The stage is set for the next phase of development in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
During a June 25 meeting, Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved a plan that will continue development in the area with roots deep in the history of the city and western culture. The plan calls for the addition of 300,000 square feet of commercial space, 500 hotel rooms and nearly 300 apartments. Stockyards Heritage Development LLC, the company in charge of the project, also envisions improvements to Cowtown Coliseum, Fort Worth Herd facilities and the construction of two underground garages.
Stockyards Heritage, the joint venture between Majestic Realty Co. and Hickman Companies, along with development partner M2G Ventures are the businesses developing Phase 2.
“Heritage and the Hickman family have committed, and they continue to recommit, to historic preservation because that’s what makes the core of the Stockyards,” said council member Carlos Flores, who represents the area where the Stockyards National Historic District is located.
There were no speakers in opposition to the plan. Speakers in favor of the project included former Mayors Mike Moncrief and Betsy Price, celebrity chef Tim Love, Billy Bob’s Texas leader Pam Minick and Ethan Wayne, the son of Hollywood legend John Wayne.
“Ten years ago, I stood before the City Council and I made a promise that the Hickman family and the Majestic developers would do a project that would make this city proud,” Minick said.
There were some skeptics, Minick said.
“Some of the business owners were afraid that their business would be affected and I can say they were right,” she said. “Business has never been better, not only in the Stockyards, but throughout our city.”
To help manage the development of the area, the city and community leaders established a nonprofit, Fort Worth Stockyards Inc., in March to take the reins much like similar organizations downtown and on the Near Southside have done.
Love, who has several businesses in the Stockyards and recently celebrated 24 years of doing business there, said he plans to expand along with the new development.
“Phase 2 is very important to me,” he said. “I employ 600 people in Fort Worth, Texas, and I intend to employ 600 more in Phase 2.”
Price recalled a marathon meeting when the first Stockyards development plans were discussed.
“We started at 7 (p.m.) and adjourned at 1 a.m., a marathon meeting because many in this community were not sure that they wanted the Stockyard touched,” she said. “People were really worried, but we knew it was the right thing, because we could not let the Stockyards be demolished, and that’s where we were headed.”
Part of the plan calls for two underground parking garages that are three to four times more expensive than surface-level garages, according to Fort Worth’s economic development department. However, they also maximize the value of the site and allow the land at ground level to be used for new projects and development, according to a city report.
Love spoke in favor of the idea of the garages despite their high cost.
“It’s not going to be this eyesore,” he said. “It’s going to be something that fits in this cool, historical district.”
The Stockyards traces its history back to the days of the Chisholm Trail, when cattle came through the city on the way to the packing plants in Chicago and Kansas City. Fort Worth attracted Armour & Co. and Swift & Co., which built plants here.
During World War II, the plants processed more than 5 million head of livestock and employed thousands. By the early 1970s, both plants had closed. In the 1980s, civic leaders, such as businessman Holt Hickman, began work to preserve the area and its history. In 1981, Billy Bob’s Texas opened, billed as “The World’s Largest Honky Tonk,” and tourists began to flock to the area.
Many area residents still remember the importance of the Stockyards to the city’s identity. Price recalled being in the Stockyards as a child when her grandparents sold cattle.
District 5 council member Gyna Bivens also reminisced about how important the Stockyards is to her family.
“I am a child of the packing house, and I can tell you, Fort Worth has always been a land of opportunity,” she said. “(My father) worked a job at the Armour packing house, where a man who moved to Fort Worth with 73 cents in his pocket got employment and could pay cash for his daughter’s education.”
The economic development agreement
This incentive package would contain several major components from the city, subject to the developer’s performance:
- Annual grants of an estimated $71.6 million, based on 40% of incremental city property taxes, per a Chapter 380 economic development agreement.
- The city’s purchase of two underground parking garages as part of this development, at a cost of up to $126.2 million.
- Entering into a 30-year lease with the developer for the garages, with “purchase and put” options in place.
- Reimbursing up to $15 million for Cowtown Coliseum and Fort Worth Herd improvements, which will require the creation of a new Project Financing Zone for that area.
The development would be completed by the end of 2032, according to the presentation made to council. Changes to the tax agreement with Stockyards Heritage will go to the Stockyards tax board in August.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
