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#1 RD Milhollin

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Posted 09 January 2006 - 10:22 PM

A Riverside neighborhood newsletter reports that the Six Points area (Belknap, Riverside Dr., and Race Street intersection) has been designated by the city of Fort Worth as an "Urban Village." The city has designated $70,000 in planning funds, up to $900,000 in funds for capital improvements, and the McAdams building will receive $400,000 for capital improvement projects. Jyl DeHaven, project manager for the McAdams Building, wrote that particular proposal. I am not quite sure who will administer the funds and exactly how they are earmarked. I think the first thing I would do is buy the small triangular lot across Belknap from the McAdams Building and turn it into a public plaza/park. I suppose there needs to be some sort of incentive to get investors to put in medium to high density housing nearby so the businesses facing Belknap and Race will be able to conduct retail activity.

I know this topic is similar to the existing McAdams thread but the potential for redevelopment from this move may effect a broader area. The city of Fort Worth has information on the Urban Village program at
Urban Villages

#2 John T Roberts

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Posted 09 January 2006 - 10:34 PM

Pup, the news sounds encouraging.

#3 ghughes

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Posted 10 January 2006 - 09:35 PM

That's a perfect spot for a real village. And it's got some nice buildings there and on Race. Good two-dimensional footprint will encourage growth and possible foot traffic.

#4 nativetexan

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Posted 29 March 2007 - 04:48 AM

QUOTE(Prairie Pup @ Jan 9 2006, 10:22 PM) View Post

A Riverside neighborhood newsletter reports that the Six Points area (Belknap, Riverside Dr., and Race Street intersection) has been designated by the city of Fort Worth as an "Urban Village." The city has designated $70,000 in planning funds, up to $900,000 in funds for capital improvements, and the McAdams building will receive $400,000 for capital improvement projects. Jyl DeHaven, project manager for the McAdams Building, wrote that particular proposal. I am not quite sure who will administer the funds and exactly how they are earmarked. I think the first thing I would do is buy the small triangular lot across Belknap from the McAdams Building and turn it into a public plaza/park. I suppose there needs to be some sort of incentive to get investors to put in medium to high density housing nearby so the businesses facing Belknap and Race will be able to conduct retail activity.


Any idea where the money will go and how much is left?

#5 Holden

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Posted 13 June 2007 - 07:34 AM

Just happened to notice on the Planning and Development portal of the City of Fort Worth website a few meetings have been scheduled regarding Six Points and the other Urban Village Developements. Looks like they've grouped all 12 villages into three "clusters."

If I'm able to attend the meeting tomorrow night, I'll post more info. If anyone else has a chance to make these meetings, please post what is occuring!


Six Points and Central Cluster meetings:

http://www.fortworth...t.aspx?id=42274

Letter:

http://www.fortworth...Main_Signed.pdf


Clusters:

http://www.fortworth...t.aspx?id=34516



#6 Holden

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Posted 26 September 2007 - 10:09 AM

Last round of public meetings for the Urban Village Development Program:

http://www.fortworth...t.aspx?id=46952

City Council update on Urban Village Developements:

http://www.fortworth.....web ready.pdf

#7 Holden

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Posted 02 October 2007 - 10:18 AM

I was able to make the last public forum on the Six Points Urban Village development last Thursday. Had to cut out during the public input part of the forum, so don't have a complete picture of what all was discussed. Here are just a few brief thoughts, suggestions, and "wishful thinkings" regarding the forum:

The presentation by AECOM/TCB, while slick with colorful slides, was well thought out, informative, and covered most all concerns the area faces as changes could/will occur.

Much of the input by the public focused on the signature entrance to the area: the Six Points of Belknap, Race, and Riverside. Using funds to add a more viable pedestrian crossing at all points of the intersection and possibly having the utilities put underground, removing the eyesore of the lines and poles in the area. This would involve a long term plan working with the utility, phone, cable, etc companys. Someone suggested looking at how other cities are going to more eco-friendly poles to replace old wooden ones.

Also, another suggestion from a member of the public, in which I agree with, was at the corner of Belknap and Race: to have a mixed-use building at this corner over the park suggested in the presentation. This is the corner where the current invisible "Dog House" hot dog stand and tire shop are located. If you're going to have a signature area, why not have a 2-4 story mixed use res/comm building at that corner and place the park behind it?

