Hilton Annex To Become Office Condos
by Kevin Buchanan
One of downtown’s ugliest structures is getting a makeover. The ’60s-vintage annex tower across the street from the ’20s-era Hilton hotel has been purchased for conversion into office condos. A tip of the hat (which I can do literally!) to Sandra Baker in the Startlegram for the announcement.
What are office condos? They’re basically just like regular office buildings, but instead of leasing the office space within, tenants purchase the space themselves. It’s essentially the same difference between an apartment and a (residential) condo. The concept has never been tried in Fort Worth, so this is new territory.
The new owners are supposed to be gutting the building to its structure, and are also talking about adding new windows into some of its blank sides. Frankly, the building needs every bit of help it can get - it’s easily one of the ugliest structures in Fort Worth. The new owners are also said to be looking at adding ground-floor retail space, which would be another major improvement and is something that’s needed on that end of downtown.
10 Comments, Comments or Pings
steph
Wow, that is crazy, but definitely a good thing!
Mar 12th, 2008
Anton
I HATE the buildings downtown that have sides with no windows. That would be a great improvement to add windows to the blank sides.
Where does that bridge lead?
Mar 12th, 2008
JW
Where does that bridge lead?
The Hilton
Mar 12th, 2008
Kevin
The skybridge links the building to the Hilton. Since the ’60s until the time Hilton took the hotel over a few years back, that tower was an annex of the hotel with additional rooms and a pool. Hilton took over the hotel but did not want the annex, and put it up for sale. It has been vacant since Hilton came in.
Mar 12th, 2008
steph
Maybe they’ll demolish the sky bridge since the two buildings are no longer related! We can only hope!
Mar 12th, 2008
Chewy
Personally, I love skybridges in business districts. It’s nice to be able to move from building to building and not have to worry about the elements like what Texas offers.
Downtown Houston has one of the best Downtown’s in the country in my mind because everything can be accessed via the tunnels. It’s not on the level of the big urban areas like NY, BOS, CHI, and the such but you get the idea. You don’t realize it until you work there, but it’s a huge asset. The tunnels in Downtown Dallas are too haphazard and aren’t really all that great except for a 3-4 buildings.
With light rail coming to Downtown (hopefully) it would be awesome if people could access Downtown Buildings without having to worry about the elements or traffic. You could put one/two rail stops in Downtown and people could to get to whatever building without worrying about the elements. I do hate riding the TRE on a rainy day since I have no choice but to walk 4 blocks from Union Station to my office.
Mar 12th, 2008
Kevin
I’m going to have to disagree here.
Skybridges and tunnels are an abomination on a proper urban environment. They kill street life. They’re one of the reasons why downtown Dallas and Houston became so dead. Fort Worth was lucky, in that we only have a handful of skybridges and just the one notable tunnel (at Burnett Plaza).
Tunnels and skybridges are a bad idea. By allowing pedestrians to bypass the streets, motorists become less cautious and the streets below become more dangerous. Consequently, existing street retailers end up getting less business. Life on the street declines and the city environment suffers as a whole. The pulse of downtown should not rest solely on comforting 9-to-5 workers with skybridges and tunnels. Urban planners are pretty much in consensus the nation over that the decline of downtowns is helped by tunnels and skywalks. Downtown Fort Worth is doing too well to ruin with more ’70s-era planning in the form of skybridges and tunnels.
That walk from the ITC to the core can be solved in a much better way - fill those blasted parking lots on the east side of downtown with proper urban development. Buildings that come up to the street and greet the sidewalk with nice friendly ground-level sidewalk-opening retail and big awnings. That’s what we need over there.
Mar 12th, 2008
Chewy
What about with the caveat that the bridges and tunnels are closed from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.? That’s the way Houston works unless your work badge gets you through. I have no idea about Dallas as I’m not cruising around there after 6:00 p.m.
I’ve always preferred to walk on the street in any Downtown but there’s some days that just don’t allow it. When it’s pouring rain and I get to my office soaking wet even though I have a huge umbrella and rain gear, I’m miserable until I dry out. The urban worker in Texas has a different mindset than those in the Northeast when it comes to certain weather.
I agree with what you’re saying but in my mind the tunnels and skybridges make downtown more accommodating during the day. What usually winds up happening is as long as the weather is accommodating then people still use outside because the time it takes to get from place to place using skybridges and tunnels takes more time.
This is Texas where people hate walking more than four blocks if that far.
Mar 12th, 2008
Chewy
Also, I find it hard to believe that skybridges and tunnels are any part of the reason for the decline in downtowns. I think suburban flight had more to do with it than anything. Housing and office rent became cheaper on open land. Plano is the worst example of this but for whatever reason it worked. I don’t think it was because Downtown Dallas had tunnels and skybridges.
Downtown Fort Worth is vibrant because it’s focused in a condensed area and has a nice mix of commercial, retail, dining, and entertainment. It’s great, but it’s hardly what I would call a truly vibrant urban core. I love it, but it’s scale is not there. It just had good vision to keep everything condensed in one area. I don’t think it’s lack of tunnels and skybridges.
Houston experienced a major downturn when the energy industry crashed in the 80s and then turned around when that industry came back combined with Minute Maid park committing resources to Downtown being viable. Downtown Houston is truly one of the most underrated districts in the country in my mind. It’s not the greatest by any stretch but it’s not nearly as bad as it’s made out to be by those that have never worked there or spent time there. It’s easy to drive by on 45 and criticize it.
Dallas continues to suffer because there’s no commitment to urban living and it’s laid out three blocks wide and a mile across. It needs to be more concentrated. I don’t think it has anything to do with skybridges and tunnels as I think the only skybridges in Dallas are to parking garages and only 1 or 2 buildings are connected via sky bridges. I think there’s only 4-5 buildings connected via one tunnel system.
I’m not an urban planner by any stretch, but I do like to think I’m an urban user. I use public transportation whenever I can and try to stick to places I can walk so I do at least try to live the urban life.
Mar 12th, 2008
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