The new year is only a few days old, but the Fort Worth office market already feels different to Todd Burnette, executive managing director at JLL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are definitely coming out of the downturn in the office market,\u201d he said. \u201cIt feels different than in 2025, so we\u2019re encouraged. I feel good about what we\u2019ll see in 2026.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That optimism is despite a new report on the Fort Worth office market for the fourth quarter of last year, which saw more space vacated than leased.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The office market had been beset with a variety of issues creating economic uncertainty \u2014\u2013 from COVID-related shifts in office attendance to global conflicts to higher interest rates to tariffs \u2014\u2013 that led many companies to delay decisions on office space and needs, Burnette said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that seems behind us to a large extent,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The report finds the city\u2019s downtown showing strength even as trophy class offerings attract tenants to new projects along West 7th and southwest Fort Worth, Burnette said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The JLL report notes that Fort Worth downtown has the second-lowest <\/strong>Class-B vacancy rate of any central business district in the nation.<\/p>\n Burnette said he expects to see more activity return to Sundance Square soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s been a question mark for a few years, but we\u2019re seeing indications that is changing,\u201d he said, noting that the area recently hosted a New Year\u2019s Eve event that attracted a reported 100,000 attendees.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat shows how strong of a draw downtown Fort Worth is,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just the north part of downtown. With the convention center upgrades, Texas A&M\u2019s first building coming on line and I think the Omni Hotel expansion will happen soon, we\u2019re going to see more growth on the south end of downtown.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n If downtown has one question mark, it is the lack of space for a big project, said Burnette.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had a big project that wanted space downtown, we don\u2019t really have it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some projects are attracting some tenants away from downtown, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n Overall, office leasing activity will continue to be concentrated in Class A and trophy class properties in the downtown, south Fort Worth and Westlake\/Southlake submarkets, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The trophy class projects underway include:\u00a0<\/p>\n All that means the market could see 1.2 million square feet of trophy class space by 2035, up from nearly none a decade ago, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat flight-to-quality transition will continue to occur,\u201d Burnette said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year also saw the largest office lease of the decade in the city, Burnette added, with\u00a0 Lockheed Martin renewing a 455,000-square-foot office lease at 5555 N. Beach St. in the Fossil Creek Business Park. The nNorth Fort Worth lease secured space for 1,800 employees involved in supply chain and engineering.\u00a0<\/p>\n Burnette said his optimism is bolstered by the fact that rents continue to increase. Class A space was leasing for $31.45 per square foot at the end of 2025, up from $30.68 at the end of the second quarter last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think those rates are going to go up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a very strong market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n