Bank One Will Be Lead Tenant in New Sundance Square Development Building In Downtown Fort Worth
PR Newswire, 10/3/2000 16:22
FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing its century-long tradition as downtown Fort Worth's leading bank, Bank One today announced plans to move its Fort Worth operations into the building being developed by Sundance Square Development.
The building, scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2001, will be named the Bank One Building, said Danny Smith, president of Bank One in Fort Worth. The building will encompass the entire city block between the existing Bank One Tower and RadioShack's corporate headquarters.
Bank One will occupy approximately 65,000 square feet in the new building, Smith said. Bank One's space will include four floors of the building as well as its downtown Fort Worth banking center, including a safe deposit box area, at the street level.
"For more than 100 years, we have remained committed to downtown Fort Worth," Smith said. "Our lease arrangement renews Bank One's long-term commitment to continue serving Tarrant County for years to come. This partnership with Sundance Square Development is an exciting venture between two of Fort Worth's leading institutions."
"I am delighted that Bank One has chosen Sundance Square's newest building as its home base of operations," said Edward P. Bass, lead partner of Sundance Square Development. "The marriage of the state-of-the-art aspects of the building with the classical early century architectural style is indicative of the exciting times we are experiencing in downtown Fort Worth. I am confident Bank One has chosen well."
Bank One was forced to move approximately 200 employees from Bank One Tower after it was severely damaged by the March 28th tornado. Last month, the tower's owner announced it would not rehabilitate the building, canceling all tenant leases.
"We have spent the last 45 days looking at every alternative in downtown Fort Worth," Smith said. "Our number one priority has been to look at long- term solutions for our clients, our employees and downtown Fort Worth. The new Bank One Building meets all our needs, and we look forward to its completion."
About 450 of Bank One's 650 downtown employees remain in the Tower's parking garage annex, which was not affected by the tornado. Currently, those 200 displaced employees are located in various Bank One facilities across Tarrant County.
"We will shift our efforts now to selecting an interim location for our banking center and for our displaced employees in downtown Fort Worth," Smith said. "We are reviewing several alternatives for our space needs until our permanent space is completed at year-end 2001."
Smith cited the patience of Bank One's clients and employees as the company has worked to resolve its space needs.
"We are very appreciative to our clients for their patience and very proud of the resiliency our employees have shown during this period as they have continued to provide high quality client services across all areas of our company," Smith said.
"It's important to us to get our client contact people back to downtown Fort Worth as soon as possible," Smith said. "While that will involve another move, we think it's important that we return to as normal a level of operation as possible."
In July, Bank One announced that it is creating approximately 100 more positions in its Loan Servicing area to be housed in the Bank One Tower parking garage annex, Smith said. Overall, Bank One has approximately 2,400 employees based in Tarrant County.
Bank One, Texas is a subsidiary of Chicago-based BANK ONE CORPORATION (NYSE:ONE), the nation's fourth-largest bank holding company with assets of more than $270 billion. A leader in the retail market, Bank One operates more than 1,800 banking centers, including 24 in Tarrant County, and a nationwide network of ATMs, including 51 in Tarrant County. It can be found on the Internet at www.bankone.com. SOURCE Bank One, Texas, N.A.
-0- 10/03/2000
/CONTACT: Chris Spencer of Bank One, Texas, N.A., 225-332-7349, or pager, 800-470-4191/
/Web site: bankone.com / |
