In the first ground-up project for its tenant partnership program, SkyWalker Property Partners has started site work on a $7.9-million medical office building on the last commercial tract in the Edwards family's Clearfork West development in southwest Fort Worth.
SkyWalker Property is developing the 20,200-sf project at 5612 Edwards Ranch Rd. for its fund, When Opportunity Knocks LLC. Dr. Nathan Lesley, a noted orthopedic hand surgeon based in Fort Worth, has leased 50% of the two-story building and invested in the project. The 10,100-sf balance is available for lease.
The as-yet unnamed project will be situated within a short drive of the Fort Worth medical district, where Lesley has his current office in the Fort Worth Hand Center. The 1.8-acre site also is close to Chisholm Trail Parkway and Interstates 20, 30 and 35.
"We had been searching a long time for a building to buy and renovate. Development seemed to be the quickest and best way to meet Dr. Lesley's expansion needs," says Gary Walker, founder and president of Arlington, Texas-based SkyWalker Property Partners. "When you can't find what you want, you start to think 'where would you want to build.' We were fortunate to be able to acquire this site, which is an ideal location for his expanding practice."
The medical office building will be completed in Q1 2020. Prim Construction LLC of Fort Worth is the general contractor. The local architect is 97w, a collaborative design firm. Frost Bank is the project lender. Walker's longtime colleagues Theron Bryant and Casey Tounget of Transwestern have been retained to lease the 10,100 sf of available first-floor medical/general office space. Lesley has signed a 10-year lease for the entire second level to house his practice and full-service physical therapy clinic, The Hand & Upper Extremity Institute.
"Unfortunately, health-care costs continue to rise. With SkyWalker’s help, The Hand and Upper Extremity Institute will have the ability to offer comprehensive care from the initial patient visit through surgical procedures and physical therapy, if necessary," Lesley says. "This will allow us to manage costs while continuing our mission of providing exceptional care to every patient, every time."
The new medical office development, featuring an 88-space parking lot, will neighbor Fort
Worth Endodontics, Preece Church & Associates Pediatric Dentistry, the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Institute and Sanctuary Yoga Room, all of which sit within the historic boundary of Edwards Ranch, originally a 7,000-acre spread and the largest family-owned holding in the metro's southwest corridor. Also close by is the 180,000-sf Clearfork West, a fully leased class A office building adjacent to a new Neiman Marcus and the Shops at Clearfork developed by Cassco, the Edwards family's development arm since 1954.
Cassco has 850 acres remaining to develop, of which 270 are earmarked for Clearfork on the northern bank of the Trinity River and 320 for Riverhills on the southern side. Clearfork is master-planned for 3.2 million sf of upscale office, retail and restaurant space, 2,500 multifamily units and green space stretching for miles along the riverfront. Riverhills is a high-end, five-phase development of single-family estate homes.
"Like the Edwards family, we at SkyWalker take pride in being responsible stewards of our properties. We will be a good stakeholder and live up to their expectations with this project," Walker stresses.
The developer of record, I Can See Clear Fork Now LLC, is a single-purpose entity of SkyWalker's co-investment program, which requires a five- to 10-year lease commitment. Under the tenant partnership agreement, SkyWalker Property will build and provide leasing services until occupancy stabilization is achieved.
"This investment strategy was always intended to be a flexible facilitator of user/tenant needs. We've taken it to the next level with this ground-up project," Walker explains. "And, we're optimistic the future holds more tenant partnerships."
SkyWalker Property Partners identifies, underwrites, acquires and executes highly opportunistic and value-add investments on behalf of When Opportunity Knocks LLC and Cash Flow Fever LLC, funds formed in 2017 to build a $200 million portfolio of office, industrial and retail properties in Texas and surrounding states. The strategy targets transactions from $2 million to $15 million. Additional information about the investment group is available at www.SkyWalkerProperty.com.
