A Private Resort in the Heart of Downtown Fort Worth is Residential, Commercial … or Both!

For Lee Rogers and Yvonne Rubenstein, it has always been about downtown Fort Worth. They met in downtown Fort Worth, and blazed the way to true urban living before New Urbanism became a buzz word. 

“When we met, we were both residents of Sundance West,” says Yvonne. “I was a buyer for Pier 1 Imports traveling the world. Lee had his own advertising agency. Fort Worth’s fabulous downtown brought us together.”

Lee is an icon in the North Texas world of advertising. The “reformed lawyer and banker” joined the ad game in 1975, later founding The Rogers Group in 1983. The Rogers Group is a full service advertising agency and PR firm based in Fort Worth. Lee created killer ads and conceptualized sharp media planning and buys throughout the US. He also has some history in Dallas: Lee Rogers worked with the late Wick Allison on the founding of D Magazine.

Together, the talented couple set out to design and create the perfect urban residence in a plumb downtown location: 201 Pecan Street, a short walking distance from Sundance Square to courthouses, Bass Hall, everything downtown Fort Worth has to offer: theater, concerts, art, and movies, not to mention fabulous dining.

“We created our own resort in the heart of Fort Worth,” says Lee. “We love to get out, we walk everywhere, but being at home is truly like living at the Ritz.”

Their abode is a townhome consisting of three stories with 3,663 square feet of residential and commercial space. Though built 24 years ago (2000), 201 Pecan looks as if it emerged from the work-from-home dynamic of the Covid years.

It holds a spacious first-floor office that is entirely commercial space: the perfect office-at-home arrangement — a separate office right outside your front door. And as you see, there is enough space to run a medium-sized company, complete with employees and offices. Lee points out the forethought of this arrangement: they zoned the building commercial to use the commercial space as an income-producing investment property during their retirement years. Lease the office for $1200-1400 per month, it’s enough to cover property taxes on the entire building.

The residence portion includes two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a spacious utility room, an open-concept kitchen, living and dining areas equipped with a wet bar and walls of glass overlooking a rooftop patio with pool that shimmers come sunset. 

The other “not-so-downtown” (but definitely like living at the Ritz) feature is the private patio saltwater pool with an attached spa. There are multiple sitting areas on the patio so you can choose sun or shade, admiring stunning cityscape views from every angle.

As if this is not the most unusual home you have encountered in an urban downtown, Pecan Street has a private, gated three-car garage with storage.

The garage has — are you ready ? — a dumbwaiter up to the kitchen on the second floor.

“This makes it very easy to get larger packages, groceries or even luggage to the second floor,” says Yvonne. “I haven’t carried a parcel up steps since we moved here.”

All the commercial space is ADA compliant, and the offices feature a functional layout any company can adapt: receptionist area, private offices, bathroom, even lunch break kitchenette. Not missing a beat, Lee and Yvonne added additional visitor parking in the front driveway. 

But there is more: the building is composed entirely of steel so you will never have to worry about termites, rot or roof repairs. Even the roof is steel with a 40-year life. The exterior is composed of brick and stucco, and the duplex is gated with lots of security.  

Private rooftop pool, three-car garage, commercial office space, and steel construction: I challenge you to find another urban home like this in the U.S.

And one more unique feature: zero HOA dues. Yes, ZERO.

“The home is great for entertaining,” says Yvonne, “enough room for guests, yet a lot of privacy from our beautiful trees when we just want to take it easy.”

Best of all, the home of these pioneering urbanistas provides the best of “on your feet” walking.

“We go to the Fort Worth Symphony, we were just at Lyle Lovett,” says Lee. “Fort Worth is quickly growing into an even more perfect place to live, especially downtown with the upcoming Texas A&M Law school, the remaking of the Convention Center, and the plethora of beautiful, swank hotels and restaurants popping up.”

John Zimmerman of Compass has listed 201 Pecan Street for $1.399 million. Not a chance Yvonne and Lee are leaving Fort Worth, or even downtown: once an urbanista, always an urbanista.