a Drever spokesman told the News in an email. "While we are on track in closing new financing, construction continues, and we are looking forward to completing construction on schedule in 2019."

Built in 1965 and vacant for nearly a decade, the Elm Street skyscraper’s signature Greek marble will be an integral design component of the finished redevelopment, which will be christened The Drever.