Texas & Pacific Lofts - living in an Art Deco train station

Went on today's home tour here in downtown Fort Worth, and finally got to see what I've been very anxious to check out - the Texas & Pacific Lofts, a residential redevelopment of a landmark 1931 Art Deco train station on the south end of downtown. The building's been cleaned up and restored, with the first floor again serving as a functioning train station (this time for the Trinity Railway Express commuter train), and the remaining floors now open as loft condos. Here are some pics from today's tour.

Steph and I are very seriously looking at buying a loft here and moving when my lease is up here at the Electric Building.

The project's official site can be found here:

http://www.texasandpacificlofts.com

T&P Lofts

Chicago could certainly learn a few lessons from Ft Worth.
Beautiful bldg, wish it were here!

Everything is in Texas.

Interesting looking building, Kevin...

... but, alas, the exposed concrete, duct-work, etc. is just not for me. What's the price range on these?

Zemke Fan said:

... but, alas, the exposed concrete, duct-work, etc. is just not for me. What's the price range on these?

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Heh - that's what I like about them. That's the way my place here in the Electric Building (a 1929 office tower) is. What can I say - I'm a loft guy.

One-bedrooms start in the $160,000s, and two-bedrooms start in the $220,000s, making it one of the lower-priced purchasable developments in downtown.

EDIT: Actually, coincidentally enough one of the other stops on yesterday's tour was another redeveloped, gorgeous Golden Era building, one that's more traditional in finished appearance: The Neil P. at Burnett Park, the old Neil P. Anderson Cotton Exchange building (11 stories) from 1921. So, we've got variety for sure. I'm always thrilled to see these classic buildings redeveloped, rather than meet the wrecking ball:

http://www.theneilp.com/

Zemke Fan,

I am in complete agreement! That industrial/high-tech look was quite popular in the 1970's. And I rather like it. However, it seems sad to have wasted the opportunity of bringing the Art Deco style into the units. It's a nice Art Deco building, with lots of great details that could have been brought inside to make it really distinctive.

I think that the exposed ducts and conduit work well in large loft spaces, but not in small apartments.
Tony

stunning but....

the architectural details are just sumptious, but i find the loft spaces to be cut up too much - or at least that is the way it looks from the pics.

i had a loft, long before loft living became in, in a real working warehouse in the east bay. now that is all developed and no longer a working warehouse. but while i lived there, all years worth, i had 1600 sq feet of concrete, steel and glass - in one giant room. we split up the use in sections so that my studio wouldn't get his gym equipment in it and we did wall off the sleeping area - a loft within a loft because he often had to sleep during the day and models running in and out was disconcerting to say the least.

the best time was my first christmas there with a 10' flocked christmas tree. we used a wood-burning stove for heat. my windows overlooked a working steel mill, the sf bay and sp railroad. i loved it!

my ideal space would be an art deco building in the middle of the desert with a moat around it - using grey water of course for ecological reasons.

sorry to be so wordy! long day without talking to anyone.

lara

scotrace said:

Everything is in Texas.

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my point exactly!

Great pics! Well I am glad the buildings are being preserved, hooray for Ft. Worth! Dallas is too quick to tear stuff down. I'm just glad we live in a historic district now so the house we rent won't get sold to be demolished.

Thanks for sharing pictures! I drive past that virtually every day, four times on Sundays, &c. I remember way back when they started renovating that Lancaster area. (Did your tour include any word on when they'd finally finish Lancaster?) We had an 1860-ish ball in the lobby of the station when it was the only thing renovated. That was in 1999 or 2000.

I'm glad that it's finally going to be a real "live" building again, after so many years of vacancy. I must admit I'm a little disappointed at the slickness and trendiness. I'm big on comfortable, old-fashioned spaces. I would've like to see the station as it was originally, with 1931 hotel rooms. I like the Cotton Exchange rooms a little better. I didn't realize that was apartments now, too.

Did you hear if there are plans for the warehouse on the other side of the post office? (Second post, second picture. The post office has the green roof, the warehouse the orange decoration.)