A lot of talk about making Race St more ped friendly, but not one mention of bike racks. If only I could have stayed longer to ask! mellow.gif

Really like the idea of having a plaza on the southside of Race. Now the question is: convexed or concaved? newlaugh.gif

If you're going to have a connections between two small parks on the east and west sides on the south of Race St., why not also have a connection to Riverside park? Maybe even a pedestrian bridge like the one proposed for Trinity park for students/employees to commute by bike to TCC/TRV/Sundance/SoDo/So7/FWSouth/CD/MP/?/?/?/?/.

How cool would a trolly be running from the TCC campus, north along Samuels Ave, east on Northside/Yucca, south on Riverside and back west on Belknap? "Daydreaming days in a daydream nation" smile.gif

All in all a good experience and really enjoyed the exchange of ideas. Hope to see how things come to fruition in the coming years. There was a much better turnout than I had anticipated, around 40-50 there when I made my early exit.

BTW, whoever was driving the black caddy and arrived late and was forced to park in a non-parking space behind my pickup, be thankful of my mad driving skills: it took me no less than ten turns of the wheel back and forth to keep from dinging your ride to get out!

Link to old presentation (invisible hot dog stand on p. 14!) and hopefully they will have this last meeting's presentation posted soon:

http://www.fortworth...t.aspx?id=42274

#8 Holden

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Posted 03 October 2007 - 09:41 AM

http://www.wfaa.com/....11cab48c3.html

Video:

http://www.wfaa.com/...id=179256&shu=1

QUOTE
16 'urban villages' spring up in FW

08:54 PM CDT on Friday, September 28, 2007

Little pockets of development have been springing up across Fort Worth for more than a year.

The city calls them 'urban villages.'

There are 16 different urban villages across the Cowtown.

Millions of dollars are being poured into all of these areas, to try to eliminate blight from the city.

The city broke ground on Museum Place last week.

They say this will be the biggest and best example of an urban village.

It's an aggressive move to bring people out of the suburbs back to the city; ease traffic, and overall improve the quality of life.

In an old convent converted to artist lofts - Rachealla Parks-Washington loves living in the Victory Arts Center.

"I just really notice life in this area now," she says.

The native Fort Worth resident grew up just a few miles away. She says the Berry-Hemphill area is a ghost town coming back to life but she is concerned about other blighted areas of the city.

"I'm grateful for the development, but I just want it to include everybody," said Parks.

The city plans to. It has created 16 urban villages - old commercial centers that have lost their vitality, but are now designated for mixed-used development where residence, retail, and recreation all come together.

"The great cities of the world were not built for cars, they were built for people. And we want to rebuild Fort Worth for people," said Fernando Costa, Fort Worth Planning director.

The mixed-income housing is also an important part of changing the face of the city.

"The old model was, which has not worked well, is to concentrate poor folks, in public housing, out of the mainstream of the community," said Costa.

The Berry-University Urban village is already buzzing.

"West Berry you notice the new light poles, the new benches... everything is just so beautiful," said Parks.

The city is rolling out the different urban villages in phases - the work has started on five of them so far.

Construction and improvements will commence on five other urban villages after the city council approval those master plans in October.


#9 Holden

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Posted 28 October 2007 - 12:00 PM

http://www.fwbusines...lay.php?id=6630

QUOTE
Developers work to revitalize north Fort Worth area

BY JOHN-LAURENT TRONCHE
October 29, 2007

A long-forgotten area of Fort Worth is beginning to look a lot like Austin’s South Congress Avenue, Miami’s Ocean Drive and maybe even Cowtown’s West Seventh Street of 10 years ago all rolled into one street.

The Six Points/Race Street area, located about two miles from downtown just east of Interstate 35, benefits from a handful of investors working to revitalize an area that was once a bustling neighborhood but had since fallen into disrepair.

“I think this is one of the invisible jewels of this town,” said Jyl DeHaven, principal of Green Urban Development, one of several companies that owns property along Race Street. “For the longest time, historically, I think the city honestly believed that the city limits of Fort Worth ended with Interstate 35.”

The triangle-shaped area, created by the intersections of Sylvania Avenue and Race and East Belknap streets, is the site of a massive undertaking: dozens of new businesses, the rehabilitation of existing buildings and construction of new, multi-story and mixed-use office buildings.

Within the past year alone, three restaurants, an art gallery, a barber shop and several more business have opened in the area. Justin McWilliams, president of Race Street Properties, said all the action in the past few years likely will double in the 52 weeks to come as he works to entice more businesses, including a gelato shop, gym, bakery and vintage clothes store.

