Long-neglected southeast Fort Worth is on the cusp of seeing more than $500 million in investment and development in the coming years as several projects — both announced and in the pipeline — take shape.
Editor’s note
This is the final in a series of articles examining potential solutions to the redevelopment of the Fort Worth Historic Southside.
- ‘A vision to redevelop Historic Southside started 20 years ago — with few results’
- ‘Fort Worth Historic Southside’s redevelopment has stalled for decades. What’s the solution?’
- ‘Can the historic Brooks Clinic, closed for a decade, be revived by Southside leaders?’
- ‘Historic Southside business owners hope to set example for others to follow’
- ‘Fort Worth’s long-neglected Southside may see $500 million in redevelopment projects’
District 8 council member Chris Nettles remembers how his slice of Fort Worth lacked redevelopment when he took office in 2021.
Nettles knows, for some people, the term redevelopment is linked with the concept of gentrification. But he has different thoughts. Jobs, transportation and affordable housing — those lead to effective redevelopment, too.
District 8 — which oversees 76140, 76119 and 76104 ZIP codes — is well down the road to having new storefronts, mixed-use developments, a health care clinic, a Juneteenth museum and more.
“We want to tell people that with the support of the mayor, with Robert Sturns and our economic development department, we’re open for business,” Nettles said.
It goes beyond just the large projects that have been and will soon be announced, he said.
“We’re also doing it on a small scale, so if an individual who builds comes in, they can buy these lots at market value and build affordable houses here to give back to the community,” he said.
Mixed-use developments
The city is preparing to announce a $155 million, 12-acre mixed-use development project, which will bring storefronts and office buildings to the area, said Stacy Marshall, president and CEO of Southeast Fort Worth Inc.
Although details, including the location, are not being announced yet, Marshall said he is in the process of negotiating with the broker and the landowner. The project is led by a local, minority-owned developer, who already has a conceptual design. The area is already zoned for commercial use.
“This, right here, is going to be the game-changer,” he said.
However, one prized community asset, a grocery store, is not a part of the project yet.
Marshall said he can still see a grocery store being added to the project, but the goal now is to attract more people to the area, creating a denser population that would attract the brands that the community wants.
Residents in southeast Fort Worth have jobs all over the metroplex, said Randle Howard, president and CEO of R.D. Howard Construction. But they have to buy groceries elsewhere before returning home or eat at restaurant selections not available in their neighborhood. Historic Southside, one of the neighborhoods in District 8, lists having a grocery store as one of the priorities for the area.
Enticing grocery stores and restaurants to District 8 requires the city to ensure that people also live in the area, Nettles said.
The overall project is a step in the right direction to boost economic activity, Howard said. The job opportunities and increased foot traffic will create a positive domino effect for the community. His main concern is the city’s ability to ensure the amount of money stays in the community instead of going to other parts of town.
“If this part of Fort Worth continues to grow and starts to catch up with the rest of the city, the whole city is better,” he said.
Health care
These potential developments could make a huge difference to the lives of those in the area. The 76104 ZIP code has the lowest life expectancy in Texas, according to a study by UT Southwestern in 2019.
The city is working with a health care organization to put a clinic in the 76119 ZIP code, Marshall said. Some locations are being discussed, but nothing has been finalized. Once completed, the $25 million clinic will be a free-standing, 50,000-square-foot location of its own with good transit access, he said.
Jobs
Education is the key that drives economic development, Marshall said.
The Southeast Fort Worth Inc. board includes administrators from Texas Wesleyan University and Fort Worth ISD — the goal is to ensure that numbers and grades are improving to make the area more enticing to investors, he said.
The city is looking to add about 700 jobs that average about $60,000 annually for the 76140, 76119 and 76104 ZIP codes, he said.
Fort Worth ISD focuses on preparing the workforce pipeline, said David Saenz, chief of strategic initiatives and partnerships. The district has almost 25,000 students enrolled in career and technical education courses and around 9,000 in advanced academic courses.
These future redevelopment plans in District 8 don’t change what Fort Worth ISD is doing — they rather enhance the district’s work on providing its students with a career close to where they live, Saenz said.
“When there’s development, there’s usually jobs, and we want to take advantage of that,” he said.
Affordable housing
District 8 is one of the most economically deprived areas in the city, Howard said. His business is located in southeast Fort Worth, and he has seen the city develop in other parts much faster.
But that’s not to say there’s no growth, he said. He wants to sell the positives in the area: the vacant lots that will cut down costs of building new homes, the available workforce and the $2.1 billion Southeast Connector project that will improve mobility in southeast Fort Worth, he said.
“I’m not satisfied, and I know that most of the other people whose hearts and souls are in southeast Fort Worth are not satisfied,” Howard said. “But we just have to keep working and keep, I guess, pounding on the door or pressing our case.”
“If this part of Fort Worth continues to grow and starts to catch up with the rest of the city, the whole city is better."Randle Howard, president and CEO of R.D. Howard ConstructionIn June 2022, Dallas-based Palladium USA began construction on a $55.8 million, 240-unit multifamily community at 2350 E. Berry St. The development, Palladium East Berry, is located on 17.2 acres of land between South Riverside Drive and U.S. Highway 287. The three-story apartment community will include a swimming pool, a fitness center, a conference center, a dog park, a computer lounge, a kids’ playroom and a clubroom.
The project was financed with $26.1 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. PNC Bank provided $23 million of equity.
The development will have a portion of apartments set aside at 30% of the area median income. According to the United States Census Bureau, the median household income for the Fort Worth community in 2021 was $67,927.
Other housing coming on line in the area are $70 million in single-family homes from the Housing Channelin Renaissance Heights and $6 million to $8 million in new infill homes throughout District 8. Housing will also be part of the $70 million mixed-use development at Evans and Rosedale Urban Village.
Density and gentrification
Density — that’s been on Marshall’s mind throughout the redevelopment planning process.
The city is targeting people in the health care and educational industries for the $155 million mixed-use redevelopment project, but Marshall said he still prefers to see people currently in a community stay in the community. The city is working to actively recruit and strengthen the workforce to keep people from the community in the project.
“I’m all about keeping people here,” Marshall said.
In a small office on East Rosedale Street, Marshall and Nettles sat about six feet away from each other. But they understood each other’s thought process on redevelopment.
Jobs, transportation and affordable housing — those lead to redevelopment. They want redevelopment, so they will continue to work on those three goals.
Dang Le is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org or via Twitter.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.