Sunny said:

Thanks for sharing pictures! I drive past that virtually every day, four times on Sundays, &c. I remember way back when they started renovating that Lancaster area. (Did your tour include any word on when they'd finally finish Lancaster?) We had an 1860-ish ball in the lobby of the station when it was the only thing renovated. That was in 1999 or 2000.

I'm glad that it's finally going to be a real "live" building again, after so many years of vacancy. I must admit I'm a little disappointed at the slickness and trendiness. I'm big on comfortable, old-fashioned spaces. I would've like to see the station as it was originally, with 1931 hotel rooms. I like the Cotton Exchange rooms a little better. I didn't realize that was apartments now, too.

Did you hear if there are plans for the warehouse on the other side of the post office? (Second post, second picture. The post office has the green roof, the warehouse the orange decoration.)

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Lancaster's reconstruction is nearing completion. It's running a little behind, due to some problems with some very old wires & such discovered running under the street, but should be finished in the not too distant future. Once the new four-lanes-plus-street-parking Lancaster is finished, the current road (what was half of the eight-lane monstrosity that Lancaster turned in to in the '60s) will be closed and sold off to developers wishing to build pedestrian-friendly mixed-use structures to line the new street.

As to the interior appearance of the units, I *love* the exposed ceilings and pipes and such. As I said before, I just love lofts. Thankfully, Fort Worth is getting plenty of variety in its urban housing - the vast difference between the T&P and the Neil P. is evidence of that, not to mention the new brownstones going up along the Trinity Bluffs and on 1st Street.

The T&P Warehouse is in an awkward position. I've always heard it was owned by somebody who had absolutely no money to redevelop it, but I don't know if that person is the current owner. The city does want it redeveloped as part of the Lancaster initiative, though, and I've heard rumors of proposals to turn it in to loft apartments or condos, ground-level retail, internal parking, and that sort of thing all at the same time. It's so huge that it could serve several uses at once.

You, sir, are a veritable mine of information. I've been wanting to know all this for years. :eusa_clap

New brownstones, eh? Must check this out. What do you think of the Firestone apartments? (Condos, whatever - I don't know the terminology.)

Ironically, it's not the exposed beams and pipes that I mind. Heck, I lived two years in a dorm at A&M that had exposed pipes and wiring run along the walls. It got A/C - window units - the year I moved in. (It did have old radiators.) That was 2002. No, I don't mind that, because the beams are old and have a right to be there. It's the trendy layout and lighting and style that I don't like. And that's entirely personal.

Hey! What about the old Montgomery Ward building, that's now Montgomery Plaza? Could I prevail upon you to share pictures of that, if you can? I wish I had some Before pictures to contrast with how it is now.

Sunny said:

... Ironically, it's not the exposed beams and pipes that I mind. Heck, I lived two years in a dorm at A&M that had exposed pipes and wiring run along the walls. It got A/C - window units - the year I moved in. (It did have old radiators.) That was 2002. No, I don't mind that, because the beams are old and have a right to be there. It's the trendy layout and lighting and style that I don't like. And that's entirely personal. ...

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exactly my feelings too. i love big open spaces. room for big overstuffed chairs and such.

lara

Sunny said:

New brownstones, eh? Must check this out. What do you think of the Firestone apartments? (Condos, whatever - I don't know the terminology.)

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The Firestone is a quality development. A friend of ours has a place there - it's nice. A little pricey, but nice.

I don't know the real definitions, but to my mind, apartment=rent and condo=buy. The Firestone is definitely an apartment development, as is the AMLI Upper West Side down the street. There are some new condos being built between the two - those will be purchasable.

There are two new brownstone-style townhomes going up in the northeast part of downtown. There are the Pecan Place brownstones, next to the more modern-style Pecan Place condos:







And the Palisades, going up along the Trinity River Bluffs alongside the Lincoln apartments - there are also plans for more of these styles all along the river bluffs, as well as about five new condo towers around 20 stories tall - Lincoln apartments on left, Palisades townhomes on right:

Ironically, it's not the exposed beams and pipes that I mind. Heck, I lived two years in a dorm at A&M that had exposed pipes and wiring run along the walls. It got A/C - window units - the year I moved in. (It did have old radiators.) That was 2002. No, I don't mind that, because the beams are old and have a right to be there. It's the trendy layout and lighting and style that I don't like. And that's entirely personal.

