Kent Group Plans $4.3 Million Purchase of Downtown Fort Worth City Properties
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Four properties in the city of Fort Worth’s real estate portfolio downtown will be sold, restored, and redeveloped as office space, condominiums, and retail space, according to a presentation to the City Council on Tuesday morning.
JUN Crown Properties, which operates under the umbrella of Kent & Co. Property, will buy the four properties at 900 Monroe Street (Gordon Swift building); 908 Monroe Street (Gas Company building); 910 Monroe Street (former Water customer parking lot); and 917 Taylor Street (former Council parking lot).
The price is $4.3 million, according to an informal report presented to the City Council on Tuesday morning.
JUN Crown would buy the properties “as-is.” The city will repair and reinstall the neon blue flame on the rooftop at 908 Monroe in “fully operational condition.” Its upkeep would shift to JUN Crown.
The transaction will close Nov. 5, pending City Council approval Oct. 13.
“We’re really excited about this purchase,” Marilyn Marvin, the city’s property management director, in a presentation to the City Council during a work session Tuesday.
Will Churchill of Kent & Co. Property said on LinkedIn that he is “super excited to get busy.”
“Significant creative juices are being poured into the formula,” he said.
Nearly 1,600 employees have moved to new City Hall, allegedly to do the unthinkable: become more efficient.
That has left city-owned properties empty or soon-to-be empty and available for sale.
Moreover, under this agreement, the city will lease JUN 25 parking spaces in Pinnacle Garage and 20 in Burnett Lofts Garage at $120 per space per month. The initial parking cost will total $5,400 a month, or $64,800 a year.
The Gas Company building at 908 Monroe was designed in art deco style by architect Wyatt Hedrick in 1929. Three floors were added in 1957. The general contractors were C.L. Hudgens and Cain & Cain, respectively, according to Architecture in Fort Worth.
In 1959, the 20-foot blue flame was installed. It rotated until 2004. The flame was restored and reinstalled by the city in 2023.
Lone Star Gas Co. organized in 1909. It provided natural gas from fields in Petrolia to domestic and industrial users in Henrietta, Petrolia, and Wichita Falls. After a pipeline from Petrolia to Fort Worth was completed in 1910, the company became the city’s major source of natural gas distributed through the Fort Worth Gas Co., according to Historic Fort Worth.
Before moving to new City Hall, building was the City Hall Annex, with the Water Department’s customer service lobby on the ground floor. Offices for several other city departments were on the floors above.