Land management firm buys historic Winfield Place office building in downtown

Purple Land Management, a Fort Worth land and energy services company founded in 2010, has acquired the historic Winfield Place office building downtown but is not talking about its plans for the building.

The company, now located in the Water Gardens Building downtown, bought the nearly 42,000-square-foot Winfield Place building at 210 E. Eighth St. on Oct. 1 from Harvey Mueller of Benbrook, according to deed records.

The four-story building was constructed in 1919 as the parking garage for the planned Winfield Hotel, which actually opened as the Texas Hotel, according to historical accounts. In 1981, the building was converted to an office building.

Purple Land Management co-founders Bryan Cortney, CEO; and Jesse Hejny, president, are TCU graduates. The company has more than 200 employees in offices in Fort Worth, Midland, Houston, Denver and Oklahoma City; and in North Canton and St. Clairsville, Ohio; Canonsburg, Pa.; Bakersfield, Calif.; and Dickinson, N.D., according to its website.

A company spokeswoman said the founders will be releasing more information after the first of the year on their plans for the building.

Dallas firm provides funding for Waterside

Sarofim Realty Advisors in Dallas is providing $75 million to fund the first phase of development in Waterside, the $185 million project that will feature Fort Worth’s first Whole Foods Market.

Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. is developing Waterside on 63 acres once owned by the Lockheed Martin Recreation Association at Bryant Irvin Road and Arborlawn Drive. In addition to several hundred apartments and town homes, the development, along 1.5 miles of the Trinity River, will have 190,000 square feet of space for shops and restaurants, the 45,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market, about 140,000 square feet of office space and a hotel.

HFF, a provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry, said it secured the joint venture equity.

HFF said also represented Trademark in the sale of 5 acres of land to a venture between Transwestern Development Co. and a private real estate fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital-Real Estate for a multifamily project in Waterside.

Commercial construction growing in North Texas

Contracts for future commercial construction in North Texas grew 5 percent in October, while residential contracts dropped 2 percent, according to the latest figures from McGraw Hill Construction, a data and analytics firm.

In October, contracts were awarded for $361.9 million in commercial work, compared with $343.3 million a year ago. Residential building contracts totaled $792.1 million in the month, compared with $804.9 million in October 2013.

For the first 10 months of the year, commercial contract awards in North Texas totaled $4.2 billion, down 14 percent from the same period of 2013.

Residential contracts for the year totaled $7.8 billion at the end of October, up 7 percent from 2013, McGraw Hill said.

Transactions

2555 114th St., Grand Prairie

Case Paper Co. has leased 25,145 square feet of office/warehouse space. Patrick Embry of NAI Robert Lynn represented the tenant. Corby Hodgkiss of Mercer Co. represented the landlord.

1362 W. Carrier Parkway, Grand Prairie

Petroleum Solutions has leased 21,156 square feet of office/warehouse space. Patrick Embry of NAI Robert Lynn represented the tenant.

St. Louis Street and Galveston Avenue, Fort Worth

New Barn Llc. and Old Fort Worth Redevelopment sold 0.59 acre to Hatfield Properties in Arlington at 1209 and 1215 St. Louis St., and at 1200, 1204 and 1212 Galveston Ave. Grant Huff of Transwestern represented the seller.

6550 Wuliger Way, North Richland Hills

Clem Enterprises leased 10,000 square feet of industrial space from Hal Allen Family, L.P. Frank Jester of Transwestern represented the landlord.

8713 Airport Freeway, North Richland Hills

Guardian Force Security Service leased 3,280 square feet of office space in Northstar Plaza II. Jeff Givens and Tracy Georges of Transwestern represented the tenant.

2525 Handley Edervill Road, Richland Hills

2525 Handley Ltd. bought this 112,473-square-foot building from Riverbend Industrial Partners, Jeff Givens and Tracy Georges of Transwestern represented the seller.

This story was originally published December 7, 2014 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Land management firm buys historic Winfield Place office building in downtown."