Just after the news of the Pour House planning to close and leave their now-XTO-owned building comes news that XTO is planning a new building on downtown’s east side. The building would replace the vacant lot at 7th & Calhoun the company was planning on using for parking for their Binyon O’Keefe Warehouse restoration across the street. If you’re curious, I’ve got more at sister site Fort Worthology.
If you’re a fan of the Pour House in downtown, better enjoy it while you can - the Star-Telegram is reporting that the long-running bar will be closing December 31st.
The 13-year-old Pour House, a well-worn second-story space that Eric Tschetter transformed into a downtown institution some called Fort Worth’s own Cheers, will close Dec. 31 after fighting lawsuits over nearly four years with two successive landlords.
Tschetter said Wednesday that he and the latest owner, XTO Energy, agreed to withdraw their respective suits this summer.
XTO bought the building a while ago, and the primary ground-floor tenant - Mikado Sushi - has been shuttered for some time. I’m not sure what XTO intends to do with the building in the immediate future. I know from various sources that the energy company has a plan drawn up to demolish the Pour House building and the (ghastly) 600 Houston Mall (aka parking garage) and build a new office building that wraps around the historic Petroleum Building occupying the southwest corner of the block, but I don’t expect to be seeing that happening any time soon.
One of the more underreported stories in the Barnett Shale is the ongoing antipathy between Chesapeake and XTO — I think the Eighth Avenue situation owes as much to this dynamic as it does to Bill Davis. For an amusing take on the war of words between Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon and XTO CEO Bob Simpson, check out the A&D Intelligence Blog.
It’s just energy news day, isn’t it? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Fort Worth’s own XTO Energy will be purchasing Hunt Petroleum:
Natural-gas producer XTO Energy Inc. has agreed to acquire closely held Hunt Petroleum Corp. for $4.19 billion in cash and stock, a deal that may help put to rest a Hunt family feud.
The purchase price consists of $2.6 billion in cash and 23.5 million shares of XTO common stock valued at approximately $1.6 billion, or $67.50 a share.
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