Meanwhile, on the office side, Jones Lang LaSalle's Todd Burnette pointed to a vacancy of close to 16%, with concessions up and effective rents down by 20%. Still, he pointed out, the good news for Fort Worth and Tarrant County was that with the financial crisis averted, equity markets would likely improve, though it's still too early to celebrate good fortune. But most Fort Worth landlords were likely to remain stable, he noted.

According to Transwestern's year-end report, Dallas showed 238 million square feet of office space with a vacancy of 18.7%, compared to metro Fort Worth's 46.4 million square feet inventory and 12.5% vacancy. The total industrial space in Dallas is 455 million square feet with vacancy standing at 12%, while Fort Worth's 245 million square feet had a vacancy of 10.8%.

Furthermore, Harris says, the likelihood of any kind of construction in the near term is slim to none, except for institutions such as hospitals, schools or government buildings. "I wouldn't want to build an office building today, when the one across the street might be owned by Bank of America or Citicorp, and might be put on the market at a lower rate," he explains.

This hasn't stopped corporations from other parts of the nation from considering Fort Worth as a place in which to do business. Loughry says. The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce is working with several interested companies, and while the industrial sector has the space to accommodate such moves, office space is a little tight, though there is some available.

"The main thing now about the area, is those corporations are as willing to look at Alliance, north of Fort Worth as they are anywhere else in Dallas," he adds.