Fort Worth: Pair of eyesores mar downtown

[CTroyMathis]

Pair of eyesores mar downtown
Bob Ray Sanders commentary

One is still a rumor and the other still a dream, but if either comes true it will bode well for a downtown that is on the grow but still plagued by two towering monstrosities.

When two of the city's genuine skyscrapers (buildings more than 30 stories high) have been boarded up for years, it makes one wonder how serious Fort Worth leaders are about downtown redevelopment.

There certainly have been some exciting developments in the central business district over the past decade with the continued progress in Sundance Square, the expansion and renovation of the Fort Worth Convention Center, demolition of the Interstate 30 overhead and plans for the Lancaster corridor and the charming new Intermodal Transportation Center and Rail Market in what was once a very depressing area.

Add to that the plans for corporate giants RadioShack and Pier 1 to build their new headquarters along the banks of the Trinity River and you would have to say things are looking bright in downtown Fort Worth. In fact, the just-released artist's rendering for the 20-story Pier 1 building facing the river is nothing short of inspiring.

But if you look at the Pier 1 building from the riverside, those two dominant eyesores -- if they're still standing -- will come into view. The two abandoned buildings were grand in their day but now look like the rejects from some big-city slum.

Still, there is hope.

The 37-story Bank One Tower, closed since being struck by the March 2000 tornado, had been scheduled to be demolished because even though there was no structural damage, the cost of restoring the glass building was reportedly prohibitive. Asbestos problems, negating the original planned implosion, have delayed the destruction.

Now it is rumored that there is a buyer for the tower, which was designed by architect John Portman. Developers, who plan to build 300 apartments in the high-rise building, are waiting for a commitment from the city to provide some financial incentive before they invest the $60 million in renovation costs.

I have always liked that building and frankly always thought it should be restored. Now it may get new life, and bring a new vitality to downtown, if city leaders get on the stick.

Another dream-come-true would be for the older Landmark Tower, the former Continental National Bank Building (once sporting a giant revolving clock on top), to get its long-promised face-lift.

Closed since 1991, the building will supposedly become home to new luxury condominiums. At least that's what we've been hearing for the past few years.

Last week, there was word on the street that the local developer had secured the necessary financing and the insurance to complete the project. But still no official word has come forth.

Every now and then workers can be seen performing interior demolition work, and then there are weeks when no activity is visible at all.

City leaders must realize that no matter how much new development comes in the next few years, downtown can never be what it ought to be if those two eyesores are not renovated or torn down.

If only the rumors and dreams could come true.

[bloodandpopcorn]

I suppose this is one area in which Dallas got a little head-start on Fort Worth. Though there are many more 'abandoned eyesores' in downtown Dallas than in downtown Fort Worth, I believe Dallas started on its 'office to residential' rennovation spree before anything like it was done in Fort Worth. I just wish that we only had two to worry about...

[John T Roberts]

I hate to disagree with you bloodandpopcorn, but the first building conversion to apartments in Downtown Fort Worth was done in 1992, when an old department store and an old furniture store were converted into lofts. In 1996, a 19 story office building was converted into apartments. In the same year, another office building was converted into lofts. At the same time in the mid-90's, several smaller structures were converted into residential. The first new apartment building was constructed in downtown in 1991. Several other apartment developments (new construction) in downtown opened between 1996 and 1999. I think Fort Worth actually had the head-start.

One of the reasons that more buildings haven't been converted is that except for the Landmark Tower, all were occupied until either the tornado, or just before it. The Landmark Tower project was actually announced in 1998, so there were plans to convert the structure to residential before the tornado. Another structure, not mentioned because it is not an eyesore, is the old Continental Life/Transport Life Building. Just before the tornado, Transport Life was purchased and moved out of town. This building will become the Main Street Lofts. For a little over one year, it was the Tallest Building in Texas. The Magnolia knocked it out of first place in 1923.

I am hoping the Bank One Tower can be repaired and turned into a residential project. I was in the tornado (diagonally across the street) and I never thought it was damaged enough to demolish.

[bloodandpopcorn]

Wow, shows how much I know... thanks for the correction, though!

[freewaytincan]

It's not, plain and simple. It is fine, and should stand. I want to see it, too, but the financial backing must exist! I remember that tornado.

[John T Roberts]

The developers of the Bank One Tower are counting on a $16 Million investment by the city for the project. If the Council grants that money, then the project has a good chance of going forward.

As for the Landmark Tower, they have a tax abatement that stated they must start construction by March 1 or it goes away. As of this time, the lender for the purchase of the building back in 1996 is trying to foreclose on the property. If that happens, then it looks like the project is dead.

By the way, the invitation is always open for any of you to come to Fort Worth, and I will give you a private tour of Downtown.

[gc]

Bank One eyesore prompts a New Year's plea
By Tim Madigan
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Today, as the calendar turns once again, we urge Fort Worth's leaders to dispense with the traditional New Year's resolutions of flossing more and eating less and resolve instead to achieve one single thing in 2003:

Fix the Bank One tower. Or tear it down. Or wash its windows -- anything to give us hope that the blight of that tornado-ravaged building is not really as permanent as it has begun to seem.

It should never have come to this, a New Year's appeal from a few of the downtown denizens who confront the silent, pigeon-besotted behemoth almost every day. Now, of course, we scarcely even notice the 35-story building -- evidence that humans can get used to almost anything, no matter how ugly.

Was it only three years ago in March that a historic tornado made for the tower like it was a mobile home park? Anyone who saw the blue-glass skyscraper in the hours or days that followed will never forget what it looked like then. To some it resembled a gigantic doll's house, with curtains billowing from thousands of blown-out windows, expensive office furniture exposed to the elements, memos wafting to earth in the post-tornado breeze.

For months thereafter, the building remained a source of wonder, a lingering example of the fragility of our most impressive constructions, and a sobering conversation piece for tourists and conventioneers.

But now the novelty, curiosity and sobering romance is long gone. The Bank One Tower is nothing more than an eyesore, an embarrassment, a contradiction, a joke. "Plank One," some call it. Just last month, a number of national journalists flocked to Fort Worth for the opening of the Modern Art Museum, which was broadly proclaimed one of the world's great new buildings. But those influential visitors could not miss another local landmark, the dark, daunting silhouette at the downtown corner of Throckmorton and Fifth.

Today, the tower is a lingering example, to be sure, but not of fragility or nature's wrath. It reminds us instead of a city that has failed to take care of its business.

And now the calendar turns again and with each passing month the blight of Bank One grows. So Fort Worth leaders, resolve yourselves. Do something. We denizens want to brag about our city, but today that bragging always comes with a caveat. Fort Worth's downtown is one of the greatest in America, we have grown accustomed to saying, except for that.