"We see it on the news, but it's not outside our window," says Johnny Campbell, president and CEO of Sundance Square and guardian of 39 CBD blocks controlled by the Bass family. "We're not foolish enough to say we shouldn't be concerned. We acknowledge the world around us and we acknowledge we're not without impact. But, it's definitely buffered."

Not even crude oil's now-falling price per barrel is expected to darken the city's economic health despite deep-running ties to oil and gas, both in its backyard and family office portfolios. Keeping monthly tabs on the city's economic fundamentals, Downtown Fort Worth Inc.'s latest dashboard report shows strongly the city is bucking the US trend.

Office occupancy is 95%, up 2.2% in the past month in an estimated 46-million-sf inventory. Class A and class B rents rose 2.8% and 16.5% in the past year, with the latest reading putting the rates at $30.07 per sf and $21.30 per sf, respectively. In the 30-day change, class A rents dipped 12 cents per sf and class B rose $2 per sf.