Bank One Building
500 Throckmorton Road

By Ram Luthra
Staff Reporter

It has been 365 days, but the damages and memories are still vivid from the unforgettable tornado that wreaked havoc throughout Tarrant County during afternoon rush hour one spring day.

The day started with beautiful warm weather, but it soon turned into 90 minutes of terror. Heavy winds and as large as grapefruit-sized hail accompanied the tornado. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth estimated winds to be between 113 and 152 mph, moving directly toward the downtown skyline.

Broken windows dot the Bank One Building the morning after an F-2 tornado caused an estimated $450 million of damage to the building. Soon the tower will be demolished.

The Bank One Building, located at 500 Throckmorton Road, has come to symbolize the destruction the tornado brought to the downtown Fort Worth area.

According to reports, witnesses said a swift-moving funnel surrounded the Bank One Building, bursting the windows into small pieces.

The estimated damage on the building ranged up to $450 million, Lt. Kent Worley, spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said.

The building, which included Bank One, the Reata restaurant and various small businesses, such as attorney and accountant offices, was closed to the public Feb. 26, 2001, by Fort Worth Fire Department officials.

Al Micallef, the majority shareholder of the restaurant, said in a written statement that the windows were blown out of the 35th floor western-themed, upscale Reata restaurant, causing $200,000 to $300,000 worth of damage. About 110 diners and 50 employees were in the restaurant when the tornado hit, he said.

“It was like the movie ‘Twister’ — chairs were flying out of the windows, stuff was falling off the walls,” Micallef said in an Associated Press story. “Shards of glass were flying and got stuck in the furniture.”

Originally, the Bank One Building was to be repaired and re-opened for service. However, the multiple owners of the building concluded it was not feasible to reconstruct and repair the damages of the building, Worley said. The owners sold the building to a group of investors, including the renowned Bass family, this past June, he said. When the building was sold, the only business still operating was the Reata restaurant.

After being ordered to leave the building in February by its landlord, Loutex Inc., the restaurant will be relocated. The Reata will offer catering services until a new location is found, Worley said.

The closure of the building brought large amounts of controversy, especially from the Reata restaurant. The Reata, which has been closed for nearly two months, spent more than $800,000 in renovations and reportedly was promised that the building would be repaired and remain open, Worley said. He said the restaurant has filed a lawsuit against the owners of the building for all the money invested by Reata to repair the damages. The court date is set for early-April, he said.

“I am sure at some point and time, some settlement will be made between the two parties,” Worley said.

The timing of the devastation caused many problems for all the tenants in the building, especially for the attorneys and accountants, Worley said.

“The tornado happened probably in the worst time, right in the middle of tax season,” Worley said. “Many tax-related documents were lost during the tornado, making it difficult for the accountants to prepare tax (papers) for their clients.

Many legal records were also destroyed, causing the same type of problems for the attorneys that had offices in the building.”

Rob Mierau, a graduate student who was in Nebraska during the tornado, said he was surprised when he came to Fort Worth in August to still see many of the buildings, including the Bank One Building, damaged. He said he was shocked that the buildings were not repaired after about nine months.

“It is unbelievable that even after so much time the building could not be repaired,” he said. “It was so unfortunate for the people who worked in the building who do not have a job or a place to work now. It must have been a difficult time for them to adjust from these circumstances.”

The octagonal shaped building was designed by John Portman, an architect from Atlanta, for the Fort Worth National Bank. The construction of the building was completed in 1974. The 37-story building, standing 454 feet tall, is the fifth tallest building in the city.

The building is scheduled to be torn down in June, Worley said. Once it is demolished, the lot where the building stands will be used for a temporary parking lot and then later another building will be built, Worley said.

“There will definitely be another building built there, but there is no time table set for the beginning of any type of construction,” he said.

According to published reports, if the skyscraper is torn down, it will be the fifth tallest building in the world to be demolished and the tallest in the state of Texas.

Ram Luthra
r.d.luthra@student.tcu.edu