Local Investors Buy Office in Tight Fort Worth Submarket

18 November 2025

A pair of Fort Worth-area investors grabbed one of North Main Street’s splashy commercial assets, betting that interest near the Stockyards and the city’s Historic Northside is far from topping out.

Southlake-based BlueAlpha Capital and Fort Worth’s CHC Development bought the 53,000-square-foot Mercado Building at 1500 North Main Street, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

The price wasn’t disclosed, but the property is appraised for tax purposes at $4.5 million. Deed records show the deal closed in late August. The three-story building covers 1.24 acres just outside downtown and a few blocks from the Stockyards.

CHC has already kicked off a round of improvements, targeting restrooms, common areas and exterior lighting, as well as a new conference and break room. Ground-floor space is being marketed for retail and restaurants. The upgrades are expected to wrap next year.

BlueAlpha founder Sanjay Chandra said the building’s newer construction, vintage character and strong frontage on North Main Street made the deal appealing.

The sale marks the property’s first local ownership since it was built in 2006, CHC’s Rory Maguire said. His firm owns the Vinnedge Building a block away, which is about 95 percent leased, and he’s aiming for a similar outcome at the Mercado.

Maguire said demand for Northside office space is surging, drawing global tenants and luring companies out of downtown.

The North Main corridor is also getting attention through Main Street America, a $650,000 pilot program backed by the Fort Worth Local Development Corporation aimed at revitalizing underserved areas.

Local developers are plotting new uses for empty buildings nearby, while the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Urban Land Institute have been studying tools to curb displacement in the predominantly Hispanic Historic Northside.

BlueAlpha and CHC say they’re working with the Hispanic Chamber as they lease the building, framing the project as an effort to elevate the corridor without pushing out legacy businesses. The Northside sees an estimated 300,000 visitors annually and has a 3.7 percent retail vacancy rate, but no meaningful construction in more than a decade.

— Eric Weilbacher