Office market full of optimism as Fort Worth starts new year strong

by Bob Francis, Fort Worth Report
January 11, 2026

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. 

“We are definitely coming out of the downturn in the office market,” he said. “It feels different than in 2025, so we’re encouraged. I feel good about what we’ll see in 2026.” 

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. 

The office market had been beset with a variety of issues creating economic uncertainty —– from COVID-related shifts in office attendance to global conflicts to higher interest rates to tariffs —– that led many companies to delay decisions on office space and needs, Burnette said. 

“But that seems behind us to a large extent,” he said. 

The report finds the city’s downtown showing strength even as trophy class offerings attract tenants to new projects along West 7th and southwest Fort Worth, Burnette said. 

The JLL report notes that Fort Worth downtown has the second-lowest Class-B vacancy rate of any central business district in the nation.

Burnette said he expects to see more activity return to Sundance Square soon. 

“That’s been a question mark for a few years, but we’re seeing indications that is changing,” he said, noting that the area recently hosted a New Year’s Eve event that attracted a reported 100,000 attendees. 

“That shows how strong of a draw downtown Fort Worth is,” he said. “And it’s not just the north part of downtown. With the convention center upgrades, Texas A&M’s first building coming on line and I think the Omni Hotel expansion will happen soon, we’re going to see more growth on the south end of downtown.” 

If downtown has one question mark, it is the lack of space for a big project, said Burnette.

“If we had a big project that wanted space downtown, we don’t really have it,” he said. 

Some projects are attracting some tenants away from downtown, however. 

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. 

The trophy class projects underway include: 

• Goldenrod Companies’ mixed-use  Van Zandt project along West 7th that will include 100,000 square feet of office space. 
• The first phase of Keystone Group and Larkspur Capital’s 37-acre mixed-use Westside Village project that will include about 880,000 square feet of office space. 
• The Crescent Offices second building that will add 171,500 square feet of office space. JPMorganChase  will move many of its downtown Fort Worth operations to the building. 
• The Office at Clearfork will have 75,800 square feet of space with Wells Fargo taking two floors of the building, shifting operations from downtown. 

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. 

“That flight-to-quality transition will continue to occur,” Burnette said. 

Last year also saw the largest office lease of the decade in the city, Burnette added, with  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. 

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. 

“I think those rates are going to go up,” he said. “We’ve got a very strong market.” 

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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