The late Friday afternoon closing falls just two days after the one-year anniversary of a tornado that caused an estimated $500 million in damages as it twisted throughout the Ft. Worth CBD. The buyer is Block 82 Partners LP, an affiliate of Fine Line Diversified Realty Inc. The 487,000-sf tower and an adjacent 134,000-sf office annex and parking garage have been under a purchase option since Feb. 19.

William V. Boecker of the Ft. Worth-based Block 82 Partners says immediate plans will be made for the tower's demolition, keeping intact the supplemental structure. A razing schedule will be released at a later date. "The decision to demolish the tower was made after careful consideration," Boecker says in a prepared statement. He says extra due diligence has proven that it's "even more apparent that the tower cannot be restored in an economical manner."

Ron Cherry, Loutex-Ft. Worth LP's head, says the buyer meets the owner's desire "to sell it to a highly regarded firm with close ties" to the city. And, it doesn't get much closer since all of the entities are linked to the Bass family and their holdings that drive the city's innermost economic core via Sundance Square and the premier Bass Performance Hall. The sale puts two of the CBD's four class-A office properties into the Bass family's hands.

All parties are close-mouthed about the selling price of 500 Throckmorton St., but it neighbors other holdings of the buyer and is prime development space with its strategic positioning. "Until that development is identified, we believe that the best interim use ... will be as additional surface parking for the downtown area," says Boecker.

In December, Trammell Crow Co., the property manager, had retreated on acquisition and restoration plans for the structure. Some 3,200 windows had been shattered and irreparable damage done to the HVAC system in the March 28, 2000 tornado.

Loutex had acquired the Bank One Tower, valued at $30 million, in an 11-building portfolio buy in 1998 from Bank One Corp. The glass octagon tower, which opened in 1974 as the Fort Worth National Bank, is the design of Atlanta architect John Portman.