FORT WORTH-A Dallas-based developer plans to demolish the landmark Green Oaks Hotel in west Fort Worth and replace it with a three-story office building. Wilcox Capital Partners, a division of Cawley Wilcox Cos., the development company that bought the 284-room hotel out of bankruptcy five years ago, is also considering building a replacement hotel on part of the site.

The Tudor-style hotel, which has hosted a long list of celebrities since it opened as the Green Oaks Inn in 1965, will face the wrecking ball in December, In January, Cawley Wilcox will begin work on a 185,000-sf speculative office building on seven of the property's 12 acres. Completion is anticipated for late 2008 or early 09.

Cawley Wilcox bought the property from LaSalle Bank in 2002. The Chicago-based bank had foreclosed on the previous owner, Calstar of Laguna Niguel, CA, in 2000 for defaulting on its $5.6-million loan after two years of ownership. At the time LaSalle took over, the facility had a dismal 28% occupancy rate despite being the only full-service hotel on the city's west side. Currently managed by Dallas-based Hospitality Management Corp., the hotel reportedly has raised occupancy to about 70%, even though other full-service hotels have subsequently opened in the submarket.