$31M Dual Projects Mark Intradel's North Texas Inroad

Kerry Kirby, president and CEO of the 10-year-old Intradel, tells GlobeSt.com that April will bring the closing for 714 Main St. in Fort Worth and a construction start while the Dallas project at 400 N. Ervay St. is about six months from its launch. The projects will result in conversions of historic properties into urban lofts, a growing market in the region and the bait that lured Intradel to North Texas. In Fort Worth, 176 lofts will be carved out of the 1921 building while 91 units will sit atop a 27,000-sf US Post Office ticketed to open in Dallas' 1934 federal courthouse and former post office site.

Kirby says the historical integrity of the structures' exteriors will remain intact, but interiors will be gutted. Also being kept intact is the courtroom, including bench, of former Judge Sarah T. Hughes, who swore in President Lyndon Baines Johnson after President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The preserved space will be designated at the clubroom for the Lofts at Thanksgiving Square.

In keeping with Intradel practice, closings and project starts go hand in hand. Equitable Life Insurance Co. is the seller of the Fort Worth property, known around town as the Transport Life Building. In Dallas, the seller is the US Postal Service, which selected Intradel last fall from a field of 20 developers jockeying for the well-known landmark. The contract, signed in January, was accompanied by a 27,000-sf, long-term lease for a new first floor post office, according to Kirby.

Interest is running so high in the $17-million Fort Worth project that Kirby says 20 lofts already have been reserved, sans marketing, by applicants hitting the property's Web site and submitting forms on line. That, he says, validates Intradel's research about urban projects in the DFW metroplex.

GMAC Commercial Mortgage Co. of Horsham, PA is arranging the financing for the Fort Worth acquisition. Plano's Coldwater Solutions is the architect for both projects. Shreveport, LA-based Shreve Land Construction is Intradel's general contractor.

Fort Worth's Main Street Lofts will feature a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, ranging in size from 610 sf to 1,195 sf, and 7,000 sf of street-level retail. The 24-story building, sitting on 10,000 sf of land, is practically in the CBD's core and just three blocks from Sundance Square. The design is a "soft loft" concept with opens spaces and partial walls to define living areas. Each floor will be outfitted with a laundry area and units will be high-speed Internet wired to go along with an in-house intranet system for maintenance, management communication and e-tailers in the immediate area. Fitness, community and business centers are included in the design along with a theater room.

Situated in Dallas' CBD, the $14-million Lofts at Thanksgiving Square project also will have one- and two-bedroom units with the same "soft loft" concept and amenities as the Fort Worth undertaking. Units will range from 618 sf to 1,294 sf. The 91-unit project is "small for us, but it's a notable deal," says Kirby.

It will take about a year to complete the projects, once work begins. Intradel taps selective markets for multifamily projects, but this could be the first time that it's worked sister cities in near-simultaneous fashion. And, Kirby confides, Intradel is not done mining the opportunities of the DFW market.