NEWS RELEASES
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
May 24, 2006
By Sandra Baker
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Room to grow
Study cites even more need for housing downtown
FORT WORTH — An updated study on the downtown housing market shows a need for at least 4,000 more owner-occupied residences and more than 3,000 additional rental units — and officials and developers say those numbers still may be too conservative.
The new numbers reflect burgeoning demand in the fast-growing downtown residential market beyond the apartments and condominiums that have been added in recent years.
Five years ago, the advocacy group Downtown Fort Worth Inc. commissioned a report on behalf of several organizations and developers on the demand for downtown residences. At that time, the report said the market could absorb about 5,400 units — 2,900 for sale and 2,500 rental — over the course of several years.
Now, M/PF Research, the Dallas firm that handled the study, concludes that the market can absorb 4,225 for-sale units and 3,070 rental units in the next 11 to 19 years.
But the numbers are based only on a profile of the central city apartment market and surveys of residents and employees downtown. The figures don't reflect demand from outside the area, where many residents are moving from, the group said.
One of the more successful projects, The Tower, the redevelopment of the 37-story former office tower at Fifth and Throckmorton streets into 294 condos, had buyers from 12 states and the District of Columbia, as well as from several cities in the Metroplex and across Texas.
Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc., said the new numbers offer only a glimpse of the overall demand and depth of the downtown housing market.
"The genesis behind the study was to update and confirm the 2001 study so developers and lenders would have a renewed information source about market demand," Taft said. "The study suggests that demand has grown over five years."
Mary Margaret Davis, sales manager for the Texas & Pacific Lofts, a 228-condo project that includes the conversion of the historical Texas and Pacific Terminal on Lancaster Avenue, is seeing the demand.
In the first four days that her staff showed the units last week, buyers reserved 27 condos, a faster-than-anticipated pace, Davis said. Moreover, about 500 people have called wanting information or showings, she said.
"The calls continue. Every day we get more leads," Davis said. "Our two-year projection just became a five-month completion project."
Tom Struhs, the developer behind the Trinity Bluff mixed-used development on the north end and the nearby Pecan Place Townhomes, said the study is a good marketing tool in demonstrating the demand. But he said that based on formulas used by the National Association of Home Builders, downtown could support even more housing units than the study suggests.
"I believe it's conservative," Struhs said of the numbers. "It was a serious study. It adds credibility. It is truly a compelling argument for us."
There are eight apartment communities downtown offering 1,339 units for lease. The occupancy rate averages 97 percent, the study shows.
The newest, the 210-unit Cotton Depot, began leasing last fall and is 77 percent leased, on target with projections that it would be fully leased by mid-2006. The only apartment property on the horizon is Lincoln Property Co.'s 305-unit Lincoln at Trinity Bluff, which is under construction on Bluff Street.
In the for-sale market, there are nearly 700 existing units and more than 400 units on the horizon, some of which will be ready for occupancy in the next couple of months.
Despite the demand, the proposed conversion of the 24-story Transport Life office building at Seventh and Main streets into a luxury apartment building has been taken off the drawing board by its owners. About 70 apartments were planned.
Linda Votaw, a partner in the development, said that because the downtown office market is also strong, the partnership has decided to return the building back to the market as office space. The group has owned the vacant building since 2003.
Plans and a timeline for redevelopment are in the works, Votaw said.
They are also under contract to buy some nearby property to provide parking for the office tenants, she said.
For-lease properties:
1. Firestone Upper West Side, 1001 W. Seventh St., 350 units
2. AMLI Upper West Side, 1000 Henderson St., 194 units
3. AMLI 7th Street Station, 2601 W. Seventh St., 189 units
4. Historic Electric Building, 410 W. Seventh St., 106 units
5. Sanger Lofts, 222 W. Fourth St., 59 units
6. Sundance West, 333 Throckmorton St., 59 units
7. Cotton Depot, 555 Elm St., 210 units
8. Hillside Apartments, 300 Crump St., 172 units
For-sale properties:
9. The Tower, 500 Throckmorton St., 294 condos
10. Remington Place, 1000 W. Belknap St., 18 condos
11. So7, on West Seventh Street, 59 town houses
12. Texas and Pacific Lofts, 221 W. Lancaster Ave., 228 condos
13. Houston Place Lofts, 910 Houston St., 30 condos
14. Neil P at Burnett Park, 411 W. Seventh St., 58 condos
15. Pecan Place Condominiums, at First and Pecan streets, 9 condos
16. Versailles, 409 N. Henderson St., 7 condos
Planned or under construction:
17. Pecan Place Townhomes, 612 E. First St., 28 town houses
18. Palisades, 600 E. Bluff St., 40 town houses
19. One City Place, Third & Throckmorton streets, 180 condos
20. Fronterra, between Henderson and Lexington streets, 50 condos
21. Lincoln Properties, on Bluff Street, 305 apartments
22. Le Bijou, at Sixth and Jones streets, 16 town houses
23. Omni Hotel, on Houston Street, 97 condos
Sandra Baker, (817) 390-7727 sabaker@star-telegram.com
The Firestone Upper West Side just west of downtown offers 350 units for lease. The downtown occupancy rate averages 97 percent.
STAR-TELEGRAM/RODGER MALLISON
The Sanger Lofts apartments are among eight apartment communities downtown offering 1,339 units for lease. An updated housing study concludes that the downtown market can absorb 3,070 rental units.
STAR-TELEGRAM/RODGER MALLISON
FOR SALE: Historic Electric Building
STAR-TELEGRAM/RODGER MALLISON
FOR LEASE: Houston Place Lofts
STAR-TELEGRAM/RODGER MALLISON
PLANNED: Omni Hotel
ARTIST'S RENDERING
MAP: DOWNTOWN LIVING UNITS
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