Downtown construction/renovation (Dallas, Throckmorton: foreclosures, credit, transfer)

[rogramjet]

Originally Posted by txman

FW also has very few office buildings in comparison to other cities. It's easy to keep office space filled when you really don't have that much. Good strategy. Someone mentioned this before, but to compare Fort Worth's ( with its very small skyline) office vacancy rate to cities like Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, etc. is a little silly. The vacancy rate sounds great...until you see a picture of the city.

Where did this rant come from? I wasn't even remotely trying to compare Fort Worth's downtown with Dallas, Austin, or any other place.

By the way, Fort Worth has 7.2 million square feet of office space in its central business district, compared to Austin with 8.3 million and Dallas with 25 million (for 2007, according to each city's chamber of commerce.)

I was merely challenging Mr. subslugs assertion that the Bass Towers were sitting partially empty, given the very low vacancy rate in downtown Fort Worth.

I'm sure where ever you live Mr. txman, your downtown is bigger than Fort Worth's. Feel better?

[loves2read]

For once let's just say that FTW's small town downtown is GREAT---FTW is doing fine w/o having the massive downtown swarm of people and traffic and buildings that cities like Dallas have--the fact that XTO has chosed to invest quite a big of its massive profits in downtown real estate should tell anyone that office space is still a good buy--and why do we WANT a higher profie skyline ---don't believe that bigger is always better...

the idea that there are condos going in so heavy worries me a little but there still seems to be money/buyers for them because many of the buyers are older people with resources--not first time buyers---but FTW has what so many big cities wish they did--a LIVEABLE downtown--what is wrong with that????????

[txman]

Originally Posted by rogramjet

Where did this rant come from? I wasn't even remotely trying to compare Fort Worth's downtown with Dallas, Austin, or any other place.

By the way, Fort Worth has 7.2 million square feet of office in its central business district, compared to Austin with 8.3 million and Dallas with 25 million (according to each city's chamber of commerce.)

I was merely challenging Mr. subslugs assertion that given the very low vacancy rate in downtown Fort Worth, the Bass Towers were sitting partially empty.

I'm sure where ever you live, your downtown is bigger than Fort Worth's. Feel better?

I didn't know I was ranting. I was only commenting on that it's somewhat senseless to compare office space of a city with 7 million sq. feet of space with cities that have 25 million or more. And I don't care how walkable downtown is..it still feels like a city of about 100,000 (which is fine if you like that feel) and Fort Worth is still one the most unattractive cities I've ever seen..from a distance and at ground level. But hey, different strokes for different folks.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by loves2read

For once let's just say that FTW's small town downtown is GREAT---FTW is doing fine w/o having the massive downtown swarm of people and traffic and buildings that cities like Dallas have--the fact that XTO has chosed to invest quite a big of its massive profits in downtown real estate should tell anyone that office space is still a good buy--and why do we WANT a higher profie skyline ---don't believe that bigger is always better...


but FTW has what so many big cities wish they did--a LIVEABLE downtown--what is wrong with that????????

I don't know what everyone else wants, but I know what I want. As a native of Ft. Worth, I'm personally tired of seeing virtually the same skyline from 1987. The new skyscrapers the city is popping up comes at a combined 60 stories. COMBINED. I'm a fan of skylines and I just want our city to have one we could be proud of. Besides, Austin has a liveble downtown and they have projects poppin up everyday. Why can't we?

[beowulf7]

Originally Posted by loves2read

For once let's just say that FTW's small town downtown is GREAT---FTW is doing fine w/o having the massive downtown swarm of people and traffic and buildings that cities like Dallas have--the fact that XTO has chosed to invest quite a big of its massive profits in downtown real estate should tell anyone that office space is still a good buy--and why do we WANT a higher profie skyline ---don't believe that bigger is always better...

the idea that there are condos going in so heavy worries me a little but there still seems to be money/buyers for them because many of the buyers are older people with resources--not first time buyers---but FTW has what so many big cities wish they did--a LIVEABLE downtown--what is wrong with that????????

