Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Deal to fix Fort Worth skyscraper is scrapped

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Sunday, December 17, 2000

Deal to fix Fort Worth skyscraper is scrapped
Tenants have been leaving the tornado-ravaged, 35-story Bank One tower since March storms hit
Associated Press
FORT WORTH - A deal between two companies to rebuild the tornado-gutted Bank One Tower downtown has been scuttled, casting the future of the 35-story building and its handful of tenants into doubt.
   Dallas-based Trammell Crow development company announced Friday it could not close a deal with Loutex Fort Worth, the limited partnership that owns the Bank One tower.
   "We would like to have been able to restore the building to a Class A facility," Jim Eagle, senior vice president and head of Trammell Crow's Fort Worth office, said in a statement.
   "This redevelopment project was a complex, one-of-a-kind real estate transaction," Eagle said. "Our decision was made only after extensive analysis."
   The statement did not say why Trammell Crow was backing out of the deal for the building.
   City officials said they were discouraged by the news that one of the largest buildings in downtown Fort Worth would remain an empty eyesore.
   "Certainly, it will be a devastating blow," said City Manager Bob Terrell. "We had counted on it. The former Bank One building is an extremely important landmark for the city of Fort Worth. I'm hopeful that someone else will come in to redevelop it."
   Mayor Kenneth Barr said the failed deal could stall renovation or demolition of the Bank One building for at least four months.
   Loutex had estimated that the tower, which had more than 3,000 windows smashed out, would need repairs totaling more than $35 million, the estimated value of the building.
   Since the March 28 storms, which included multiple twisters that killed five people and caused at least $450 million in damage, former tenants, including the building's namesake, Bank One, have moved to other offices.
   Bank One in October announced it was abandoning the building, which opened in 1974 as the Fort Worth National Bank building and was praised as an important architectural work.
   The Western-themed Reata restaurant atop the tower is one of the handful of businesses left in the damaged tower.
   Mike Evans, a co-owner of the restaurant he has asked to meet with Loutex next week.
   "We're not quite sure what's going to happen," Evans said.

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