California investment group snaps up iconic downtown Fort Worth landmark
August 17,2018
Star-Telegram article by Mitch Mitchell
The Pier 1 Imports Building, a 20-story glass tower on the edge of downtown, was purchased Wednesday by a California investment group keen on Texas high rises.
The purchase is Hertz Investment Group’s first foray into the Fort Worth market. The privately held real estate investment and management company purchased two properties with more than one million square feet of office space in the Houston market earlier this year, according to a Hearst investment group news release.
The building, in the northwest corner of downtown with multiple views of downtown, the Trinity River and the West 7th area — was listed by the commercial real estate firm CBRE.
The building has 409,977 square feet of rentable space and is 100 percent leased. The property is on 11.9 acres and has 1,098 parking spaces.
“The fact that the Pier 1 Imports Building is fully leased was certainly a positive, but there were many other factors that stood out to us about the property and the market,” said Jim Ingram, chief investment officer for Hertz Investment Group.
“This is a fairly new office building that is striking in its design and with a purchase price significantly lower than it would be for new construction of similar quality. “We believe Fort Worth is going to continue to grow. Dallas receives most of the attention, but Fort Worth has experienced tremendous growth, nearly 60 percent, since 2000.”
Fort Worth has been voted one of America’s Most Livable Communities, Ingram said.
“Hertz Investment Group will look for other acquisition opportunities in this market,” Ingram said.
The structure opened in 2004 as the corporate headquarters of Pier 1 Imports, which spent $90 million for the land and construction. In 2008, Chesapeake Energy, a natural gas exploration company that benefited from Fort Worth’s Barnett Shale boom in the late 2000s, bought the building for $104 million.
Six years later, Chesapeake sold the building to Houston-based Hines, which owns dozens of high-class high-rises, valued at $111 billion, in 24 countries.
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
Mitch Mitchell: 817-390-7752, @mitchmitchel3
Location Mentioned: Fort Worth City Hall