This is TX. Of course bigger is better!

Originally Posted by JJG

I don't know what everyone else wants, but I know what I want. As a native of Ft. Worth, I'm personally tired of seeing virtually the same skyline from 1987. The new skyscrapers the city is popping up comes at a combined 60 stories. COMBINED. I'm a fan of skylines and I just want our city to have one we could be proud of. Besides, Austin has a liveble downtown and they have projects poppin up everyday. Why can't we?

Amen to that!

[drjones96]

Why do big buildings/skylines matter? I sure don't care if we have tall buildings downtown. Big office buildings are of no consequence to me. I can't live, eat, or shop there so what's the point.

That's what I feel would make downtown better. Not tall office buildings but new and interesting places to go to live, eat or shop.....cultural enrichment places.

But that's just my opinion.

[txman]

Originally Posted by drjones96

Why do big buildings/skylines matter? I sure don't care if we have tall buildings downtown. Big office buildings are of no consequence to me. I can't live, eat, or shop there so what's the point.

That's what I feel would make downtown better. Not tall office buildings but new and interesting places to go to live, eat or shop.....cultural enrichment places.

But that's just my opinion.

Why can't a city have both? My favorite american cities have vibrant downtowns with unique places, not the chain, surburban offerings of DTFW, as well as breathtaking modern skylines. A city's skyline shows a city's prosperity and progressiveness. Fort Worth is seriously lacking in that apsect. I don't care now many Chili's and Bennigan's you put downtown.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by drjones96

Why do big buildings/skylines matter? I sure don't care if we have tall buildings downtown. Big office buildings are of no consequence to me. I can't live, eat, or shop there so what's the point.

That's what I feel would make downtown better. Not tall office buildings but new and interesting places to go to live, eat or shop.....cultural enrichment places.

But that's just my opinion.

Well first, they don't have to be office buildings. It could be hotels, residential, or maybe even a 1,000 ft. observation tower (I dream big, folks).
And even if they are office towers, they could still have places to shop and eat at ground or top floor level. I remember when The Tower was the Bank One Building, before it got ripped up by the twister in 2000, and it had a restaurant at the top.
And second, downtown Fort Worth has alot of culture with Sundance Square and the Bass Hall. It will gain more when all the proposed projects, including the TRV and Tarrant County College campus, comes in full effect, I'm sure. So what's a few more skyscrapers (at least 7... and they MUST be over 600 ft. tall) going to hurt?

BTW, just to throw out a few suggestions....
Besides more skyscrapers, how about gettin' rid of that piece of crap we call City Hall, the "silver UFO" arena on the north side of the convention center and the SBC Building and replacing them with taller, more modern towers. I even have drawings....
Downtown Ft. Worth is why I want to be an architect, and If I can do anything about it, it will not have that same mid 80's look it's had for a while now.

[beowulf7]

Originally Posted by drjones96

Why do big buildings/skylines matter? I sure don't care if we have tall buildings downtown. Big office buildings are of no consequence to me. I can't live, eat, or shop there so what's the point.

That's what I feel would make downtown better. Not tall office buildings but new and interesting places to go to live, eat or shop.....cultural enrichment places.

But that's just my opinion.

If FW had a more potent skyline, imagine how much prettier it would look from various points on Loop 820 and on I-30 and I-35 as one approaches downtown.

I'm in full agreement with the previous 2 posters.

Disclosure: I'm originally from north NJ, less than an hour from NYC, so maybe that's why big, beautiful skylines are so meaningful to me.

[colt357_2000]

There was an artical in the star-telegram but I can't seem to find it! At least about the new condo's going in , some of which are going to be 1 million or more. Who can afford that in Cowtown? Lotsa ppl I guess....lol
Nice to see growth downtown, but there are strip centers going in along 377 and Precinct line out here in the burbs too.
The thing that bothers me is, there are strip centers that are nowhere near full on the same roads.
Last time I saw that was the 80's. The bottom fell out of the housing market, the price of gas skyrocketed, and stocks fell like crazy.
Kinda sounds like now, huh?