117 replies to this topic

[Crestline]

If practicality were all that mattered, I-30 would be running through where the T&P Building and Warehouse and the post office sit now. 

 

I don't think practicality is all that matters!

 

With regard to I-30, I think you're comparing the completed relocation of I-30 to the south away from Lancaster Avenue, with the current condition of Butler Place. Well, as far as I know, the closest potential Butler Place fixes comparable to the completed I-30 relocation are to 1) substantially deck-over 280/287 to give Butler Place a meaningful connection to the river, or 2) somehow rebuild Luella through the train tracks to give Butler Place a meaningful connection to downtown. Maybe if both of these were implemented Butler Place could have potential as a nice place to live and work, but I'm not aware that either fix is anywhere near being put up on the drawing board. Are they both just fantasies right now? Like, ten or twenty years away at best?

[JBB]

I didn't mean to suggest that you think practicality is all that matters.  My point was that, without people with vision, the I-30 overhead would be going through the land occupied by those buildings and it probably would have happened a decade earlier than the eventual reconstruction.  Waiting 10-20 years to develop valuable land like Butler Place seems more reasonable than flattening it and throwing up tilt wall warehouses.

[Crestline]

That's a fair point -- I'm just feeling impatient, and don't want to wait that long to see the issue resolved. 

[JBB]

I feel like there's momentum to make something happen sooner.  At least with the school running there, the site isn't completely abandoned.

 

And while I can't argue with you on there being little hope for pedestrian access to downtown, the vehicle access is there.  Middle of Butler to Central Station is around 1.5 miles using Lancaster or 3/4 of a mile if Luella was extended to 12th and Jones.  At 30 mph and stopping at red lights, that's still maybe a 5 minute trip on Lancaster.

[Austin55]

An interesting item in next week's council agenda,

 

Approve Allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the Amount of $100,000.00 for the Central Multimodal Mobility Hub Concept Development Planning and Design and Adopt Appropriation Ordinance

The Central Multimodal Mobility Hub Concept Development Planning and Design is part of the Butler Place Access Development Planning project and will develop a fully-scoped and risk-assessed conceptual design and detailed cost for a potential Central Mobility Hub Concept featuring a ride-share waiting area, bike parking, bike share, other micromobility with underground direct connections via mezzanine to Central Station, Amtrak, High-Speed Rail, Texas A&M, Convention Center, and 3,700 (potentially automated) parking spaces. It should connect to Central Station which includes access to local and regional transit network. The project is being developed with and meant to support the Convention Center expansion, Texas A&M, Trinity Metro and future private and public development. The scoped project and estimate will be submitted to North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for funding consideration in July 2023.

 

https://fortworthgov...26-39BBE378C776

[Jeriat]

An interesting item in next week's council agenda,

 

Approve Allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the Amount of $100,000.00 for the Central Multimodal Mobility Hub Concept Development Planning and Design and Adopt Appropriation Ordinance

The Central Multimodal Mobility Hub Concept Development Planning and Design is part of the Butler Place Access Development Planning project and will develop a fully-scoped and risk-assessed conceptual design and detailed cost for a potential Central Mobility Hub Concept featuring a ride-share waiting area, bike parking, bike share, other micromobility with underground direct connections via mezzanine to Central Station, Amtrak, High-Speed Rail, Texas A&M, Convention Center, and 3,700 (potentially automated) parking spaces. It should connect to Central Station which includes access to local and regional transit network. The project is being developed with and meant to support the Convention Center expansion, Texas A&M, Trinity Metro and future private and public development. The scoped project and estimate will be submitted to North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for funding consideration in July 2023.

 

https://fortworthgov...26-39BBE378C776

Interesting . . . 

[txbornviking]

An interesting item in next week's council agenda,

 

Approve Allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the Amount of $100,000.00 for the Central Multimodal Mobility Hub Concept Development Planning and Design and Adopt Appropriation Ordinance

The Central Multimodal Mobility Hub Concept Development Planning and Design is part of the Butler Place Access Development Planning project and will develop a fully-scoped and risk-assessed conceptual design and detailed cost for a potential Central Mobility Hub Concept featuring a ride-share waiting area, bike parking, bike share, other micromobility with underground direct connections via mezzanine to Central Station, Amtrak, High-Speed Rail, Texas A&M, Convention Center, and 3,700 (potentially automated) parking spaces. It should connect to Central Station which includes access to local and regional transit network. The project is being developed with and meant to support the Convention Center expansion, Texas A&M, Trinity Metro and future private and public development. The scoped project and estimate will be submitted to North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for funding consideration in July 2023.

