Hillwood buys Oncor property in downtown Fort Worth
October 30,2023
See full Fort Worth Business Press article by Marice Richter here.
Hillwood has acquired a city block in downtown Fort Worth and is formulating plans for a transformative redevelopment of the property.
The property is bounded by 6th and 7th streets on the north and south and Calhoun and Jones streets to the east. The property has been owned by Oncor for decades.
This is Hillwood’s first investment in downtown Fort Worth.
“Downtown Fort Worth is playing a vital role in the city’s growth and success, and we want to help drive its economic development far into the future,” said Mike Berry, president of Hillwood, a Perot company.
Berry said the property is a gateway to the vast development activity underway in of the south end of downtown. It is where Texas A&M University is building its Fort Worth campus, which will anchor a new innovation district.
The Texas A&M campus will be home to its law school and other programs and facilities.
Also, The Fort Worth Convention Center, two blocks south of the property, in undergoing a $95 million expansion and the nearby Omni Hotel Fort Worth is preparing to add 400 more rooms and additional meeting space.
“The acquisition of the Oncor property represents an exciting opportunity for Hillwood,” Steve Aldrich, senior vice president of Hillwood, said in a statement. “It puts us in the middle of one of the fastest-growing corridors, not only in Downtown Fort Worth but within the entire city.”
In an interview, Berry said Hillwood isn’t ready to announce plans for development of the Oncor property.
“We’re going to spend a lot of time studying the possibilities,” Berry said. “We want to see how the other projects move along because they are important catalysts to what we do.”
Under consideration would be commercial uses such as residential, office, hospitality or mixed-used with ground-level retail, he said.
Although this is Hillwood’s first foray into downtown Fort Worth development, the company has vast experience with urban development as a result of its 65-acre Victory Park project in Dallas, anchored by American Airlines Center, as well as other major developments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The Victory district value has grown from $16 million in 1998 to more than $2.4 billion with 7.5 million square feet constructed to date.
Hillwood’s investment in Fort Worth and partnerships with the city of Fort Worth began 35 years ago with the development of Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport.
Spanning 27,000 acres, the mixed-use AllianceTexas development is home to 560 companies and has generated $111 billion in regional economic impact and the creation of 66,000 jobs.
“Hillwood’s impact at AllianceTexas and numerous urban developments throughout the region have been immeasurable,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said. “The work already happening in downtown Fort Worth is transformational for our city’s future, and Hillwood’s entry into downtown signals the value of what is possible.”
Location Mentioned: Texas A&M Fort Worth