Building likely to come down
By Sandra Baker
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - XTO Energy is reviewing bids to demolish the vacant Landmark Tower downtown and it's a "relative certainty" that the 30-story aluminum-sided building will come down this year, a company executive said Monday.
Steve Palko, XTO's president, also said the company is considering building a 50-story office tower on the site at Seventh and Houston streets. Or it may opt to build a smaller building there and create a corporate campus to include three nearby XTO buildings and a small park.
XTO will announce a timetable for tearing down the tower in a couple of months, when the company finishes renovating the Baker Building, across Houston Street from the Landmark Tower.
The tower would come down either by implosion or traditional demolition. After it's demolished, XTO will likely turn the block into a city park until its development plans are executed, Palko said.
XTO has been growing rapidly, buoyed by rising natural gas prices and a string of acquisitions. Its profit jumped 76 percent to $507.9 million in 2004 as sales neared $2 billion, and a rising stock price has pushed the company's market value to nearly $12 billion. It was added to the S&P 500 in December.
If built, a 50-story building would be 10 stories taller than Carter Burgess Plaza and Burnett Plaza, the tallest downtown office towers. A high-rise hasn't been built downtown since the 1980s.
"It's a serious investment," Palko said. "It would put us on a new level of business. It's all still under review."
Fort Worth engineering firm Carter & Burgess is consulting with XTO on the projects.
Landmark Tower, formerly the Texas Building, was built in 1952 for Continental National Bank and was initially only four stories tall. The other 26 stories were added by 1957, which made it the tallest building in Fort Worth.
Its previous owner planned a $62 million renovation that would have turned the building into a residential high-rise. But that developer went bankrupt, and in January 2004, XTO bought Landmark Tower for $5.5 million at auction. The company has since removed asbestos from the building.
In January, XTO bought the 14-story, 110,000-square-foot Executive Plaza at Sixth and Throckmorton streets. The deal included the 24,500-square-foot 600 Houston Street Mall and 590-space parking garage on Houston Street between Fifth and Sixth streets.
In 2003, the company bought the 11-story, 109,000-square-foot Baker Building at 110 W. Seventh St. Renovations on the building are scheduled to be completed in a couple of months.
XTO has its headquarters in the 20-story W.T. Waggoner Building at 810 Houston St., which it renovated.
Palko said the company anticipates having at least 600 employees working downtown in the next four to five months.
"Ultimately, we will need all that room," Palko said.
XTO will study the market before deciding which development plan to pursue, he said.
One factor in the decision to build a high-rise will be whether Fort Worth can support lease rates of $30-$35 a square foot, Palko said.
"That would make it more attractive," he said.
The latest market studies show that the downtown Class A office market -- with the most modern space and amenities -- is 98 percent leased. Lease rates are above $22.50 a square foot, a market high.
However, real estate professionals have predicted that rates could push the $30 mark by year's end.
The building before the Tornado
