On the heels of announcing plans to build a new 25-story office tower in downtown Fort Worth, Frost Bank has signed a big lease for the building, making this the second Frost Tower to land in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The first Frost Tower recently was completed in the Harwood District and has leased up rather quickly.
The financial institution has signed a lease for more than 73,000 square feet of space at the tower at 640 Taylor St. — at Taylor and West 5th streets — in the Fort Worth’s urban center.
The deal comes shortly after Jetta Operating Company Inc. committed to about 70,000 square feet of space in the 313,000-square-foot glass-and-steel office tower. The privately held oil and gas firm’s real estate arm, Anthracite Realty Partners, is overseeing the development with Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners.
Frost Bank will occupy the lobby-level banking facility and move its regional headquarters and other lines of business to the three upper floors in the tower.
In all, Frost Bank will have more than 175 people working from the tower with room for expansion. In addition to the bank’s 87 corporate employees that will move from its offices at 777 Main St., Frost will relocate more than 90 employees to the tower, including Frost Wealth Advisors, Frost Insurance and the bank’s finance and treasury management.
The deal and the namesake tower will demonstrate Frost’s ongoing commitment to maintaining a strong presence in downtown Fort Worth, said Phil Norwood, region chairman for the bank’s Tarrant County division.
Consolidating the lines of business from banking to investments to insurance will create a more collaborative environment to better serve customers, officials said. A similar consolidation was also made at Frost Tower in the Harwood District.
JLL’s Todd Burnette and Pat McDowell represented Frost Bank in its real estate search. Bennett Benner Partners designed the new tower.
Construction is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015, with completion scheduled in 2017.
By: Candace Carlisle
SOURCE: Dallas Business Journal