546 replies to this topic

[RD Milhollin]

I say get Gehrey to fix it better.

[renamerusk]

What I am alluding to in my opinion are the missed opportunities by the design group to create a landmark structure at one of the few nexus in downtown. 

 

In a city that is renowned for Modern Style Art Deco, I believe the Greek revival to be an odd choice that does fit comfortably within its downtown surrounding.

 

To compound the matter, the designer chose to create a structure that does not come close to commanding the vista of the street.   With ease, one can traverse by the library and hardly notice its presence.   Had a tower been incorporated in the design, the library would be an impressive structure overlooking Lamar Street.  For comparison, first view the library and then see how some other buildings at a key nexus in the city were designed; some that you will recognize for being widely photogenic:

 

http://www.fortworth...m/fwlibrary.jpg

 

http://www.fortworth.../cd/cowgirl.jpg

 

http://www.fortworth...cd/science2.jpg

 

http://www.fortworth...e.com/itc-1.jpg

 

http://www.fortworth...inst-night2.jpg

 

 

BTW, John T. Roberts - if you think that this topic deserves its own thread, will you consider moving its comments

[ron4Life]

Sooo.. I am assuming retail in this part of town isnt happening? or?

[prideftw]

Wondering the same thing

[Jeriat]

Sooo.. I am assuming retail in this part of town isnt happening? or?

 

 

Wondering the same thing

 

Has been pretty slow with only Jimmy John's setting up shop. 

Just give it time...

[Austin55]

The entire part of the lower complex south of the cut-through walkway didn't even look finished last I checked. The interior anyway. Walk by at night and you can still see insulation and wood framing inside. I imagine once the entire complex is fully done and the south tower completely re-facaded it'll get tenants. 
I have no facts to back that up however.

[dangr.dave]

I think the interior was intentionally not built-out inside so that whichever tenants end up occupying the space can build it out to their own needs.

 

Also, I remember seeing a sign for a pub that should be going in.  It seems like the sign has been there a while...haven't been by lately to see if it is still up in the window.

 

Sundance West by dangr.dave, on Flickr

[John T Roberts]

More than likely, Dave is probably right about the southern space.  The sign for the pub is in the southeastern corner of the parking garage along Throckmorton. 

[ron4Life]

Has been pretty slow with only Jimmy John's setting up shop. 

Just give it time...

oh yeah this is the fort worth that i am proud of, so it's only fitting to show patience

[Thurman52]

Betting park tavern is delayed or shelved. Sounds like parent company is struggling.

http://www.bizjourna...shuts-down.html

[Austin55]

Hmm let's see

3 Blocks from The Tower

1 Block from Sundance West

2 Blocks from Sanger Lofts

2 Blocks from Hunter Plaza

5 Blocks from Firestone Apartments

5 Blocks from Neil P condos

 

Toss a grocery store in it. 

[John T Roberts]

It would be a good location for a grocery store.

[richcal]

I agree. Years ago I worked at the Worthington and guests were constantly asking for the nearest grocery store. They often settled for the nearest gas station or Walgreens and neither of those were really a short walk away.

[Jeriat]

Hmm. You know, there is room there for a small urban market. 

Anyone in mind? 

[Austin55]

I did some googling, CVS's range in size from 8,000-12,000 sq ft. A few pages back it is mentioned that park tavern has 8,000 sq ft. So very doable. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, I visited the complex tonight. The inside of the garage has very neat motion sensing LED lights, so they are very dim, but once you walk/drive through they light up for a bit. The garage also offers some neat views, and the skybridge to the Wor-Ren is easily accessible, so might be a cool place for photos, however tonight it was locked. Makes sense though as I was there after midnight, lol.

 

The plaza still has an unfinished feel to it, there's still cones and whatnot sitting around. not a big deal though. There is some "no biking, skateboarding, etc" signs though so that's sill. Especially biking. Eh. I fear it will become a barren, desolate space. 

 

The south tower looks to be very nearly fully re-glassed. The new glass is very translucent, nearly invisible. 

 

City Place progress by Micro55, on Flickr

 

City Place Plaza by Micro55, on Flickr

 

City Place Progress by Micro55, on Flickr

 

Looking pretty good I think, can't wait to see those retail spaces getting filled in. 

[John T Roberts]

I noticed that space along Throckmorton is 15,355 S.F.  Jimmy John's already takes a small portion of the north end, so it looks like there would be plenty of room for an urban grocery store taking all the the remainder of the Throckmorton Street frontage.  If it wasn't a grocery, it still appears that it would meet the requirements for a CVS or a Walgreen's.

