2047 replies to this topic

[BlueMound]

Great photo MrBrightside

[Austin55]

[beverlyb]

This is really late notice, but I realized that I won't be able to stay for the full meeting so I won't hear Granger's update.. If one or two of you would like to attend as my guest, email me and I will put you on the list. bburks@flash.net

 

I think Mr. Granger will speak around 5:30ish.

 

Tuesday, March 8, 2016 

5:00 PM to 7:30 PM CST

Fort Worth Club- Horizon Room- 12th Floor

306 W. 7th Street

Fort Worth, TX 76102

 

It is that time of year again! The FW DNA Annual Meeting will be held in the Horizon Room (12th floor) at The Fort Worth Club on March 8th. This year, we are excited to welcome Keynote Speaker, JD Granger, Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Authority.  Mr. Granger will be providing an update on the Trinity River Vision project.

[beverlyb]

Article about the history of the Trinity River: http://www.fwtx.com/...r-story/bank-it

[Austin55]

N. Main will be closed and rerouted and bridge construction will begin next month.

[Doohickie]

I rode my bicycle up there last week and noted the divert road was there, just needed the transitions to Main added.

[Austin55]

Bridges delayed another month. Better play it safe.

 

 

www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article67339032.html

[JBB]

Court fight between TAD and Tim Love/TRWD coming soon over property tax on the Woodshed's river front location:

http://www.star-tele...le76320562.html

[pelligrini]

I agree with TAD that the public areas could be exempt, but taxes should be paid on the business portion (be it TRWD the developer or Love).

 

I can't seem to work out a lot of the numbers in that article either. The TRWD spent 2.4M developing the property which I think it included the 1.1M to build the building shell. I wonder if that also includes the original purchase price of the dirt. Further down the article it states that records show $836K from the last four years "recouping its original investment". There's still a big chunk of money remaining on any side of an equal sign.

 

I am still scratching my head as to how a new restaurant building is contributing to 'flood control' too.

[Urbndwlr]

I'm very happy that the Water District, as a steward of the Trinity River, is doing more than just treating it as a drainage ditch, as was the case decades ago when the trees were all mowed down and the river was straightened.

 

They are greatly limited by the Corps of Engineers in terms of what they can do (e.g. it's challenging to plant trees along the river in many places) however they have, mostly through the TRVA, helped the City embrace, engage, and appreciate its river as an important community asset. 

 

Was the Woodshed development a risky move on their part?  Yes, I thought so.  Is it working?  Yes, my my estimate it is a big success.  The "recoup the cost" isn't a typical measure for real estate developers (which is what this is).  Rather, they look at an annual yield on their investment.   For them to get totally paid back on the building in 3-4 years might have been an unrealistic expectation. 

 

Further, it has likely created additional value along the river in other projects by being a demonstration or proof of concept.  I would wager that if it were not for the Woodshed project, Trademark would have had a much harder time enticing restaurants to move in across University facing the River.  So TRVA by doing this, helped attract more restaurants, apartments, and probably hotels, etc to also want to face the Trinity River Trail. 

 

Again, I'm very thankful that Fort  Worth has many citizens, companies, and (quasi-governmental agencies!) that are actively engaged in improving our city's public spaces (like the Trinity River and the Trails within the river's boundaries). 

 

Cheers to the Trinity River and all those who are making it better. 

[JBB]

Bridges delayed another month. Better play it safe.
 
 
www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article67339032.html

Drove through the area today. 3 months and change later and not a bit of progress.

[Austin55]

^ Speaking of "What's the holdup" questions,

 

When I scanned this FWBP article my first thought was "Great, the first high-rise condominium is in the pipeline!"  As suggested by some of the art renderings.  Then my eye caught the "200-unit multi-family development."  Oh, boy...is this what to expect as dotting the landscape in this hyped-up Panther Island project?  More of the same low-profile apartment complexes we see just about everywhere in Fort Worth?  Yes, something better than nothing, I suppose, and maybe another good start for TRV economic development​.  But I hope the city can do better than this for such a unique tract of land.

 

http://www.fortworth...752263e41b.html

 

Did this not ever get announced? Suppossed to have been in March. If it did, there was no press. 

[NSFW]

It was announced at the meeting but I found no details. 

 

http://www.fortworth...6RealEstate.pdf

[JBB]

Federal funding appears to be getting closer:

 

http://www.star-tele...le93923782.html

 

Anyone heard an update on the one month bridge delay that is quickly and quietly closing in on 5 months?

[dangr.dave]

I actually saw some dirt being moved (finally) yesterday and some guys taking a break out there under the bridge supports forms that are probably starting to rust now.

[BlueMound]

Anybody know how long there has been a work stoppage on the TRV bridges ?

[JBB]

 

Anyone heard an update on the one month bridge delay that is quickly and quietly closing in on 5 months?

[BlueMound]

5 months!
Wow!

[Big Frog II]

I was visiting a customer on White Settlement this week and they were doing a little work on the bridge.  My customer said that during the night on Monday, steel was delivered to the site.  Maybe they are to begin in earnest again.

[Austin55]

The V piers looking mostly the same as they did in March.

 

 

Here's the current look of the Henderson bridge. 

 

Here's the other roundabout at the end of the White Settlement bridge. It's pretty high up, offering a nice view. 

 

[BlueMound]

https://www.congress...-bill/2848/text

(x) Trinity River And Tributaries, Texas.—

(1) REVIEW.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall review the economic analysis of the Center for Economic Development and Research of the University of North Texas entitled “Estimated Economic Benefits of the Modified Central City Project (Trinity River Vision) in Fort Worth, Texas” and dated November 2014.