Paul Willis, the brain behind both restaurant success (Fuzzy’s Taco Shop) and failure (Pedro’s Trailer Park) in Fort Worth, is working alongside McWilliams to create two restaurant concepts: Havana Social Club and Buffalo Gap Steakhouse. The former is a Latin tapas and tequila bar built within a post office-cum-defunct biker bar; across the street sits a vacant green building and lot that will house Willis’ steakhouse.

An existing apartment complex will be reconfigured into The Grove, a 92-room boutique-hotel modeled after Hotel San José, an Austin motor court turned chic, bungalow-style hang-out. The area’s first nighttime-entertainment venue, Dino’s Sports Bar and Grill, will open in the next three weeks, McWilliams said, providing one more reason for residents to explore Six Points.

On the opposite side of the south side of the street, DeHaven and company expect to begin construction within 90 days on a 4.5 acre-site that will include about 150,000 square feet of buildings old and new – all incorporating sustainable design, or “green,” concepts – for office and retail. Lofts will be available in about a month for pre-sale at a cost of less than $100,000 and the entire project should be completed in two years.

“It’s amazing how much more traffic goes up and down this street than a year ago,” DeHaven said. “I’ve seen a lot more people over here kicking tires. You can almost spot developers.”

Much of the area’s character can be attributed to an aversion of larger, national chains, said Trent Gilley, a broker with Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services.

“People have had so much big-box retail, they’re tired of eating at Chili’s,” said Gilley, who is marketing the area to potential tenants. “Just give them something unique … we don’t want Starbucks, we want Eurotazza.”

Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, the first restaurant to take the bite in the area when it opened in January, is doing well, though not extremely well, said owner Chuck Bush, but added business is “definitely progressing and growing by the day.”

Although the re-emergence of Six Points seems quick to the naked eye, McWilliams stressed the time it has taken for everything to come together.

“People don’t realize it takes almost six months to a year by the time you get through the design phase, all the way through the city to get permits, to get everything else when you’re starting from scratch,” McWilliams said.

The area’s gradual transformation was sparked in large part by McWilliams, who purchased 50,000 square feet of vacant space from medical-technology company Medtronic in 2000.

“I’d like to tell everybody I had a great vision,” McWilliams said with a laugh, “but it was cheap.”

District 2 City Council Member Sal Espino, who moved his office to Race Street two years ago, has overseen the area’s transformation from a nearly vacant industrial area to a burgeoning urban village and believes others will follow suit.

“I think the rest of Fort Worth is finding out about the area,” Espino said. “A lot of times people weren’t looking at it as an investment opportunity.”

The Six Points area was recently designated one of the city’s 16 “urban villages,” Espino said, qualifying it for city-allocated, state funds for infrastructure improvements and beautification, part of the Fort Worth’s ongoing plan to re-invest in down-on-their-luck neighborhoods.

Contact Tronche at jtronche@bizpress.net


#10 mosteijn

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Posted 28 October 2007 - 09:38 PM

Cool article! Once light rail comes to riverside, I bet that place is going to take off.

#11 Holden

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Posted 11 November 2007 - 07:53 PM

Public hearing for Central Cluster of Urban Villages (South Main, Six Points and Mercado) set for November 16 at 1:30 pm at City Plan Commission.

Updated presentations, meeting minutes, draft summaries, comments, and info on anticipated city council vote all can be found here:

http://www.fortworth...t.aspx?id=42274


#12 Holden

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Posted 28 November 2007 - 11:29 AM

This reminder arrived in my inbox yesterday:


Six Points Urban Village Stakeholders,

The Fort Worth City Council will hold a public hearing including the adoption of the twelve urban village master plans at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 4. You are invited to attend the public hearing.

Information on the previous public meetings and the DRAFT master plan is located at the following website:

http://www.fortworth...t.aspx?id=42274



Six Points Draft Master plan:

http://www.fortworth...an_11-09-07.pdf


#13 Holden

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Posted 23 October 2008 - 09:45 AM

There's a building starting to take shape behind the open lot east of Fuzzy's. It appears to have rounded corners from what I saw driving by yesterday.

There's also a new all rock structure going up on the east side of Sylvania, a block or two north of Race St.

Any info out there on these buildings?



#14 Holden

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Posted 11 November 2008 - 10:24 AM

Snapped these pics of the new building this morning. Looks quite soggy after the deluge we had last night:







There's also work going on in the building that once housed Liners. Would like to know what's going in there--I've always dug that building. Whatever it is I hope they do the old place right!

