FORT WORTH-Office tenants looking for more than 10,000 square feet in the West 7th Street Corridor are out of luck because large blocks of space in this trendy submarket are scarce, according to local experts.

“We’ve seen space in this part of the city lease up at a pretty good clip,” says Tyler Trahant, managing director and city leader for CASE Commercial Real Estate Partners’ local office. “Companies are attracted to the live-work-play atmosphere.”

CASE Commercial, a member of TCN Worldwide, recently entered the Fort Worth market by acquiring MINKERTRAHANT & Associates, a local real estate firm. The firm’s founders, Richard D. Minker and Trahant, both joined CASE Commercial.

Minker tells GlobeSt.com that the West 7^th Street Corridor added a lot of inventory during the most recent development cycle including Museum Place and West 7^th. “During the recession, the submarket became softer – more of a tenant’s market – and there was a window of opportunity to move around and get into new space,” he says.

That window has pretty much closed, and landlords now have some pricing power. “If someone wanted 10,000 square feet or more, they would have limited options,” Trahant says. “There are just little pockets of space available now.”

Both Minker and Trahant expect tenants will continue to want to relocate to the West 7^th Street Corridor, attracted by the area’s growing retail and residential base. The submarket already is home to unique entertainment destinations such as Movie Tavern and Lucky Strikes bowling alley, and later this year, the city’s first In-N-Out Burger will open across the street from the West 7^th mixed-use project.

Moreover, strong job and population growth set the stage not only for the submarket’s continued strength, but for the city as a whole. That’s one of the reasons why CASE Commercial Real Estate Partners decided to enter the Fort Worth market, according to Principal Tom Sutherland.

Sutherland tells GlobeSt.com that the firm initially planned to expand in Houston and Austin/San Antonio before considering Fort Worth, but couldn’t bypass the opportunity to acquire MINKERTRAHANT & Associates once it evaluated the local market. “Fort Worth is now too big and too important to ignore,” he explains.