There’s a lot of activity about to start on the south end of downtown.
On the heels of a Fort Worth Convention Center expansion and the ongoing Texas A&M University construction, demolition is underway on the adaptive reuse of the 300,000-square-foot former Oncor Building.
Fort Worth-based commercial construction company Hasen plans to start work on transforming the former Oncor home in downtown Fort Worth from office to multifamily in the next 30 to 60 days.
The building will be branded with its address, 115 West 7th St., according to a news release from Hasen.
The project is from Southlake-based firm 3L Real Estate, which specializes in adaptive-reuse projects such as this one. The company purchased the building in 2023.
The 16-story tower will be converted into about 330 residential rentals, including studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
The mixed-use project includes existing ground-floor restaurants and retail and will add new atriums, a fitness center and business center, said David Hasenzahl, Hasen’s president. Completion is targeted in less than two years.
Hasen is the general contractor on the project and has extensive experience in historic renovation projects, including the Historic Electric Building in downtown as well as Rodeo Plaza in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
Additionally, Hasen and 3L have partnered on similar adaptive-reuse projects converting office buildings to apartments at 501 Elm Street in downtown Dallas.
“It’s always a challenge when you’re working in the downtown area, for obvious logistics reasons,” Hasenzahl said. “There’s parking, material deliveries, setting equipment on the roof. We’ll be using helicopters to do that kind of thing.”
There are other challenges. The ground-floor tenants — The Capital Grille, Little Red Wasp and PlainsCapital Bank — will be open during the construction.
“There’s a very small window for us to do a lot of work,” he said.
Plans include maintaining the historic nature of the building, which was opened in 1952 and saw renovations and additions in 1961 and 2012.
The building’s midcentury facade will be preserved even as the interior changes, Hasenzahl said. The building was designated as a Historic and Cultural Landmark in 2024.
Originally constructed in 1952, the building served as the headquarters for the Fort Worth National Bank and, at the time, was the largest commercial building downtown by square footage.
The building was designed by Preston M. Geren & Associates in the international style, characterized by its “slab and tower” design and use of rust-colored Denton brick. Oncor relocated offices basically across the street at 777 Main in 2023.
The building has a T-shaped office tower from the third floor up with the first three floors on a rectangular base, Hasenzahl said.
“The building has good bones, as we say,” he said. “It’s a structural steel building with a slab on metal deck, so it’s got sort of newer building components. Some older buildings you start to work and you uncover something and ask yourself, ‘What were they thinking?’ That’s not the case here.”
The building is within walking distance to all of the amenities of downtown Fort Worth, including Sundance Square, the convention center and the future Texas A&M Fort Worth campus.
“We anticipate these units to be popular among the TCU medical school and Texas A&M School of Law students and employees,” Hasenzahl said. “By converting this underutilized office building into sophisticated residential rentals, we are providing the vital residential infrastructure needed to support Fort Worth’s transformation into a premier research and medical destination.”
On April 30, Fort Worth’s Lancaster-area tax district approved $4 million in infrastructure reimbursements for 3L’s conversion in exchange for 20% of the building’s 330 units maintaining below-market rents for 10 years.
“3L is eager to continue investing in Fort Worth with this new project, which will restore a valuable historic building,” Joseph W. Slezak, 3L Real Estate CEO, said in a statement. “We believe in the city of Fort Worth’s downtown development efforts, and we’re committed to helping by expanding housing opportunities for residents at all budget levels.”
3L Real Estate, founded by Slezak in 2015, uses an adaptive-reuse strategy to revitalize legacy buildings in urban city centers. This building marks 3L’s 13th acquisition and second project in the North Texas area.
Fort Worth- and Dallas-based architecture and design firm, Bennett Partners is leading architecture and design efforts for the conversion.
Hasen, through its family of businesses, has helped develop and build commercial and multifamily projects since 1955.
More banks coming
Fifth Third Bancorp closed its merger with Dallas-based Comerica to create the ninth-largest U.S. bank with about $294 billion in assets.
By 2030, Fifth Third is planning to have about 1,750 branches, over half of which will be located in the southeast, Texas, Arizona and California.
Bank officials said in a news release they are planning 150 new branches in Texas.
Look at the Birdie
Dirdie Birdie, the Austin-based indoor mini-golf restaurant and bar, has leased the former bar-and-patio at 2821 Morton St. in Fort Worth’s West 7th district.
LanCarte Commercial Real Estate and Big Ink Commercial Real Estate executed the lease.
LanCarte also completed the leasing of a 37,445-square-foot former industrial building that’s been converted into modern creative office space in west Fort Worth.
The building, at 201 N. Rupert St., is now fully occupied with leases to long-term tenants CK Family Services, Tarrant County GOP and United Way of Tarrant County.
The property is owned by brothers Rob and John Lydick, of HFW Capital Partners, who are repositioning the mostly industrial buildings in the area into high-quality offices. HFW Capital Partners is officing in the building, which is positioned between the new Westside Drive and University Drive, adjacent to Larkspur Capital’s 1.7-billion, 37-acre Westside Village development.
Have something for Bob on Business: Send to bob.francis@fortworthreport.org
Bob Francis is business editor at the Fort Worth Report.At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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