3L Real Estate Advances Office-to-Resi in Fort Worth

A Chicago-based developer is pushing ahead with plans to turn a long-dormant Downtown Fort Worth office building into hundreds of apartments, adding to the city’s growing slate of office-to-residential conversions.

3L Real Estate is converting the 16-story former Oncor building at 115 West Seventh Street into a 330-unit apartment building, CEO Joe Slezak told the Dallas Business Journal. Interior demolition is underway, with the main construction phase expected to begin within the next month or two. Slezak said the project should wrap in less than two years.

While declining to put a total price tag on the redevelopment, Slezak told the outlet that the firm is investing more than $20 million into the roughly 300,000-square-foot building. Fort Worth-based Bennett Partners is serving as architect, and Hasen Holdings is the project’s general contractor.

The building, constructed in 1952 as the headquarters of Fort Worth National Bank, was designated a historic landmark in 2024. Its mid-century exterior — with a slab-and-tower design and rust-colored brick — will be preserved, Slezak said, even as the interior is fully rebuilt.

Plans call for a mix of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, along with amenities including a rooftop deck and fitness center. The ground floor will retain restaurant space, including Little Red Wasp and Capital Grille. The building sits within walking distance of the Trinity Railway Express station and the emerging Texas A&M–Fort Worth campus.

Public incentives are part of the capital stack. Board members overseeing a tax-increment financing zone along the Lancaster corridor approved $4 million in infrastructure reimbursements for the project, according to the publication. In exchange, 20 percent of the units will be offered at below-market rents for at least 10 years.

Hasen Holdings President David Hasenzahl said the former Oncor building is unusually well-suited for a residential conversion, particularly on floors five through 16, due to the design of the building’s exterior perimeter walls and windows.

The project marks 3L Real Estate’s 13th acquisition overall and its second in North Texas. The firm is also working with Hasen on another office-to-apartment conversion at 501 Elm Street in downtown Dallas.

Slezak said the timing aligns with broader investment flowing into Fort Worth’s urban core, including the $700 million overhaul of the Fort Worth Convention Center and the Texas A&M campus now under construction.

Other downtown Fort Worth buildings slated for residential conversions include the Binyon-O’Keefe Building at 210 East Seventh Street and 811 Calhoun Street, which is planned as a 100-unit senior housing project.

— Eric Weilbacher