FORT WORTH: HISTORIC AND MODERN

While Fort Worth CBD office vacancy is 17%, Sundance Square’s 3M SF of commercial office, retail, and residential space boasts more than 90% occupancy. The office product (which includes the 208k SF, 12-story Chase Building above) is 94% occupied and the retail- residential properties are 92%. Sundance Square’s CEO Johnny Campbell tells us its offices comprise 2.5M SF and retail 300k SF. Two new Sundance office buildings opened in 2009, including the 280k-SF Carnegie.

So, why is the area growing? Assuring us there’s is no silver  bullet explanation, Johnny says a blend of office, retail and residential is critical. Plus, they've addressed three obstacles: parking, security and cleanliness. Parking is free after 5pm (and validated during the day); Sundance has its own  private security force; and cleanliness programs are in place from the parking garages to the streets.

A mix of the modern with the historic: City Center towers over a painting commemorating the Fort Worth stop on the Chisholm Trail. Many of the buildings are historic, built from the 1870s to the 1920s. Johnny says it isn’t a town center built to look like a town. It’s a historic city with revitalized or modern buildings mixed in.

Sundance marketing director Tracy Gilmour—right, with Johnny and
leasing rep Robert Gamblin—says leasing only picked up in 4Q09, with several renewals. “There's a science to having successful merchants downtown. We have to find what's compelling to office workers, downtown residents, day-trippers, and conventioneers or tourists. We try to find a retailer that will service at least two of those four consumers,” Tracy says. It’s strongest retail component?Restaurants. On Jan. 14, the Cowtown Diner opened at 305 Main St. in the Plaza Hotel Building. Anyone else hungry for pot pie?