Hotel plans unveiled for historic downtown Fort Worth building
Fort Worth’s Oil and Gas Building may soon be a boutique hotel with a spa and rooftop restaurant, according to a proposal the building’s owners filed with the city.
OGFW, a company based in Irving, filed plans with the city proposing renovations that would transform the former 167,000-square-foot office building at 309 W. 7th St. into a hotel on floors four through 17 with a restaurant and a bar on the roof. The lower floors would include a lobby, a spa, meeting rooms and a pool. A restaurant and bar are planned for the roof, according to the plans.
Hotel developer Ajay Kothari is listed as the applicant on the filing. Kothari, a principal with Sava Holdings in Irving, has been involved in several local projects, including the Aloft Fort Worth Downtown hotel.
The filing did not disclose how many rooms the hotel would have. The name of the hotel listed on the documents as Oil and Gas Hotel.
The plans, from Fort Worth architecture firm Bennett Partners, calls for the original facade of the 1952-era building to be used for the refurbished building.
“The intent is to restore the ground level facade to be reminiscent of the original design,” according to the documents. That includes adding back the granite base and sandstone planes above to the existing first floor.
The post-WWII Modern-style building was designed by architecture firm J. Russ Baty of Houston, according to the Fort Worth Architecture website.
Downtown Fort Worth has seen several recent hotel additions, including the Le Meridien Fort Worth Hotel with 188 rooms and a planned 400-room expansion of the Omni Hotel.
The Bob R. Simpson Building at 110 W. 7th St. was purchased in March 2022 by an Irving-based company that planned a hotel, but the building went back on the market last year. The Sandman Signature Fort Worth Downtown Hotel, which has been closed since a January 2024 explosion, is expected to reopen in the summer, adding another 245 rooms to downtown.
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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