[Brian Luenser]

CVS might be perfect.  Walgreen's on Texas is a bit close it would seem.  Downtown's used to have lots of drugs stores.  And we spend maybe a thousand times more on drugs than we did 50 years ago.  I heard an ad on the radio this morning for a prescription drug for shift workers.  How pathetic is that.  Lists a dozen possible side effects to include death.  I would laugh except I know I will be paying for these drugs one way or another.  (Insurance premiums, taxes, etc,etc...)   I want a bumper sticker that says   I AM NOT ON MEDS. 

City Place is moving really fast.  They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (Must be prescription shift worker drugs)  I have been watching them add lots of equipment to the roof. Including this cinder block structure that is about 15' tall.  VERY well insulated.  3 layers of 3" think sound board were glued on the roof today before they put a white roof on this.  (Not in this 3 day old pic)  Cannot figure what is in the structure that is so loud.  There is a door on the other side.  Love the new glass.  That mirrored glass was OK when I was going to radio shack for transistors and capacitors in the 70's.  This new glass, to match City Place Two is mostly translucent with just a slight tint of green.  If I had to guess it s a new type of glass that reflects more light than it would appear to. 

 

[John T Roberts]

The cinder block structure is about 10'-8"+/-.  It could be 11' tall.  It just depends on how tall the concrete base is.  It appears to be 2' high. 

[John T Roberts]

Brian, could you shoot an overall shot of the roof.  If you do, I might be able to tell what it is. 

[prideftw]

Looks like a storage unit to me

[Brian Luenser]

Think not a storage unit.  Massive reinforcements and insulation.  From the foundation of this I would have guessed the were adding 3 stories. Even the huge feet for the base I think tells us it is equalizing the weight or vibrations.   Sure looks taller than 11' to me.  They were climbing what looked like a tall ladder to put the roof on this. I am going to have to send Spire Realty an email query if I can't figure it out.  Driving me nuts.  (Huge elevator motors? Huge Transformers?)

[Austin55]

It's immediately above the core no? Perhaps a bigger/better motor for faster elevators?

[John T Roberts]

It's not a storage unit.  It's either a new elevator penthouse or a stair.  That's why I wanted to see a picture so I could see its relationship to the entire roof.

[prideftw]

Okay my bad, lol, If they are adding stories to the building wouldn't that be a good thing?

[John T Roberts]

Most people would consider adding stories a good thing.  However, I don't think that is the case, here.  I think it is definitely some sort of support function.  Also, some of you questioned the height of the new structure.  Did you know that you can tell a masonry building's dimensions within a few inches?  In this case, the structure on the roof is a concrete masonry units.  The standard size of a block is 15 5/8" long by 7 5/8" high.  The joints are 3/8".  This makes a block 16" x 8" with the joints.  The depths of the block vary, but the standard depths are 3 5/8", 5 5/8", 7 5/8", and 11 5/8".  All I did was count the number of blocks and multiply that by 8".  Then looking at the concrete base it's sitting on, I guessed that was 2'-0" high.

[renamerusk]

The tunnel is alive!  Let the speculation begin:

 

 

http://www.star-tele...l-leonards.html

[Brian Luenser]

Pretty fun that Spire is making the subway car part of this new complex.  Will be fun to have it restored and on site.   As it is one of the old original cars, it might not look terribly familiar to most people that road the subway.  But that's OK.  I think the older car will be more fun.  Whole idea is very smart of Spire Realty, in my opinion. 

[Now in Denton]

I think the interior was intentionally not built-out inside so that whichever tenants end up occupying the space can build it out to their own needs.

 

Also, I remember seeing a sign for a pub that should be going in.  It seems like the sign has been there a while...haven't been by lately to see if it is still up in the window.

 

Sundance West by dangr.dave, on Flickr

Years ago. I was a lone wolf about "Superblocks" I agree Superblocks Stop the flow off people. And I was ok with two here in DT Fort Worth. The other being the Convention center.But this? It's hardly any better than the Tandy Center days. Back in the day all you had to do was open a glass door at Taylor .Walk around the Ice rink .And open another glass door at Throckmorton. 

[Austin55]

It's nice though. I walk through it everyday. I never went to the old Tandy center, really wish I'd seen that though. 

The whole backside of the complex is pretty terrible. But eh. There's another superblock across the street. The only place to really walk to is the jails or TCC anyway. 

[John T Roberts]

The problem with the redevelopment of City Place is that there are two superblocks that are adjacent on each side.  The old Tandy Center actually had two cut through paths for pedestrians.  One was along the old 1st Street alignment that had you walk around the ice rink.  The other was created along the alignment of 2nd Street when the center was remodeled into the Fort Worth Outlet Square.  The ideal situation would have been to open up both 1st and 2nd Streets.  However, with the Worthington superblock and the Technology superblock on each side, opening up 1st Street for one block would not have made any sense.  I do think that a full opening of 2nd Street to both automobile and pedestrian traffic would have generated a better project.  Unfortunately, Spire Realty decided that the best they could do was to create the visual and pedestrian walk through in the 2nd Street alignment.  It will be interesting to see if this will be enough to generate 100% occupancy in the retail area of this project.  It still has an uphill battle because the retail faces a blank Worthington Hotel wall on the opposite side of the street. 