Also wouldn't mind seeing a bulldozer knock down the apartment complex that's currently boarded up in the middle of Race St. devil.gif

#15 Holden

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Posted 08 May 2009 - 03:35 PM

Former Fairmount owners head to Riverside:

http://www.dfw.com/1...ory/127183.html

Thursday, May. 07, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: What's next for The Fairmount's co-owners
Preston Jones

Former Fairmount co-owners Sally Birthisel and J.R. Whitfield held a meeting this afternoon with the owners of their next venture. I can now exclusively reveal what that will be: The Riverside Foundation Room on Race Street, an area undergoing extensive, sustainable revitalization on Fort Worth's near east side.

According to Birthisel, The Riverside Foundation Room will be "a full bar, music [and] pool room venue that can host 600 patrons." She says it's on target to open in mid-July and will share outdoor space with an independent hamburger restaurant and an independent pizza restaurant, which Birthisel says are going into existing homes that are being converted into restaurants. These establishments will also feature live music visible/audible from the Belknap side of the block.

No opening act has yet been booked for The Riverside Foundation Room's opening weekend, since the venue is still waiting on its liquor license, but Birthisel says she'll pass that info along as soon as she has it.

"Race Street is undergoing great revitalization -- much like the Magnolia area," writes Birthisel. "I love being a part of something new and good for live music in Ft Worth ... makes my heart happy!"

I'll have more on this developing story in Saturday's Live! section, my Lone Star Sounds column next Friday (May 15) and DFW.com Ink Edition next Thursday (May 14).


#16 tjh1

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Posted 04 January 2010 - 02:08 PM

Interesting article from the FW Business Press...
http://fwbusinesspre...ay.php?id=11675

Rehab center, apartments, event hall to come to Race Street
BY ALESHIA HOWE
January 04, 2010
Development continues along Fort Worth’s Race Street corridor as one of the area’s key developers is set to close on a multifamily development, a hospital project and an event hall along the east Fort Worth street.

Justin McWilliams, president of Race Street Properties LP, said he is near completion of a deal that would see the former La Fonda Apartments renovated into a new, three-story apartment complex featuring 45-60 new units. McWilliams said some demolition for the project has begun and construction is set to begin in early 2010.

At 3000 Race St., McWilliams is set to open Riverside Foundation Room, a 14,000-square-foot event hall to host community events – something that is “needed in the area,” he said.

The third development along Race Street includes a 20-bed inpatient chemical rehabilitation center next door to the existing Fuzzy’s Taco Shop at 2719 Race St. McWilliams said the rehabilitation center will be a $15,000 per month private pay hospital fully staffed and offering a 30-day rehab program for chemical dependency.

“It’s one of the largest problems facing Americans today and there is no rehab center in Fort Worth,” he said. “But this will be a high-end alternative.”

McWilliams purchased 50,000 square feet of vacant space along Race Street in 2000 from medical-technology company Medtronic. Race Street Properties now has a total of 120,000 square feet in the Six Points area and has invested several million dollars into the project.

#17 Holden

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Posted 07 January 2010 - 10:51 AM

Plenty of demo'ing between Belknap and Race in the last two weeks.

#18 FortWorthLowrider

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Posted 07 January 2010 - 08:09 PM

wonder whats going on.
ROCK ISLAND
Fort Worth Texas

 

#19 RD Milhollin

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Posted 15 April 2015 - 10:05 AM

"Ripe for Development"

 

The Riverside/Six Points Urban Village has been chosen by city staff to receive federal and private investment, and potentially city funds, for infrastructure improvements:

 

http://www.star-tele...le18529700.html

 

"Mass-transit friendly" as part of the urban village designation is mentioned in the article, but no elaboration. 



#20 Doohickie

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Posted 15 April 2015 - 01:13 PM

It's now branded the Riverside Arts District.  Starting to gain momentum.  The investment will certainly help.


My blog: Doohickie

#21 Volare

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Posted 15 April 2015 - 08:50 PM

A design charette was held a few weeks ago. This is the final presentation for what was discussed:

 



#22 Austin55

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Posted 28 September 2015 - 09:23 AM

FWBP highlights a unique new business on Race street, a mixed tattoo shop and record store. Ann Zedah provided some nice comments as well. 

 

http://www.fortworth...1989865737.html






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