Wanted: Retail tenants for space near Fort Worth Convention Center

April 17,2017

By Sandra Baker

After not collecting rent for about five years, the city of Fort Worth wants to take another stab at leasing retail space in the Houston Street parking garage across from the Fort Worth Convention Center and the Omni Fort Worth Hotel that has sat vacant since 2009.

The 11-story garage opened in April 2009 and the city had a three-year lease agreement with the Omni for the 20,000 square feet of space, all at street level. The Omni, which opened in January 2009, never filled the space, which faces Houston Street and the convention center.

“That space should be bringing in revenue,” Councilman Jungus Jordan said recently.

In 2012, when the Omni’s lease expired, the city looked into selling the space to its nonprofit Fort Worth Local Development Corp., to generate some revenue for the city, but that deal fell through. At one point, a German-style restaurant was interested in the space, said Jay Chapa, an assistant city manager.

The Local Development Corp. was created in 1987 to promote, sponsor and coordinate activities centered on job creation and economic development. Currently, it is developing the Pinnacle Place residential and retail project on Lancaster Avenue.

The city recently hired CBRE to market and lease the space in the garage and TIG Real Estate Services for property management.

The CBRE team will include Nanci Johnson-Plump, who specializes in leasing office space; Amy Nott, a broker who specializes in retail space; and Peter Jansen, from CBRE’s Austin office, who serves are regional manager for the firm’s public institution and education division.

“We at CBRE are very excited to be helping the city of Fort Worth,” Johnson-Plump said. “It’s a great assignment. There’s a lot of interest that’s been in play” for the space, she said.

The city spent $26.3 million to build the 1,121-space parking garage. The garage plays sounds of Fort Worth as visitors approach the elevators and while they are in them.