 

Personally, I think this is an improvement over the old Tandy Center/Fort Worth Outlet Square design.  One of the big negatives that development had was the bridge of office space and parking over Throckmorton Street, and that has been completely removed.

[Austin55]

Occupancy sure has been slow. Sitting in the plaza right now actually, only Jimmy Johns filling in anything. The Park Tavern signs are up but otherwise it's empty. On another note though, the south tower makeover looks nearly complete from the exterior.

[Jeriat]

If only I had the cash...

You would see a lot of that space filled in a week.

[John T Roberts]

New daytime shot of the complex:

 

Here's a hand-held night shot taken this week.

[prideftw]

nice

[Austin55]

I love that glowy color changing box. It really acts as a draw to the plaza, but then I guess that's really the only reason you'd go to that plaza right now. I really thought this retial would have filled right up. 

 

The south tower's sidewalk is nearly complete it looks like, hopefully it will be open soon. 

 

Edit-picture of said sidewalk and main entrance. Hopefully that door to the left will be for retail purposes. 

10/7/13

 

Cityplace South by Micro55, on Flickr

[John T Roberts]

The door to the left will probably be for a retail space.  The center doors are the entrance to the building lobby and elevators.

[prideftw]

The part of the sidewalk by the main entrance looks really thrown together and just not even.

[Austin55]

It feels like progress has gone backwards from my last picture. The sidewalks are a mess. I can't wait for this to get finished up and be able to use those again. From today-

 

Cityplace progress by Micro55, on Flickr

[Jeriat]

... what are they even doing? 

[Austin55]

Well I think most of the fencing to protect people from the overhead painters. I guess the rest of the stuff is going to be moved into the building at some point. 

[Austin55]

It appears the exterior is mostly complete. All the paint is done and the sidewalks are open again. They are nice. The new trees and streetlamps are a welcome addition. I wish that the ends of the base of the tower were more welcoming somehow, but not much you can do with the concrete slab. Looks like the interior is come along nicely to. Hopefully once some office tenants start moving in then retail will follow. 

And I got a new Fisheye lens! Took it for it's first real spin this morning. 
 

DSC_0206 by Micro55, on Flickr

 

 

DSC_0204 by Micro55, on Flickr

[John T Roberts]

Austin, I like the new lens.  The complex looks good, so now let's fill up the tower and all of the new retail space.

[John T Roberts]

One City Place will celebrate its grand opening this Thursday, January 16, 2014. 

[Brian Luenser]

When I see mostly window washing it would seem like they are getting close.  Window Washing, day 4.  It looks quite refreshing as the building was just a black hole for years.  (A dark spot in the middle of the city.)

[John T Roberts]

I was watching Channel 5 News this morning and they had a shot from 777 Main looking toward the northwest.  I noticed that One City Place had the bar lights turned on at the east side of the building.  I still miss the old school incandescent lights on the sides that could have candles for the holidays or spell out something on the towers.

[Austin55]

Noticed the bar lights as well. They looks very nice I think. There are also new banners inside the old frames advertising the building. One other thing I noticed is that it looks like just about the entire base could be used as retail, the entire east side of the bottom floor sits empty, there's no framing or anything. Here's a view inside from 3rd and lancaster. That's a lot of empty retail space in the whole complex. Ought to be a good thing in the long run. Exciting. 

[John T Roberts]

They are not finished installing the light bars.  The ones on the west have not been installed and the ones on the east have exposed tubes.  If they don't do anything else to the ones on the east, then they will not match Two City Place.  Personally, I like the exposed tubes better because they are brighter.

[Jeriat]

I thin I'm going to send an email or letter or something to CVS and several other drug stores. 

If that Park Tavern isn't going up, then there is PLENTY of room for one along Throck. Then all you would have to fill are the two places which would more than likely be restaurants. 

[Austin55]

If that Park Tavern isn't going up, then there is PLENTY of room for one along Throck. Then all you would have to fill are the two places which would more than likely be restaurants. 

 

I noticed the signs for Park Tavern were removed from the windows. Looks like it'll just be Jimmy John's in there for a while. 

 

I also noticed that Cityplace is marketing the area below Taylor street as office space. Creative. 

[John T Roberts]

That actually makes sense because it has windows that open onto the Tarrant County Plaza sunken garden.