14 replies to this topic

[Austin55]

The Katy Depot is a 1909 warehouse on Vickery, just West of Jones and stretching all the way to Broadway. As you can guess by name, it was built for the MKT Railway. 

Yesterday JLL annonced that they would be marketing the building for sale. It's a pretty big property in a hot part of town, just North of the new Bowery development and just East of Shipping and Receiving. 

[JBB]

That's a neat building. Judging by the street view images, it was still in pretty heavy use as a building material supplier last summer. Or at least the yard around it was.

[Austin55]

If the long one story section is kept intact by a new developer, I could envision something similiar to the Foch St warehouse here. 

[renamerusk]

The Katy Depot is a 1909 warehouse on Vickery, just West of Jones and stretching all the way to Broadway. .....Yesterday JLL annonced that they would be marketing the building for sale. I

 

 A55, I think you did a better job of explaining where the Katy Depot is: Vickery stretching to Broadway,  than JLL who places the Katy Depot on Broadway.  It was difficult to find until you gave it your location.  It has great potential.

[Austin55]

Bought by a medical diagnostics company

 

Edit- More details, bought by Exact Diagnostics, "will be home to medical innovators and expanding biotech companies" 

[Stadtplan]

I wasn't sure the right home for this, but I meant to post these photos last week but time had escaped me until now.  I found this little relic from the past in my tool room and had forgotten that I bought it a few years ago at an estate sale on Ryan Ave.  I rescued this MKT RR padlock and a whole box full of old interesting railroad maps, log books, manuals etc from almost certain death and destruction.  I recently moved out a bunch of old items from my storage room and set eyes on the box with the railroad stuff and will post any interesting Fort Worth-specific items on the Forum.  The gentleman that owned these items I believe is still around but had retired from one of the hospitals maintenance department and kept very good care of all of his belongings.  If I were to author a story about this padlock, I imagine he probably grew up in that house on Ryan Ave and may have happened upon this padlock while venturing out along the old MKT tracks or maybe even worked for the railroad at one time.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/gg6QME8EYRGZhnkX8

 

 

[Urbndwlr]

those are great. 

 

Does Fort Worth have a go-to place where people can give artifacts like this, if they don't want to personally keep/ store them, but think they might be worth saving for others to see in the future?

[John T Roberts]

Here's a picture of the building I took a few years ago for reference.

 

M-K-Tdepot by jtrobert, on Flickr

[Stadtplan]

Here's someone's nice drone footage of the M-K-T Depot: (time stamp 00:00:18).  Wish he would have flown it in through one of the open windows....is that considered trespassing?

https://www.youtube....5vpgBHNPbU?t=18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Not Sure]

I wasn't sure the right home for this, but I meant to post these photos last week but time had escaped me until now.  I found this little relic from the past in my tool room and had forgotten that I bought it a few years ago at an estate sale on Ryan Ave.  I rescued this MKT RR padlock and a whole box full of old interesting railroad maps, log books, manuals etc from almost certain death and destruction.  I recently moved out a bunch of old items from my storage room and set eyes on the box with the railroad stuff and will post any interesting Fort Worth-specific items on the Forum.  The gentleman that owned these items I believe is still around but had retired from one of the hospitals maintenance department and kept very good care of all of his belongings.  If I were to author a story about this padlock, I imagine he probably grew up in that house on Ryan Ave and may have happened upon this padlock while venturing out along the old MKT tracks or maybe even worked for the railroad at one time.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/gg6QME8EYRGZhnkX8

 

 

 

That is a switch lock used by TY&E (train, yard and engine) employees. Each TY&E employee is issued keys for the switch locks on territory they work. The keys are surrendered to the railroad upon retirement or dismissal, though it's common for some to be kept as keepsakes.

 

The lock not so much. Those are not intended to be in the possession of employees. The chain would have been used to secure the lock to one of the headblock ties where the switch mechanism was fastened to the ties. Of course the chains can and do break and the lock can be lost in the weeds.

 

These older locks used brass keys that were specific to each railroad. A switchman would carry a key for each railroad he or she would operate on, and in Fort Worth up to the early 80s that could mean quite a few keys. Nowadays we get by with three keys: a UP key, a BNSF key and a locomotive cab key. I still have my Santa Fe brass key and Fort Worth & Western brass key, but I haven't encountered a Santa Fe lock (other than the control panels at Alliance) in many years and the one FWWR lock I used to operate was changed over to a S&G lock years ago.

 

Today there are few of these "brass key" locks still around. Most have been replaced by Sargent & Greenleaf padlocks, which are used by the Class 1 railroads now along with many shortlines, but once in a while you can still find these older locks out there. If it's an industry we visit regularly the old lock is on borrowed time and will soon be replaced by a S&G lock.

[Stadtplan]

Thank you Not Sure for this first-hand account.  I was always curious to know more about railroad locks and happened to acquire this one from an estate of someone who worked for the railroads.  I'll post some of the other manuals and records soon.  Would love to get your feedback on those too.

[Stadtplan]

Katy Depot to be renovated into pharmaceutical research labs.

 

https://www.tdlr.tex.../TABS2022025164

 

PROJECT

Project Name: BI Katy Depot

Project Number: TABS2022025164

Facility Name: BI Katy Depot

Location Address: 200 S. Jones St

Fort Worth, TX 76104

Location County: Tarrant

Start Date: 9/1/2022

Completion Date: 12/31/2022

Estimated Cost: $2,500,000

Type of Work: Renovation/Alteration

Type of Funds: This project is privately funded, on private land for private use.

Scope of Work: Renovation of stand alone masonry building to house research labs.

Square Footage: 6,254 ft 2

Are the private funds provided by the tenant? Yes

Current Status: Project Registered

 

OWNER

Owner Name: BoonPetro Real Estate LLC

Owner Address: 1120 S Freeway Suite 127

Fort Worth, Texas 76104

Owner Phone: (305) 333-1420

Contact Name: Richie Petronis

 

TENANT

Tenant Name: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmecuticals, Inc.

Tenant Address: 200 S. Jones St

Fort Worth, TX 76104

 

DESIGN FIRM

Design Firm Name: aecom

Design Firm Address: 19219 Katy Fwy

Houston, Texas 77094

[rriojas71]

That is awesome news

[Austin55]

Did Exact Diagnostics ever move in?

[Presidio Interests]

Did Exact Diagnostics ever move in?

I think so.  There is a company occupying what appears to be the southern 2/3 of the building.

Looking at Costar, the overall leasable area of the building is 23,418 SF, they had 6,250 SF available for lease.  Im not sure if that means Exact/Bio-Rad occupies the remaining 17,000 SF or if there are multiple occupants.  That remaining 6,250 SF appears to have been leased in April of this year. 

That space was in shell condition, so would require permitting and full finish out.  If they signed a lease in April, its likely they are still in permitting process.