DT: Binyon-O'Keefe Warehouse

Posted on Wed, Jun. 29, 2005
XTO purchases old warehouse
By Sandra Baker
Star-Telegram Staff Writer


FORT WORTH - XTO Energy, Fort Worth's largest independent natural gas producer, which owns four prominent downtown office properties, has bought the former Binyon-O'Keefe warehouse on Calhoun Street and will use the historic structure for storage.

The 90,000-square-foot building, which occupies the Calhoun Street block between Seventh and Eighth streets, also will be used for some offices, said Joy Webster, XTO's vice president of facilities.

A sale price was not disclosed, but the Tarrant Appraisal District values the almost half-acre tract at nearly $1.3 million for taxing purposes.

XTO Energy, under the name WTW Properties, bought the land and building June 1 from Northstar Texas Interests,, the entity through which Westwood Contractors bought the building in 1995, deed records show.

Westwood Contractors was a tenant in the eight-story building when it acquired the property from Dallas financier Ray Hunt, whose Woodbine Development Corp. had held it since 1980.

Current tenant Fort Worth Electric is moving, Webster said.

The building was designed by noted Fort Worth architects Sanguinet and Staats and built in 1916 after the O'Keefe family joined with the Binyon Transfer Co. to form Binyon-O'Keefe, which provided inventory warehousing, among other services, according to the Historic Preservation Council for Tarrant County.

XTO has acquired several downtown buildings in the past few years.

In January, it bought the 14-story, 110,000-square-foot Executive Plaza, 210 W. Sixth St., formerly the Rattikin Title Building. The deal also included the 600 Houston Street Mall and parking garage on Houston Street between Fifth and Sixth streets.

Last year, it bought the vacant and deteriorating 30-story Landmark Tower office building at Seventh and Main streets out of foreclosure. The company has said it is considering demolishing the building and putting up another high-rise office tower.

XTO's headquarters are in the 20-story W.T. Waggoner Building at 810 Houston St., which it bought in 1995. It also owns the 11-story Baker Building across Houston Street from the Landmark Tower. That building is undergoing extensive renovations.

David, that is interesting. I didn't see it in today's paper. XTO is acquiring quite a number of downtown properties.

This leads me to think that it is just a matter of time before XTO will eventually need to bring all of its divisions together under one roof; and I hope that when this roof becomed a reality, that it is the tallest roof in DTFW. XTO is an amazing company which continues to astound and I wish it continued success.

"Keep Fort Worth folksy!"

David, that is interesting.  I didn't see it in today's paper.  XTO is acquiring quite a number of downtown properties.

I wonder what their grand plan is or if it's just "we have all this money, real estate is always a good investment sooo....." They may be poised to give the Bass' a run for the money if they actually have a game plan which I expect they do, just don't have a clue what it may be with their current purchases.

A new DTFW mall? Or living center. Perhaps staging for East DTFW developments for recreations and outdoor events.

Made possible by XTO Energy! It gives you wings?

Safly, I know this isn't what you said, but it made me think...

...we could sure use a good wings place downtown.

Red Bull anyone.....sure goes good with wings..haha..

I think they have a map of downtown and if we took a look at the arial view i bet the buildings they have purchased spell out something..
hahahahah just kidding

Anyone know what is up with this building? It is a MAJOR transformation, whatever it is. Windows cut into the north and south sides (I think the east side windows are original?), completely gutted to concrete, and now being rebuilt.

This has flown under the radar for entirely too long.

I noticed in the vacant lot to the east the building's old fire escapes have been removed and placed there.

They're really going to town on the old building. Another round of kudos for XTO. Maybe between this, the ITC, Le Bijou, and the UTA campus, we can eventually get some momentum going to start filling in some more of those ugly parking lots between the ITC and the rest of downtown.

If I had the moolah, I'd love to buy up those lots and do a development of 6-10 story red brick & huge glass window loft/retail buildings there.

I still think a Southlake Town Square (Center?) type of development would work well there, maybe a little more vertical.

I brought this up several years ago, not sure why I have yet to see the term catch on downtown, I'm guessing that it's not a business model anyone has tried locally.

The term is Live / Work Units; with the Arts Festival and the touristy items close by, not to mention Fort Worth becoming a wintering, alternate home location for New York types, it's just a matter of time... "wait, I said that years ago," maybe someday.

Is it a zoning issue? PDF

http://www.housingzo.../CA6491707.html

http://realestate.ms...umentid=5066919

http://findarticles....25/ai_n10047189

http://www.ibisbuild..._siteplans.html

http://www.coloradol...m/bradburn.html

http://www.liveworkl...commercial.html

http://www.liveworkh...y=&openrealty=1

http://mysite.verizo...dioresource.htm

No comments?

Does anyone have any interest in units of this nature, think they could work downtown?

David...lots of thoughts: The first one is that live/work is damn tough to finance in Fort Worth, Texas. It is not that the city is full of a bunch of dumb, unenlightened developer-type folks here, but the reality of development (when you still have to borrow money to do it) is grim. Despite the fact that our market is still strong, bankers are very nervous because of over-building in areas like Dallas and Houston.

The other reality is that the success rate if live/work is sketchy. In many places, the units had to be sub-divided into live-work as they needed to be sold separately, in order to move the projects forward. I work on a national level, and have seen many of these projects firsthand---sound great, but don't sell.

I tend to think Fort Worth South would have more success with live/work units than downtown. That's kind of the route that the under-construction Oleander Place townhomes are taking:

http://www.oleanderplace.com/

We need to over-build first.

I think there are two distinct flavors of these now, one seems to be nothing more than a loft or condo with an office configured for work at home types or those running a small business, looks like they're just relabeling existing structures, the other has ground floor retail space, which is what I had commented on originally. The only units I've actually seen in person were in San Diego and they sold out in the pre-sale phase, but that was well before the recent market developments.

