The Dallas City Council is scheduled to take up the Preston Royal zoning case on Wednesday, Oct. 14. The case would let a developer replace the low-rise retail at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane with a mixed-use district that allows towers up to 240 feet. City staff and the City Plan Commission both recommend approval. Of the nearby property owners who returned notice replies, 263 opposed it and 8 supported it.
The 46-page case report prepared for council, file Z-26-000007, lays out what the developer asked for, what the city changed and where the fight sits. Here is a guide to it.
What the Preston Royal zoning request covers
The site is about 7.27 acres on the south side of Royal Lane and the west side of Preston Road, north of Orchid Lane, in Council District 13. It is zoned CR Community Retail, which caps buildings at 54 feet. The case report says the property was previously developed with retail and office buildings that were destroyed by the 2019 tornado. Part of it now holds a retail building, and the rest is undeveloped.
The applicants are RLA-PRDA Investments LP, which lists Leland Burk among its officers, and JPMorgan Chase Bank. They filed Feb. 6, 2026, for a new Planned Development District that would allow multifamily housing, a hotel, offices, retail and retirement housing in a single plan.
How tall, and where
The planned development sets height zones that push the tallest buildings toward the interior of the site:
- Building 1: 185 feet, or 210 feet with the mixed-income housing bonus, and no more than 18 stories
- Building 2: 200 feet, or 240 feet with the bonus, and no more than 19 stories
- Building 3: 190 feet and 12 stories
- A restaurant village zone: 45 feet and two stories
In the lowest height zone, buildings 1 and 2 are limited to 54 feet. Lot coverage shrinks as buildings rise, from 45% at 54 feet or below down to 10% for anything above 210 feet. The report says the nearest homes to the west are two-story condominiums about 45 feet from the property line, and the nearest duplex and single-family homes to the south are about 130 feet away.
Staff found the request “generally consistent” with ForwardDallas 2.0, which labels the corner Community Mixed-Use. Staff also flagged that the western edge is less protected than the southern edge, because height there “would increase more rapidly.”
The affordable housing piece
The extra height in Buildings 1 and 2 depends on mixed-income housing. The applicants proposed setting aside 5% of units for households earning 81% to 100% of area median family income. Staff recommended 5% at 51% to 60% of median income instead, saying the city’s policy puts the lowest income levels in its strongest markets, and this site sits in an “A” market area, the city’s strongest tier.
The Plan Commission adopted the staff version. The reserved units could all be placed in Building 1, because the developer intends Building 2 to hold for-sale homes and the city program was built around rentals.
What the Plan Commission changed
On Aug. 6, the commission voted 10-4 to recommend approval with conditions. The changes included requiring at least 150 site trees, where base code would require 76, adopting the lower-income housing terms, and banning four uses: drive-through banks, drive-through restaurants, fueling stations and car washes.
A competing amendment would have capped every structure at 75 feet, required an eight-foot masonry wall along the southern line and removed the housing bonus. It failed 13-2.
Other conditions in the plan include 0.68 acres of open space, underground parking for all uses, at least 1,000 square feet of solar panels and heat-reducing improvements on at least 30% of roof area.
Traffic and who pays for it
A traffic impact analysis dated June 12, 2026, found the street network can handle the project with signal, access and turn-lane changes. It identified future traffic signals at Preston Road and Central Market Drive and at Royal Lane and Tom Thumb Drive. Staff recommends that if the project is built in phases, each phase pay its proportional share of those improvements, so the final phase is not stuck with the full bill.
The applicants had asked to write specific cost-sharing terms into the zoning itself. Staff said that language was “not appropriate for a zoning document” and that those costs are settled at permitting under the city code. The report lists DART bus Route 237 as the transit service within a half-mile. DART’s board recently approved a $1.4 billion budget that also returns mobility funds to member cities, Dallas among them.
How the case got to Oct. 14
The Preston Royal zoning case first appeared on the commission’s June 25 agenda before the Aug. 6 vote. A council hearing was set for Sept. 9, but city records show that agenda item was deleted, and a new hearing item was filed for Oct. 14. The city mailed 283 notices within 500 feet of the site, and the 263 replies against far outnumber the 8 in favor.
Collin County has its own big redevelopment question this fall in the Plano arena plan at Willow Bend. In Dallas, new development also feeds the tax base behind the $5.66 billion budget and lower tax rate the council adopted this fall.
What happens next
On the Preston Royal zoning request, the council can approve the case as recommended, change the conditions, deny it or delay it. The council agenda posts the meeting details ahead of Oct. 14, and Dallas residents can register to speak on zoning cases through the City Secretary’s office.
How Never Late News reported this
This guide is based on the City of Dallas council case report for Z-26-000007, attached to council item 26-2960A for Oct. 14, 2026, which includes the staff analysis, proposed planned development conditions, the Aug. 6 City Plan Commission minutes and vote, and the notice and reply counts. The development plan exhibit filed with the commission’s Aug. 6 item shows the building layout. Agenda dates for the June 25 commission item, the deleted Sept. 9 council item and the Oct. 14 hearing come from the city’s Legistar records for the case, including the deleted Sept. 9 council item, 26-2640A. No interviews were conducted for this report. To report an error, email editor@neverlatenews.com.