Dallas Real Estate: $200 Million Project Gets Funded by Police, Firefighters

Here's proof positive that when the banks stop lending, developers get creative. A $200-million high end downtown luxury condo development in Dallas that had been placed on hold two years ago due to the real estatecredit crunch will plunge forward with a unique source for funding: Dallas police and firefighters.

Museum Tower, a contemporary feat of overlapping glass panels designed by California architect Johnson Fain, closed a deal with the $3 billion-strong Dallas Police and Fire Pension System to fund and actually own the project. The developers, Dallas-based Brook Partners and Turtle Creek Holdings, will also hold an economic interest. Once complete, the 42-story tower with 100-plus units will soar over the city's burgeoning arts district with the highest-priced air-dirt in town: $700 to $1,000 per square foot, with an average condominium unit priced at $1,000,000. (Sidenote: One of the partners in the Museum Tower venture is Dan Boeckman, who sold his Preston Hollow home to former President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.)

Construction will begin next week with expected completion in two-and-a-half years.