The brothers also have an array of other projects they\u2019re working on, from renovating medical office buildings off of St. Louis Avenue on the Near Southside and Riverglen Drive off of South Hulen Street to augmenting their holdings of industrial properties. It\u2019s been a big swing from early last year, when construction loans were hard to find and development was dead except for projects already financed, Rian Maguire said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalfway through last year, we started seeing momentum pick up, and we rounded out last year with three projects under contract within 24 hours, and we knew we\u2019re gonna have a real busy spring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Since then, the list of projects kept growing.<\/p>\n
With lenders requiring real estate interests to come up with more cash in deals, CHC has been on a fundraising spree. The firm estimates it raised $67.9 million over the company\u2019s life \u2014 including $22 million this year.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MercadoNorthMain-2.jpg\")
CHC Development of Fort Worth, headed by brothers Rian and Rory Maguire, expects to close in two weeks on the purchase of the Mercado North Main, with plans to update lighting, tenant spaces and bathrooms. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
The firm estimates it developed and\/or acquired 923,763 square feet of mixed-use commercial space over time along with nearly 600 acres of land.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve raised more capital in the first half of this year, basically times two, than we\u2019ve ever done historically, in any year that our company\u2019s been in existence,\u201d Rian Maguire said.<\/p>\n
The Mercado acquisition will pair up with the similar, historic Vinnedge Building at 2100 N. Main, an office building CHC owns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mercado, built in 2006, is 51% leased. It was 85% full until it recently lost a tenant, the Maguires said. They don\u2019t feel it will take a significant investment \u2014 maybe some updated lighting, including outdoor; tenant spaces; and bathrooms \u2014 to make it \u201cpop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dWe think this is going to be a great building,\u201d Rian Maguire said. He added, \u201cIt\u2019s got a lot of character.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MercadoNorthMain-3.jpg\")
The Mercado North Main, 1500 N. Main St., was built in 2006. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
CHC\u2019s work in building relationships paid off with the Mercado, the Maguires said. Another group put the property under contract and, knowing what CHC had done with Vinnedge, called the Maguires to offer a partnership.<\/p>\n
The property has substantial parking, and the tenant who left was paying below-market rent. That gives the Maguires the opportunity to break up the space into smaller ones paying higher rents, they said.<\/p>\n
Buying into the North Main corridor now makes sense ahead of Panther Island\u2019s projected growth and connection of downtown to the Stockyards and other surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really just starting, but it\u2019s happening,\u201d Rian Maguire said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/CHCDevelopment-Offices.jpg\")
CHC Development of Fort Worth and partners have purchased the office building at 650 Bailey Ave. in Fort Worth, with plans to convert it into the headquarters for the firms. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
The idea for the new headquarters project bubbled up from CHC\u2019s annual planning session in November, where the twins discussed their 451 S. Main building.<\/p>\n
CHC bought it in 2018. \u201cIt was kind of always projected to be a seven- to 10-year project,\u201d Rory Maguire said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The brothers expect to move into their new offices in October, doubling the size of their headquarters. Finding a tenant for their 2,400-square-foot space on South Main might prove to be easy \u2014 an existing tenant in the building is interested, they said.<\/p>\n
All of this is some distance from where the brothers, who grew up in Denton, were when as 33-year-olds they left jobs and formed their own company. CHC is an acronym for The Carnegie Holding Co., a nod to their father, who was originally from Carnegie, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
The Maguires \u2014 who each earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington and then went into careers in engineering and brokerage and, later, real estate development and private equity, respectively \u2014 formed the company in 2009, fearing they were on the cusp of losing their jobs during the post-recession. \u201cThen we didn\u2019t lose our jobs,\u201d Rory jokes.<\/p>\n
Finally, Rory says, he \u201cjust woke up one day\u201d and called Rian. \u201cIt was about 6 a.m. I was like, I think I gotta turn in my letter of resignation today. It\u2019s time. Rian turned in his right behind me, about three weeks later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their parents were college professors, and the brothers had no familial business background. But they remember, as teenagers, coming up with the real estate idea after realizing somebody must be making money from the buildings they saw about town.<\/p>\n
Their first project: the acquisition of a 30,000-square-foot retail center in front of Grapevine Mills. A banker friend clued them in on the deal \u2014 a property that was underwater financially, and the bank was willing to take a write down on it.<\/p>\n
Their partners included three people Rory Maguire formerly worked with in private equity who had formed their own company.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was their first deal, too,\u201d Rian Maguire said. \u201cThey put in all the equity, and we closed on that and turned it around, really in a year and a half. Signed new leases on longer terms, and sold it and knocked it out of the park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early on, the brothers were \u201cextremely conservative\u201d in the deals they pursued and turned down \u2014 and what assumptions they used. One building they turned down: a former historic firehouse in the South Main Village.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe passed on that at $700,000 because we thought it was overpriced,\u201d Rory Maguire says. It found subsequent life as a distillery and now as a hotel they can see from their current offices.<\/p>\n
The market\u2019s turn toward the better happened quickly, even in the high-interest-rate environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly last year, if you sent out a loan package to six banks, nine banks, you might get a term sheet,\u201d Rian Maguire says. \u201cIt was just tough to make the numbers work. Lease rates weren\u2019t matching up with interest rates and construction costs. You\u2019ve got to have all those in line to make a project work. I feel pretty sure right now, we sent out a loan package to six leaders, we\u2019d probably get six term sheets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, they approach each project with a lot of cash.<\/p>\n
For a long time, \u201cnumbers worked at 70% debt, 30% equity,\u201d Rory Maguire says. \u201cWe\u2019re generally 40% to 45% equity in every project now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, CHC estimates its portfolio breaks down as 42% industrial; 26% medical office; 19% office; 5% mixed use; and 5% retail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With light industrial popular among lenders and investors, CHC last year purchased the 150,000-square-foot Blue Mound Business Park in north Fort Worth, and this year closed on an adjacent 150,000-square-foot second phase. CHC also owns the Benbrook Commerce Center business park on Highway 377 in Benbrook.<\/p>\n
Among its medical office projects, for years a significant piece of the company\u2019s pie, CHC is converting an existing building on Riverglen Drive off of South Hulen Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The building had several lives, for years the home of the Texas Boys Choir and, most recently, a day care. CHC is renovating it to a two-story medical office building, and converting its basement to underground parking.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been on the market for some time since a fire years back. The Maguires cleaned up the site and day care playground, cut down dead trees, and put up a sign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe phones have been ringing off the hook,\u201d Rian Maguire said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for the Documenters program at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.\u00a0At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n
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