For sale: XTO Energy puts one of its Fort Worth buildings on the market

August 1,2017

By Max B. Baker

XTO Energy is hanging a “For Sale” sign on one of its landmark downtown office buildings.

Real estate firm JLL announced Tuesday that it will be selling the Petroleum Building and an adjacent parking garage at 210 W. Sixth St. for XTO, which stunned the community in June by saying it would move most of its workers to an Exxon Mobil campus near Houston.

While no price is listed for the property, it’s appraised at about $9 million, according to Tarrant Appraisal District records. The property takes up a full city block.

Built in 1927, the 14-story building has about 117,000 square feet, with about 94,000 square feet of rentable space. The building is connected to a 534-space parking garage by an enclosed skywalk.

The garage also has two levels with about 31,000 square feet of retail or office space available for rent. There also are 23 additional parking spaces on a surface lot at the corner of Fifth and Throckmorton streets.

There’s nothing on the market in downtown Fort Worth like the Petroleum Building, said JLL Executive Vice President Ryan Matthews, given its location near Sundance Square and its ability to be repurposed for residential or hospitality.

“I’m calling it a new class of product — B-plus — because of the fit and finish of the office building,” Matthews said.

XTO, which was acquired by Exxon in 2010, is shifting the bulk of its Fort Worth operation to the Houston area, affecting about 1,600 employees. About 1,200 jobs will move to Houston in 2018 with another 400 transferring in 2020. It plans to keep about 350 employees in Fort Worth assigned to its Central Division/Fort Worth District.

The oil and gas company owns six buildings downtown and plans to sell five of them. It’s already in the process of selling one downtown site — a 50,000-square-foot building at 801 Grove St. — to the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, which will move its headquarters there.

“XTO made the decision to start with the Petroleum Building based on unsolicited interest we have received and after consultation with key stakeholders,” said Suann Guthrie, a spokeswoman for Exxon.

The company’s Swift & Co. building at 600 Exchange Ave. on the city’s north side is under contract with a sale expected to close this fall. The buyer has not been disclosed, but it was listed for sale earlier this year for $5.4 million.

XTO will keep one building downtown for its remaining employees, but has not decided which one. JLL will be the exclusive representative for selling all of its downtown buildings, Matthews said.

There is no specific timeline for selling the Petroleum Building, addressing some concerns that XTO’s departure would put a strain on the downtown real estate market. The real estate firm is working with the city of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce on its move.

“We’re hitting the market first with this one,” Matthews said. “The market is not going to experience a glut of office space.”

Guthrie said XTO will not sell a building unless “we get a price that meets our needs.”

“We’ll market those buildings as it is appropriate,” she said.