 

https://fortworthgov...26-39BBE378C776

 

 

a 1/2mile underground connection from the former Butler site to the Fort Worth Central Station? and an additional 500-700' to connect to the Convention Center?

This seems unlikely to move forward for a lot of reasons.

Additionally, that area already suffers from poor grid connectivity to the rest of downtown, arterial roads, or the interstates. Trying to use it as a mobility hub seems.... difficult to execute.

[RD Milhollin]

If that is even being discussed with a straight face there should be included in the package a fully staffed "multi-modal" police station that could provide services to transit customers, conference and convention attendees, students and staff of local educational institutions, and patrons of local businesses. Police services should include security checkpoints (at minimum metal detectors), bicycle and pedestrian patrols, temporary confinement facilities, space for a transportation information desk, an interface for individuals with medical conditions including mental disability, and capacity for terrorist response, considering the large number of people who could be attending events or just transiting the facilities at any time of the day. The physical planning should include allowance for increased inter-city and inter-regional rail transportation and future high-speed rail. Decisions about a connection across the track area should consider whether future train facilities will need to be elevated or dug in to pass through the complex existing roadway and track infrastructure in place, especially to the immediate south. (see other FWF threads on Tower 55...)

 

This might be a good time to introduce leaders and the public to the eventual need for planners to get together with governmental officials at all levels and the owners of the several railroads passing through the area to start the process of consolidating all the spiders-web of train tracks into a safe modern, urban-friendly and streamlined system to move traffic efficiently through the area and to completely separate passenger tracks from freight.

[Eastsider817]

How about a statue of Texas First black millionaire and bank owner William Madison McDonald. Jazz great Ornetta Coleman, community actvist Viola Pitts, and Coach Robert Hughes would also be deserving of a statue. Just a thought.

[RD Milhollin]

Ornette Coleman's statue should be prominent in front of the city's premier fine arts concert hall. Wherever that may be. Maybe facing a similarly scaled statue of Van Cliburn...

[John T Roberts]

These nominations are good.  It will legally protect the selected apartment buildings from demolition when new development arrives.  The former school building will also be protected, but should have been locally designated years ago.

[Urbndwlr]

Are all of the former residential buildings designated historic?  If so, it looks like virtually the entire site would be considered off limits for redevelopment.  It would only leave small bits for filling in between the existing buildings. 

[John T Roberts]

All of the former residential buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, but that doesn't legally protect them from demolition.  Designating the three buildings on Stevenson Street and the former school/administration building on E. 13th St. guarantees that these buildings will remain standing when redevelopment comes.  With these structures designated at the local level, then the remainder of the buildings listed on the National Register can be demolished because mitigation was achieved.

[Austin55]

The Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth's Panther Den design competition was focused on Butler this year. You can see the winning entry here: https://www.recounci...etition-winners

[Doohickie]

The Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth's Panther Den design competition was focused on Butler this year. You can see the winning entry here: https://www.recounci...etition-winners

I dunno, maybe I'm getting cynical but when I looked at the winner, by the time I got to the Food Truck + Dog Park, I was hearing these guys in my head: 

[Doohickie]

 

The Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth's Panther Den design competition was focused on Butler this year. You can see the winning entry here: https://www.recounci...etition-winners

My only question is, did the teams take into account or have any sensitivity to the nature of historic designations and the requirements of redeveloping a site with those unique requirements?

(Im looking on my phone and really only see a pixelated site plan and a ton of photos of the event.)

 

It includes "Adaptive Reuse of Former Carver-Hamilton Elementary into Art Collective"

[John T Roberts]

From what I can remember, the former housing units will be preserved and restored as some sort of housing unit, or museum piece to show what the projects were like when they were built.

[Austin55]

New website on an initiative for mobility and access for the Butler area:https://www.accessbutlerplaceplan.com/

 

The Access Butler Place Plan aims to reconnect, strengthen, and build community throughout Fort Worth’s Central Area, which encompasses Downtown Fort Worth, Butler Place, and United Riverside.