A lakeside promenade could one day be filled with people as they visit shops and restaurants near the Trinity Lakes train station in northeast Fort Worth.
That’s the transit-related development goal for a proposed master-planned retail and residential community that would occupy about 1,600 acres just east of the crossroads of Interstate 820 and State Highway 121.
The train station, which opened in April off Trinity Boulevard just west of recently built housing subdivisions, could help prompt development in the city’s spur that connects with Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
North Texas officials are seeking a Federal Transit Authority pilot grant to help create a strategic plan for transit-oriented developments along the Trinity Railway Express route in three cities: Fort Worth, Irving and Dallas.
Elected and appointed officials with the Regional Transportation Council, an independent policy group of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, voted unanimously July 11 to request $800,000 in federal funding for the plan. The group also approved $200,000 in transportation council funds to be used for a non-federal grant match if the project is selected for the award.
The grant would be used for development plans around seven TRE stations in Tarrant and Dallas counties. The Trinity Lakes, Bell and CentrePort/DFW stations in Fort Worth are included as well as facilities in West Irving, Downtown Irving/Heritage Crossing, Medical/Market Station Center and the Victory area near downtown Dallas.
TRE stations in downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas would not be included in the plan.
Transit-oriented developments, including new housing, have popped up near Dallas Area Rapid Transit stations, including the White Rock Lake and Lake Highlands stops in East Dallas, within the last 12 to 15 years.
In Fort Worth, the Trinity Lakes development seeks to be “the premier location for East Fort Worth residents to live, work and play,” according to developer promotional materials. At least 1,400 single-family homes within the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District have been built nearby.
The Trinity Lakes project will include 200 acres devoted to high-density mixed use featuring an urban waterfront “that will serve patrons with an outdoor dining and entertainment experience unmatched in the Metroplex,” according to promotional materials by Atlanta-based Integral Group, the project’s developer.
One of the first developments planned is Serenity at Trinity Lakes, which will consist of four apartment buildings, a pool and cabana, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
“The project includes the reinvention of Trinity Boulevard into an urban boulevard, creating a true walkable urban context for the future TOD station on the existing Trinity Railway Express that connects Fort Worth with Dallas,” Integral Group said.
The developer also plans to create a tax increment financing district that would take the area’s tax revenue and invest it in enhancements to infrastructure and connections between existing citywide trail systems, according to Integral.
Ken Newell, president of the Newell Company and a former Trinity Metro board member, has said the Trinity Lakes site was on the tax rolls for less than $5 million in 1999. Twenty-five years later, those 1,600 acres are now worth more than $400 million.
“We’re going to well over a billion-dollar project,” Newell previously told the Fort Worth Report. “It’ll just continue where you build a quality project, and that’s what we’re really trying to do. It just creates lasting value and value builds on.”
Trinity Metro’s first transit-oriented development was the $114 million Grapevine Main Station, which serves the TEXRail line. The public-private sector project includes a food hall, entertainment and event venue, outdoor plaza and 150-foot-tall observation tower.
The city of Grapevine reported about a 25% citywide increase in sales tax revenue since 2020 as a result of the TEXRail station, the Fort Worth Report previously reported.
Transit agencies often work with developers and city officials on transit-related developments.
Anna Kurian, vice president of public relations for DART, said the agency gauges developer interest for transit-oriented developments. The agency, she said, “identifies its real estate assets that are underutilized and offer immediate potential for a transformation from void to fantastic space.”
“Typically, that presents as the conversion of empty DART parking spaces into housing, office space, retail or some mixture,” Kurian said. “As DART considers any transit-oriented development project, we want to ensure that there is strong developer, city and community interest in the effort. We look to ensure that the development is within walking distance to a DART transit facility, and preferably, already has the appropriate zoning in place.”
A market analysis may be completed to confirm a developer’s concept and vision.
“That support may be evaluated through market studies, discussions with developers and city staff members, public meetings and other community engagement efforts,” Kurian said, adding that if a transit-oriented development has adequate support, the concept is presented to the DART board of directors to determine whether a project should be advanced.
Transit-oriented development would ideally create a walkable, attractive work-play-live environment that induces transit use, beautifies the area, provides convenient amenities, fosters economic activity and generates revenue to support transit operations.
Several concepts for transit-oriented development in Irving have been discussed for the downtown Irving Heritage Crossing station, but none of the ideas has moved forward in the planning process, Kurian said.
The planning grant opportunity comes months after Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker announced the creation of the Mayor’s Urban Rail Committee Supporting Economic Development & Tourism on May 2 to examine bringing a fixed rail system to the city’s entertainment districts as well as financial support for the system’s operation.
“It is about tourism and economic development. Absolutely,” Parker said in May. “But I think there’s a huge element to also meeting the needs of the population that lives here, that enjoys those entertainment districts.”
Trinity Metro and DART said they will work with the council of governments to pursue the federal grant for transit development planning around TRE stations.
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@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.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.