Mercantile National Bank Building
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The Mercantile National Bank Building (known colloquially as The Merc) was the former home of the Mercantile National Bank, later MCorp Bank, located at 1700 Main St. in downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The design of the skyscraper features Moderne styling from the Art Deco era and was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager. The building has a series of setbacks that is crowned by an ornamental four-sided clock along with a decorative spire. Mercantile Bank owner and founder, Robert L. Thornton had his own penthouse level in the upper floors. The Merc was the main element of a four building complex that would span a full city block.
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[edit] History
The building was completed in 1942 and was the only major skyscraper to be constructed during World War II. The U.S. government had called for a halt of private construction to fuel supply materials for the war effort. However, a lot of the tower's steel had been prefabricated, and was given a special waiver from the government.
The Mercantile Building was built at the southeast corner of Main and Ervay streets and spans from Main to Commerce Street along Ervay. At its completion, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and it was the tallest building in Dallas until 1954, when Republic Bank Tower 1 surpassed it. The building is 31 stories, and when the 115 feet (35 m) foot ornamental clock tower is included, is 545 feet (166 m) feet tall; making it the 19th-tallest building in Dallas. It also contains 359,348 square feet (33,385 m²) 359,348 square feet of floor space.
[edit] Expansion
The Mercantile Bank would expand their offices to include an entire city block. The Mercantile Securities Building was constructed immediately behind the main Mercantile Bank tower in 1949 and is 14 stories tall, and includes 213,270 square feet (19,813 m²) of space. The Mercantile Dallas Building was completed in 1954. It is 360 feet (110 m) and 22 stories tall with 347,037 square feet (32,241 m²) inside. The Dallas Building was built behind the southern half of the Securities building and runs along Commerce Street all the way to Saint Paul Street. The final addition to the complex was the Securities Annex in 1972. It initially was five stories, but was designed to go higher at a later date, which never happened. Its 116,322 square feet (10,807 m²) of space went behind the Securities and Dallas Buildings.
The bank would also build other structures near the main tower. The Continental Building was also built across Commerce Street in 1951. Originally 3 floors with underground parking, it was eventually expanded to 11 floors. The bank built the Jackson Street Garage behind the Continental Building that was the equivalent of 3 acres (12,100 m²) of parking. An underground tunnel was built to connect the the garage to the Continental and to the main complex via the Dallas Building.
In 1976, the bank bought the Vaughn Tower on Commerce Street across from the Securities and Continental Building. Prather Street divides the Continental and Vaughn Tower. The bank renamed the building the Mercantile Commerce Building.
The final building to be built by MCorp Bank was Momentum Place, now named Chase Center. The building is across Main Street and is bounded Main, Ervay, Saint Paul and Elm. The building was completed in 1987, with MCorp taking 600,000 square feet (60,000 m²) in the 1,500,000 square feet (100,000 m²) building. The building would connect to the original complex with an underground tunnel to the Securities Annex building. It would also connect to the main tunnel system to the north.
Though this was supposed to be a good time for the Bank, it was shortlived. The economic downturn of the late 1980s along with the Savings and Loan scandal would signal the end of MCorp Bank. It would be dissolved by Bank One in the summer of 1989, after numerous quarters of earnings losses. The Chase Center was the last major office building to be constructed in downtown until 2005, when 7-11 decided to relocate their headquarters back to downtown. The One Arts Plaza started construction in 2005.
After MCorp was dissolved, Chase Center became entirely leaseable Class A office space and is still used in that function today. The bank vacated the original complex to move into their new headquarters and the complex was still used as office space, if only sparingly. The main tower would become vacant on 5 February 1993. Of the seven buildings built for the bank, only two would stay in use, the Chase Center as office space and the Jackson Building garage.
[edit] Adaptive Reuse
With the increased demand in urban living downtown, there was interest in reconverting the structure to residential uses. However, the complex was awash with asbestos, which would need to be removed before any remodeling could begin. The complex was also not configured well for residential, as it had a lot of floor space without windows nearby, requiring demolition of some buildings. The two combinations made for an expensive reconversion.
Three different proposals fell through before Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises was able to make the financial numbers work. FCE announced a deal with the City of Dallas in June of 2005 that they will receive US$60.5 million dollars from the city to redo the building. The main tower will be converted to 225 apartments with ground floor retail. The three additions will be demolished. On the site of the Securities Annex will be a fifteen-story apartment building. On the former site of the Dallas Building will be low-rise retail buildings. The entire block will also have a plaza area and underground parking.
Forest City will also receive US$5 million from the city to redo the Continental Building into 150 for-purchase condominiums. The city will receive a share of the sales receipts of the condos. Forest City is redoing this building at the same time as the Merc complex.
Also in the deal between the City of Dallas and Forest City, FCE will convert another complex of four buildings that Atmos Energy donated to the City for residential use. They will start on this project when the Merc is completed.
[edit] References
- Local radio host Mike Rhyner from Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket opens the Hardline show with a time check "according to the Tower of the Friendly Mercan-teel."
