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Julien & Lambert Photo
Light fixtures in one conference room resemble a honeycomb.
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Above the stairs is a chandelier-like fixture by W Durable Goods' Daniel Wright.
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Fort Capital's front lobby.
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Fort Capital's common area.
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Fort Capital's conference room.
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Fort Capital's headquarters features farmhouse-style architecture.
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Julien & Lambert Photo
The conference room inside Fort Capital's headquarters.
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A laser-cut map of Fort Worth stretches across the wall.
White Settlement Road is the quirky street that runs through the middle of The River District. Auto shops in old buildings mix with new construction, restaurant Lettuce Cook displays a monkey mural for the Instagram-types, and the swanky new Elan River District Apartments stand directly across from Salsa Limón — a modern taco joint in an old diner, built in the 1940s, that was literally picked up and moved from University Drive to White Settlement Road in 2016.
Then there’s Fort Capital, the company spurring the development in the up-and-coming district. About nine months ago, the developer moved from a temporary office in The Foundry District (another up-and-coming development near West Seventh Street) to The River District. Located at 105 Nursery Lane, just south of White Settlement, the building stands two stories at 16,500 square feet. Fort Capital built the space to be its headquarters, but the building is also shared by other companies like RRIG Energy, Jetstream Oil & Gas, and Panther City Rental. Fort Capital occupies about 5,500 square feet, with the main office upstairs and construction office downstairs.
As a whole, the farmhouse-style building takes on the same old-meets-new style as the rest of the street.
“The rustic vibe very much speaks to who we are as a company and the designs of our projects in that we are in the business of often taking what’s old and finding new meaning and purpose within it,” says Sarah Beth Shapleigh, Fort Capital’s marketing director and project designer, who was also heavily involved in the design of the space. “A perfect example of this is the work we are doing in The River District.”
The space evokes an industrial yet minimalist feel with gray, brown, black and white dominating the color palette. Blank white walls are interrupted by rustic wood paneling or exposed brick — the brick, in particular, has its own story.
The brick was originally part of the Avondale Mill Building, a structure built in 1895 in Walhalla, South Carolina. The building was occupied by multiple businesses manufacturing everything from diapers to denim until the mill shut down in the late 1990s. Fort Capital worked with local company Legacy Timber, which specializes in reclaimed materials, to source the brick and have it shipped to Fort Worth.
So, the building, or at least the brick, found new life at Fort Capital’s headquarters. Other elements in the space nod to the old days as well, thanks in part to Daniel Wright of W Durable Goods. He built one of the most prominent pieces, found hanging above the staircase connecting the first and second floors — a massive chandelier-like light fixture constructed with a vintage shade and with large Edison globes in the center. He also built the honeycomb-esque light fixture in a downstairs conference room, which Shapleigh says reflects the “busy bees” working in the building. In addition, signs from the Sunset RV Park that once existed nearby decorate the downstairs construction office.
Fort Capital’s main office has a simple layout. A reception area leads to a hallway lined with individual office spaces, then opens to a common area and conference room.
All desks, along with the conference table, receptionist desk and kitchen table, were built by PalletSmart, a recycled furniture shop just down the street from Fort Capital. PalletSmart used wooden pallets and raw steel framing to build the tables, using a wood stain chosen by Shapleigh. She also designed the steel reception desk, which PalletSmart brought to life.
“They use a technique to further enhance the look of the raw steel where they pour acid on it, creating a marbled exterior, which is just gorgeous,” Shapleigh says.
PalletSmart also helped create much of the signage around the building.
With so much metal, concrete and brick dominating the design, Shapleigh wanted to avoid the space looking “cold,” which is why glass is also used as a main wall in each employee office space.
“We countered this by inserting as much glass as possible so the space felt warmer, brighter, and more welcoming,” she says. But the glass serves a functional purpose too. “It allows much more transparency within the office. We really pride ourselves on being open with one another as a team. Having a large piece of glass serve as a main wall in your private office allows for better communication and approachability with others.”
The informal common area incorporates touches of leather and a cowhide rug that “speaks to our love of Fort Worth culture and adds an organic element of surprise in an office where the color scheme hardly varied and lines are clean,” Shapleigh says. Another homage to Fort Worth is found downstairs with a laser-cut wooden map of the city, created by CutMaps.
It makes sense for a company that has its foot planted firmly in Fort Worth real estate. Fort Capital, named one of FW Inc.’s Best Companies to Work For in 2017, is involved in multiple projects throughout the area, including the Park 7 boutique apartment in the West Seventh Street area, the Magnolia West neighborhood in Westworth Village, and the Suffolk Business Park south of TCU.
But The River District is arguably one of the company’s most-buzzed-about projects — one that Fort Capital is happy to not just work on, but work in.
“This area had not seen new construction in many, many years,” Shapleigh says. “With a vision for ‘what could be’ and being perfectly situated on the beautiful Trinity River, we knew this area could be something incredibly special.”
Javier Rodriguez
The River District is a 276-acre development along the Trinity River in west Fort Worth, located at White Settlement and Roberts Cut Off roads. At press time, the development had more than 700 residences, 10 businesses and over 10 restaurant and retail shops, including Salsa Limón, Flowers on the Square, and Abundio’s Fit Society. Eventually, The River District will be home to Crystal Springs on the River, an outdoor entertainment venue, and Truck Yard, a 15,000-square-foot outdoor food truck park and beer garden.