Downtown News
City of Fort Worth finds perfect use for former Pier 1 building
The city of Fort Worth has found the perfect thing to put in the former Pier 1 downtown: a new City Hall.
According to a release, the city will buy the Pier 1 building at 100 Energy Way and use it to replace the current City Hall at 200 Texas St.
There were already plans to build a new City Hall next to the current one, but the city determined that buying the Pier 1 building would be cheaper.
"As we have begun to plan for the renovation of City Hall, the cost-savings provided by the purchase of this building is simply too significant to pass up," Mayor Betsy Price said in a statement. "This is a prudent financial decision."
The city estimated that the purchase would save tens of millions of dollars. The cost of building new was $200 million. The purchase is expected to be completed by February 2021, and move-in will take place in 2022, which is sooner than if a new building had been built.
"The new City Hall location presents unique opportunities as the City of Fort Worth has grown exponentially since the 1971 construction of the current facility," said the release. City Hall currently has 600 employees.
The new building will provide additional square footage and better efficiency by consolidating services into one location, said City Manager David Cooke in a statement.
"While the purchase of an existing property was not part of the City's original plan, purchasing this property provides a solution to the City's real estate needs sooner without new construction and will result in savings for taxpayers for years to come," Cooke said.
The current City Hall will be repurposed into another municipal building.
The Pier 1 structure was built in 2004, and was also once headquarters for Chesapeake Energy. Pier 1 declared bankruptcy in May.