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Well, most of the units shown were demo units furnished by the company and put together using interior designers and such to be all "trendy" looking. When you buy one, it comes a lot more bare of course. If (when!) I get a place there, I'll paint it in Art Deco color schemes and such.

Hey! What about the old Montgomery Ward building, that's now Montgomery Plaza? Could I prevail upon you to share pictures of that, if you can? I wish I had some Before pictures to contrast with how it is now.

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Ask, and ye shall receive:


The building, just prior to completion in 1928. The famed rooftop sign had not been installed yet.


Opening day in 1928.


The building, as it sat in 2004, abandoned and unloved. Note the early '60s blue-tile base remodeling.




The redeveloped building today.

The old Montgomery Ward building has become Montgomery Plaza, with ground floor retail/restaurant space. The upper floors have just gotten underway as loft condos. Some of the perks of the lofts will be:

240 units total. Units range from about 1,000 square feet to about 4,600 square feet. 17 different floor plans.

Three stories of parking, rooftop pool, cabanas, rooftop dining, movie room, fitness area. Parking will be on the second and third floors, and in the basement of the east tower. Each unit will have two parking spaces.

Most of the condos have 12-foot-high ceilings, but on floors seven and eight, the units will have 16-foot ceilings, and some will have skylights. Every unit has a bank of the large windows that dominate the building’s exterior and with interiors designed so that sunlight penetrates.

The units will have roomy kitchens, spalike bathrooms and closets.

“This is a big project. There’s nothing cheap about it,” says a representative from the company doing the condos.

Nearly $23 million has already gone into renovations, but “considerably more” will be spent on the building for the lofts.

Condo prices will begin in the low $200,000s and go to around $700,000, depending on the size and location.

I wasn't on yesterday, but you totally made my day with those pictures.

I drive just past the Palisades every Sunday. On the long pretty bridge over the Trinity. That's another thing Fort Worth is doing right: Even their bridges are classy. Way back when they first started redoing I-30, my mother admired the new Summit Avenue bridge.

Good point about condo decorating. That's definitely something I hadn't considered. What can I say? I've lived in a house all my life.

And THANK YOU for the Montgomery Ward pictures. I love that simple Spanish mission facade. Much better than the '60s Blue Thing. And I'm glad they're incorporating the theme of the windows. I have a thing for big windows and strong winds. I don't think I'll ever move into a condo; I have to have plenty of space around the house. But it's marvelous to see these buildings reused by people who know what they're doing.

I believe "wow" sums it up...that is a beautiful building with even more beautiful light fixtures.

One-bedrooms start in the $160,000s, and two-bedrooms start in the $220,000s, making it one of the lower-priced purchasable developments in downtown.

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What is the square footage of the one and two bedrooms?

ITG said:

What is the square footage of the one and two bedrooms?

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Well, there are a ton of different floor plans, but most of the one bedrooms seem to range between 700 and 1,000 square feet, while most of the two bedrooms seem to be 1,000 and 1,500 square feet or so, maybe a little bigger. There are also a few studios that are around 550-600 square feet.

Atomic Glee said:

Well, there are a ton of different floor plans, but most of the one bedrooms seem to range between 700 and 1,000 square feet, while most of the two bedrooms seem to be 1,000 and 1,500 square feet or so, maybe a little bigger. There are also a few studios that are around 550-600 square feet.

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$160K for 700 to 1100 SF? Yikes! And that's good pricing, you say. We've considered selling our house and buying a condo or a loft downtown... but methinks there's a reason I continue to live in good ol' 1950s Ridglea Hills. lol

I drive past Montgomery Plaza several times each week, as I work just off 7th & Summit. I used to shop there occasionally back when it was MW, that was an interesting experience. Before we met, my husband went to some type of weird mystery rummage sale there, where they sold off contents of the building's upper floors for pennies. We have a beautiful 1940s desk that came from that sale. How he got it home I'll never know as it weighs nearly 4 tons. lol