Considering the price tags of recent downtown dwellings I'd think only a very small group of affluent or established artisans could afford such a place given the recent average sales price downtown is in the 400K plus range if I read those numbers correctly.

I think it's something that would take heavy city involvement for it to get started here, I'm curious why so many other cities seem to embrace the concept yet it's not even part of the vocabulary here.

we've had the same opinion at our shop - tough to finance, tough to sell, limited number of buyers, not a mainstream product with track record of huge success. i'd much prefer to have ground floor retail with separate rental or for sale product above. connecting the two makes the exit tougher - limits your options too much.

Interesting progress happening at this site.

It looks like they are excavating the ground floor inside the building. Also, they are building a large deep concrete lined hole on the south side of the building where the small parking lot was.

Looking good, XTO! I kind of hope that XTO gets rid of this building someday (not by demolition, but by selling it) so someone can turn it into lofts...but at least it's in the hands of our local historic preservation heroes for now.

All we need now is for the parking garage and abandoned hotel annex behind it to go bye-bye and be replaced with something with some street presence and aesthetic value.

Say, what is the deal with the upside down crosses on the Binyon-O'Keefe building?

They're just a bit of stone ornament. I doubt there's much to be read into them beyond that.

It's the Illuminati I tell ya! Stay out of the Binyon building!

Thanks for the new word for the day.

Pretty much finished with this one, and moving into it now.

This is a really nice restoration with a lot of work spent on the details, going so far as repainting the Binyon O'Keefe signage with the old phone number. A lot of windows were added, though you have to look at before/after pictures to know where. The city installed new sidewalks, trees, and lightpoles and the whole thing is really great for that part of downtown. Looking forward to the next (announced) project on the empty lot to the east. If only we could see progress on the renovation of the hotel annex (preferably with major revisions to the exterior/facade, ugh.)...

I had seen some really cool plans for the Hilton annex, but the investors backed out (I believe because of fear of the sagging housing market). It was a proposed condo/apartment remodel.

The Binyon would make a cool condo building, save for the fact that more windows would probably have to be punched in to the facades. You could probably solve parking requirements by having dedicated on-street spots for the tenants, with the more expensive units sharing that itty-bitty lot to the south of the building (on the SE corner of the block).

It didn't seem much press but Binyon has been sold to another O&G company. XTO will be remainuntil 2020.

https://www.oilandga...oleum-building/

The building is back on the market. According to the article above, XTO was remaining in the building until July 2020, just a few days away now. Finley properties also purchased the "Block TU" site just to the west which XTO had used for parking. It does not look as if the lot is included in the sale of Binyon O'Keefe.

https://www.loopnet....th-TX/19759789/

I hope that the repurposing of this property will include a two level supermarket.  It certainly has the storage capacity for refrigeration and other grocer items.

Finley properties also purchased the "Block TU" site just to the west which XTO had used for parking. It does not look as if the lot is included in the sale of Binyon O'Keefe.

https://www.loopnet....th-TX/19759789/

 

Correction, the listing now says the lot is included in the sale. 

T&P residents were invited to join an informational meeting on Teams regarding the repurpose of the Binyon O'Keefe building.  Has anyone heard of this project:

 

Development Name: Georgian Oaks

Development Address: 210 E 7^th St, Fort Worth, 76102

Development Description: Georgian Oaks will involve the adaptive reuse of the existing Binyon-O’Keefe building and new construction on its associated surface parking lot in the Sundance Square neighborhood of downtown Fort Worth. The existing structure, built in 1917, was originally used as a storage facility for a moving company, and more recently has been used as an office building.  The developer is excited to convert the existing building and a portion of the parking lot into 120 units, including 1 and 2brms, of affordable housing targeting seniors.

Nice scoop! That seems like a great use. I'm most curious about which "parking lot" will be involved, or what will happen with the surface lot across the street. 

ramjet, please be sure to take some screenshots from the Teams meeting or let me know if you need help.

ramjet, please be sure to take some screenshots from the Teams meeting or let me know if you need help.

 

Hi Nitixope.  We received the invite at 11am for a 12:30pm meeting today.  I missed it.  Not sure if the CoFW hosted.  If so, there is likely a recording on their website. The developer hosted.  T&P HOA is asking for the slide deck.

PDC for Georgian Oaks Project was filed:

 

Description:

The historic building located at 801 Calhoun Street is indented to be remodeled into 76 unit multifamily.  Across the street at 710 E 7th Street, on a portion of the parking lot, a new podium building that is 17,408SF with 24 multifamily units will be constructed.  Between the two, there will be (87) 1-BR units and (13) 2-BR units. This is a TDHCA 9% Tax Credit project.

 

Address: 801 Calhoun Street

Proposed Value: $13,000,000

Site Acreage: 0.67

Proposed Use(s): multi-family

Project Name: Georgian Oaks

 

 

 

Ramjet had the scoop!

I'm super curious as to why such a small part of the parking lot is being built on like that? The whole lot was for sale but maybe this developer couldn't afford it? Regardless, seems like a weird way to slice that. 

But, nice to see more development on another of the huge parking crater along Jones St. 

Ramjet had the scoop!

I'm super curious as to why such a small part of the parking lot is being built on like that? The whole lot was for sale but maybe this developer couldn't afford it? Regardless, seems like a weird way to slice that. 

But, nice to see more development on another of the huge parking crater along Jones St. 

 

From ramjet's original post, it mentioned this is intended as "affordable housing targeting seniors."  This could be an opportunity of a lifetime for someone that fits this description. 

Funny that when you Google the building one of the first results is a studio project by an Oklahoma State student: http://www.okstatede...ison Howard.pdf

 

Nice job, Allison!