Downtown's core is running quickly out of space. When you look at vacant land around the core, there are a few main areas that stick out as underdeveloped. I looked at each of these areas, finding current ownership using TAD,and speculating future land uses for each block.
The first area I looked into is the Jones street corridor, which has 13 1/2 consecutive blocks which are empty. The area is rather squeezed in, having the downtown core to the west and a hard border of rail lines and highways to the east. Much of the corridor has lots of wonderful potential for development, as it lies between the Convention center and central transit hub of the city.
First, here's a map for reference with some of the landowners along the corridor labelled. North is to the left.
A little more in depth starting from Left to right.
Performing Arts Fort Worth own 2 lots here, one is an entire block, the other a quarter block sharing land with the Maddox Muse Center. PAFW also owns Bass Hall and the Maddox Muse Center.
Future Speculation - If Bass Hall or the Maddox Muse center ever needed future additions, this would be the place to do it. It would be interesting to see a 2nd venue on the full block, similar to how Dallas’s Wylie Theater compliments the AT&T Performing Arts Center.
Though I didn’t label it, the half block shared with Mt. Gilead is owned by Fort Worth Metro Partners LLC, who plan a 10 story hotel.
Oncor Electric Delivery Co LLC owns the entire block bounded 6th & 7th. Most of the block is surface parking or garage space, but there is also a small dilapidated structure on the block. Oncor seems to use it as a space to park service trucks, which heavily under utilizes the site.
Future Speculation - No idea, would like to see the block sold and the old building restored. Surely Oncor could find a more practical place to store it’s trucks.
WTW Properties owns two lots, the full empty block bounded 7th and 8th, and the ¾ block which is a surface lot and shares the block with the Winfield Building (which has a different owner). WTW, which I assume stands for W.T. Wagoner, is related to XTO, as WTW also owns several XTO blocks downtown (The Wagoner building block, 714 Main, WT Wagoner Building, Petroleum building block) and is probably one of the larger landowners downtown.
Future speculation - As the XTO garage is finishing up, perhaps these blocks will no longer be needed for parking and could be sold off and developed. However, these lots probably serve the XTO employees working in the Binyon O’Keefe building and the buildings on Grove to the east. The close proximity to the ITC and train station make them prime for hotel or mixed use development.
The Transit Authority owns the full block between 8th & Jones.
Future Speculation - Being a city entity, this should be easy to control how this parcel is developed. An ideal spot for transit oriented development, I believe the site would be perfect for the T to team up with the FW Housing Solutions (or some other development entity) and build a mixed use building similar to what is being planned at the T&P station.
The large lot between 9th and 12th is a mess. It’s 3 blocks long and has a hodgepodge of owners. I didn't try to label it. Here’s a small breakdown
- “LITTAUER TR 24 0502 00 5” owns the northern 1/3rd or so
-Several small chunks are owned by individuals it seems, “MIRIAM RUTH KING TRUST ETAL”, “MOSIER BEVERLY ANN”, “GRACIA VALENTIN MD PA”
-The southern chunk along Calhoun is owned by “CITY PARK A LOT LP”
-Where it gets interesting is the eastern half of the block along Jones from 12th and north for a few hundred feet is owned by the Amon Carter Foundation.
Future Speculation - Any development on this block may be difficult due to the mess of ownership. It’s also a superblock, so ideally the city or developers would allow some sort of pedestrian walkways through the block similar to Cityplace. The Carter Foundation owning a big chunk is interesting. There are around 200 properties in the County to the Carter Foundation's name, but nearly all are mineral reserves. I’m curious if anyone out there knows why the foundation owns any land in this area?
Ownership of the half block of surface parking is split between the BAR association and the owner of the rest of the buildings on the block.
Future Speculation - Probably nothing for a while, the lots serve their purpose just fine for the moment. If the block is ever developed, I’d imagine the existing buildings on the block would be torn down.
Texas Wesleyan owns three whole completely empty blocks to support the law school (now A&M) in addition to a fourth block where the school building itself is.
Future Speculation - There has been some talk recently that A&M planning a campus expansion, which could occur on one of these surface blocks as an addition to the existing building which is designed to handle more floors. Lots of options here.
One final block is sandwiched between two A&M owned lots, between 15th & 16th. It is owned by “ EBNETER INV CORP ETAL”, and I have no idea what that means.
Future Speculation - No clue.
Curious to hear everyone else's input!