By Scott Nishimura snishimura@bizpress.net
Businessman Steve Murrin closed this week on the purchase of 9.3 acres in the Fort Worth Stockyards from the Chesapeake Land Development Co. entity of Chesapeake Energy.
The 600 N.E. 23rd St. property, on the east side of Murrin’s River Ranch Stockyards event venue, crosses Marine Creek on its south end. Murrin’s Steve Murrin, Jr. Grandchildren’s Trust purchased the site.
Murrin, a former Fort Worth City Councilman who confirmed earlier this summer to The Business Press that he had the site under contract, said Wednesday he had no immediate plans for it, other than parking for River Ranch and “maybe put some Longhorns, some horses on it.”
“Like any Texan, all we want is the land next door,” Murrin, who spoke by phone from a mountain 9,000 feet up in Colorado, said.
Chesapeake has been selling property. A Chesapeake entity reportedly is selling its office tower in downtown Fort Worth to Hines, a Houston real estate firm. Chesapeake Land Development has another Stockyards site at 400 E. Exchange Street on top of the hill under contract to be sold.
Terms of the sale of the Northeast 23rd site, which closed Aug. 4, weren’t disclosed. Chesapeake had marketed the property for $2.50 per foot, or about $1 million.
Besides its adjacency to River Ranch, Murrin said the site is attractive because of it crosses Marine Creek and potentially engages with the Trinity River Vision plan.
That “is significant in the long run, if we get the Trinity River Vision complete,” Murrin said.
HGC Commercial represents Chesapeake on both Stockyards sites, with Eric Walsh representing HGC. The buyer’s broker on the Northeast 23rd site is undisclosed.