(2) AUTHORIZATION.—The project for flood control and other purposes on the Trinity River and tributaries, Texas, authorized by the River and Harbor Act of 1965 (Public Law 89–298; 79 Stat. 1091), as modified by section 116 the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2005 (Public Law 108–447; 118 Stat. 2944), is further modified to authorize the Secretary to carry out projects described in the recommended plan of the economic analysis described in paragraph (1), if the Secretary determines, based on the review referred to in paragraph (1), that—

(A) the economic analysis and the process by which the economic analysis was developed complies with Federal law (including regulations) applicable to economic analyses for water resources development projects; and

( based on the economic analysis, the recommended plan in the supplement to the final environmental impact statement for the Central City Project, Upper Trinity River entitled “Final Supplemental No. 1” is economically justified.

(3) LIMITATION.—The Federal share of the cost of the recommended plan described in paragraph (2) shall not exceed $520,000,000, of which not more than $5,500,000 may be expended to carry out recreation features of the project.

[BlueMound]

Water Resources Bill nears finish line
http://www.politico....boldened-216267

[BlueMound]

Votes imminent on water infrastructure bill
http://www.bna.com/v...r-b57982076923/

[BlueMound]

Senate overwhelmingly passes WRDA on a vote of 95 - 3.
The Act now heads to the House

https://mobile.twitt...453646976446464

[Jeriat]

Senate overwhelmingly passes WRDA on a vote of 95 - 3.
The Act now heads to the House

https://mobile.twitt...453646976446464

 

So this is positive for this project? 

[JBB]

If I'm reading the text from the bill in post 871 correctly, it gives authorization for the federal money to be spent.

[BlueMound]

 

Senate overwhelmingly passes WRDA on a vote of 95 - 3.
The Act now heads to the House

https://mobile.twitt...453646976446464

 

So this is positive for this project? 

 

 

Very positive.

The Act is likely to now pass the House and be signed by Obama into law.

$550 million will go to the Panther Island/TRV project.

[BlueMound]

National Law Review
"House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, Bill Shuster (R-PA), has expressed his desire to move the bill through the House as quickly as possible in order to begin negotiations through a conference committee."
http://www.natlawrev...use-to-consider

[Doohickie]

He wants to bring home the bacon.

[BlueMound]

Water projects bill headed for lame-duck congressional session
House not expected to vote on bill until the week after the Nov 8 elections
http://www.star-tele...e102911092.html

[Volare]

He wants to bring home the bacon.

 

I thought the Pork was killed with the sequestration?

[Doohickie]

Ya right!

[Volare]

There's a lot of stuff flowing alright, but it sure isn't high water... Flood control my....

 

http://www.star-tele...e104690401.html

[BlueMound]

WRDA passes the House!
http://transportatio...cumentID=400821

[Big Frog II]

Will construction speed up once the bill is signed?

[AndyN]

I'm going to cross post this here as I have also posted it in transportation but it's more about this topic. http://urbanland.uli...-trinity-river/

[John T Roberts]

Thanks for posting, Andy.  I enjoyed reading the article.

[Austin55]

The TRV website has had this blurb up for years 

 

 

 

New roads and bridges will accommodate a future mass transit system that will connect Panther Island to downtown, providing a new public transportation option.

 

Here's a plan of said roads,

 

[BlueMound]

Senate passes its $10.7 billion version of the WRDA bill
House passes its $5 billion version of the WRDA bill.
Quite a big difference.

'Over the course of the next few weeks, while Congress remains in recess, staff for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will begin negotiations on the differing versions of the WRDA bill. When Congress returns in November for a lame duck session, a conference report could be one of the few pieces of legislation that the leadership will bring before both chambers.'
http://www.natlawrev...visions-unclear

[youngalum]

The TRV project will be on the House negotiators chopping block.

[Doohickie]

It depends.  If it's included in the House version it should be fine.

[rriojas71]

I still think that the area dubbed Panther Island is still functional and safe from floods and I also think that development will still happen in that area if the project falls apart. The only thing I'm really concerned with is the area currently under construction. I don't want it to go incomplete don't and turned into some punchline against Fort Worth. I hope that somehow some exciting civic project along the Trinity can come about and rise from it's ashes

[John T Roberts]

The discussion on the first apartment project announcement for Panther Island has been merged into a thread over in the Residential forum.

[Austin55]

The bridges are now a year behind schedule...

http://www.star-tele...e110916592.html

[Dylan]

These bridges are being delayed even further because of more "design issues." Yikes!

[JBB]

The article mentioned that the new design has been tested using models.  Twice.  I guess that's supposed to make everyone feel better about the fact that they'll likely blow all of the savings from putting the cart before the horse.

[rriojas71]

It seems that excavation work has really ramped up the past couple of days on the North Main site. More fencing and heavy equipment is on site. Does anyone know if government funding was secured and allocated from congress or is this still in flux?

[Now in Denton]

My understanding the delay is really over adding more steel into the bridges. Not about looks. One has to wonder if the design will change anyway ? Originally was it some sort of loopy design ? We may end up with a very industrial standard looking bridge.

[rriojas71]

Some encouraging news.

I was driving by the future bridge on Henderson and it seems like tye re-bar work for the bridge supports has resumed. There were4 workers moving re-bar into place. Not sure how much work had be done because I was driving and did'nt get to see what had been started.

[BlueMound]

Congress moves closer to finalizing water bill

https://origin-nyi.t...zing-water-bill