CTroyMathis

Tower's plywood shell goes
By LILA LaHOOD and SANDRA BAKER
Star-Telegram Staff Writers

FORT WORTH - Workers are once again scurrying inside the tornado-damaged Bank One tower, but don't mistake the activity for a sign that the formidable eyesore will be gone soon.

Crews on Monday began removing the tower's plywood shell and will replace the familiar boards with fire-resistant material - most likely metal panels - to comply with a recent city order.

The building's owners, a partnership led by Fort Worth investor Ed Bass that purchased the tower last year with plans to demolish it, have not decided their course yet.

In the meantime, Sundance Square Management, which is overseeing the project for the owners, said it will follow the city's orders although it considers the requirements unnecessary. The group says the building already is substantially fire-retardant, and replacing the plywood will cost the project precious time and money.

"In the short run, we are pushed and pulled in various directions by regulatory authorities," Bass, lead partner in the Block 82 Partners ownership group, said in a printed statement. "I hate the thought of looking at that ruined building for two or three more years, but be assured that we are committed and determined in the long run to bring this unfortunate chapter in the history of Fort Worth's downtown to a respectable close."

Demolition work on the tower, which began a year ago, ground to a halt in mid-December because of problems posed by removing asbestos from the building. At that time, the tower's owners said they did not know when or how the 35-story office building, which they are now calling Block 82, would come down.

In Monday's announcement, Sundance executives also said publicly for the first time that insurance for a demolition would be prohibitively expensive.

"We got into this at the outset looking to resolve a problem," Johnny Campbell, chief executive of Sundance Square Management, said in an interview. "We thought it would be great for the city and us in turn. We didn't understand fully the scope of asbestos abatement."

Deputy Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Tidwell said the city has had a number of meetings in the past several months with representatives of the Block 82 group regarding how to mitigate the fire hazard.

This year, the city ordered the owners to apply a fire retardant to the plywood coverings, which were fastened to many of the building's window openings after a tornado slammed into the tower two years ago.

The city said it issued its order out of uncertainty over how long the building would sit idle.

Tidwell said the building owners told him last week that they would remove the plywood rather than apply fire retardant.

Monday, hammering sounds echoed through downtown, and workers could be seen removing plywood planks from floors just above the tower's skirted atrium.

The plywood replacement project is expected to take eight to 10 weeks. Once complete, the construction fence around the site will be moved closer to the building in order to make adjacent sidewalks and streets accessible.

Crews have removed all interior finishes and combustible materials from inside the building, Campbell said. He added that Sundance would not have removed the plywood at this time if not for the city's order.

"Our position is that the building is substantially fire-resistant as it is today," Campbell said. "You're spending time and money that would not be on the critical path."

The ownership group has faced significant financial obstacles in its efforts to demolish the building.

Campbell would not say how much the owners have spent or will spend on the building. But he said that, compared with initial cost estimates to take the tower down, speculation that the demolition will cost more than twice that amount is "not unreasonable."

Campbell would not comment directly on whether Block 82 Partners has approached, or will approach, the city for financial incentives to speed work on the tower, universally considered a blight on the Fort Worth skyline.

"We've been working together with the city throughout the whole project," Campbell said.

Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr did not return several telephone calls for comment Monday.

Campbell said that since last summer, Block 82 Partners has considered three main alternatives for the building:

Taking the building apart piece by piece.

Completing asbestos abatement, removing all remaining glass and plywood, and allowing the building to stand "open" until demolition by implosion is feasible.

Replacing plywood with fire-resistant material and mothballing the building until another alternative - including better methods for asbestos abatement, implosion, or adaptive reuse - proves viable.

Given the recent decision to reclad the building with a fire-resistant skin, the group is essentially pursuing the third option.

Campbell said the cost associated with asbestos abatement has been compounded by changes in the insurance industry regarding implosion insurance.

"It makes it very difficult to get, and it's very expensive," he said.

Michael Taylor, executive director of the National Association of Demolition Contractors in Doylestown, Pa., said that the insurance market that covers demolitions has tightened up over the past couple of years, but that insurance is still available and implosions are still taking place.

"Insurance is available, it's just more expensive," Taylor said. "Everybody has seen a raise in insurance premiums, and that is passed along to the consumers."

Monday was also the expiration date of a city-authorized temporary closure of Taylor Street between Fourth and Fifth streets, which had been granted so that the Bank One tower could be prepared for demolition. A city spokesman said Monday that no one has yet submitted an application to extend the closure.

Block 82 Partners purchased the tower in March 2001 from Loutex Fort Worth for $3.8 million. The sale came a year after a tornado badly damaged the building. Loutex started renovating the building but stopped and put it up for sale, saying insurance proceeds would not cover restoration costs.

The Bass group originally hoped to implode the building in August 2001 and use the space for parking and future development. Officials have said the 454-foot tower would become one of the tallest buildings ever imploded.

CTroyMathis

Just what exactly is left to do with this building?

Do we keep it up and find SOME SORT of use for it? I know my following comment can seem absurd, but, maybe NASA needs to expand out of their current locales and come in and use the building. How about a damn downtown space research building. Gut it and use it for some very creative test platform (I use that term on a level I can barely fathom to comprehend...) use.

Anyway, this is troubling. We can't have this.

John T Roberts

Here is a picture taken about two weeks ago of the metal panels. Now they are near the top with the new skin.

jsoto3

i really like the variegated texture of the building as it is now. if only it was real envelope, different types (colors, textures, emissivities) of glass and/or perforated metals. perhaps even some digital projections . . . . .
ooh the possibilities!