84 replies to this topic

[djold1]

New Fort Worth Gazette blog on the old North Main TXU building ....

[Austin55]

I feel that all will not end well for the building. As long as TCC owns it nothing positive will be done with it. The TRV renderings always show it as being renovated and in existence in the future, but who knows. 

 

Absolute neglect.

[dangr.dave]

In that case, let's do the photography meet-up at the power plant and get some photos while we can.  They can't arrest us all for trespassing.

Wouldn't you love somebody to love by dangr.dave, on Flickr

[Jeriat]

... how did TCC get to own this building? 

Edited by John T Roberts, 17 July 2013 - 10:42 AM.

[Doohickie]

Not sure but it may have had something to do with the building of the Trinity River East Campus.  The original concept was for a campus that would span the river.

[John T Roberts]

Doohickie is right.  Originally, TCC purchased all of the land north of the river from TXU to build the campus that spanned the river.  There were going to be two bridges that connected the north side and the south side of the campus.  They also purchased the land onthe west side of Main Street that included the power plant for further expansion.  Their early concepts called for reusing the old plant, but details were never specifically called out. 

 

Permits with the Army Corps of Engineers and other floodplain/river channel issues eventually derailed the plans to build on the north side of the river.

[djold1]

The Battle For The Trinity Bluffs:  A New Fort Worth Gazette Blog..

[gdvanc]

Great articles, Pete - including the PDF.

 

You mentioned Olmstead's A Journey Through Texas. For those interested, it's available in several formats on the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/d...throughte01olms

[John T Roberts]

I agree with Donnie.  Those were great articles.  I really enjoyed reading the PDF file.

[John S.]

The Battle For The Trinity Bluffs:  A New Fort Worth Gazette Blog..

Pete,
I don't know how I missed your 2008 PDF blog-it's completely accurate and nicely summarizes the dilemma of Fort Worth's historic Trinity Bluffs. After 24 years of living on Samuels Avenue, I've discovered ample evidence of the lack of respect shown to the Trinity River and the bluffs above it. Over the years, I've stumbled onto a number of old neighborhood trash dumps and it appears the custom from the late 1800's until regular city trash collection became common was for Samuels' residents to go to the edge of the Bluff and dump their household waste down the slope. In the 500 block of Samuels, before current development began, I found evidence of an entire 19th century stone building being dumped over the Bluff slope with many nice stone blocks and fragments of ornamental plaster being strewn over a large area. I salvaged some of the stone blocks for a raised flower bed and kept a couple of the ornamental plaster fragments with rosettes and geometric designs. Of course, over the years things got worse before they got any better. The American Cyanamid Plant which produced chemicals that may have contained ingredients now banned, operated with little regulatory oversight until modern environmental laws were enacted. Though now gone, the buried ground and river chemical contamination from this plant is a legacy of that lax era. At least the Trinity River did not reach a contamination point where it caught on fire as Cleveland's Cuyahoga River did in the mid-1960's but I'll simply state I'd still never consume any fish coming from the Trinity River despite years of clean up efforts. (BTW, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River has also been extensively cleaned up in recent decades) The old TXU Building certainly has architectural merits as well as historic technology value but the Fort Worth model of redevelopment only occasionally includes adaptive reuse of a historic building. Given that it might be quite costly to repurpose the TXU Building and there are no grants available (that I'm aware of) to offset these costs, I seriously doubt it has much of a future. Thanks again for your well-written blog entries.

[djold1]

Thanks John..  Back in 2008 when I wrote that particular article, I was involved with others in meetings with the Corps of Engineers (COE), TCC and "stakeholders" which included the organization that i was involved with.  At that point, the COE was running pretty hot and heavy about the stuff that the TCC was doing or not doing.  

I had hopes that some of the mitigation would force the TCC into getting historical recognition for the TXU building and into stabilizing the building to stop further deterioration.  Instead.. the mitigation was, in terms of the vast financial capabilities of the TCC, just a little slap on the hand that did some good, but did nothing at all for the TXU situation.  They got out pretty much Scott free...

I am tempted to say that the term "stakeholders" simply means that we are left with nothing but to watch the stake being further driven into heart of the remaining shell of the old TXU building...

[John T Roberts]

Pete, I think you are right. 

[djold1]

Just another thought...  Unfortunate things happen to historic buildings.

 

They succumb to fire or flood or earthquakes.

 

Private entities, at least in the Fort Worth area, can demolish unprotected buildings with little interference from the  public or the city and county. This at least lies within private property rights, no matter how historical it may be. And within this is the possibility that another structure may be built that will eventually claim some historical recognition.

 

But the saddest losses come from what has been termed "demolition by neglect". We are seeing this on private properties on Samuels Avenue with the Garvey House the best known.  This kind of neglect comes in several forms.  One is a private property owner that has absolutely no resources and can't find a buyer so the structure crumbles around them. Developers of course take these situations into account in their long term plans so that eventually, they will acquire a dilapidated property that will become nothing more than an empty lot on which to build whatever they have planned.

 

Allowing historic property that is owned by public entities that receive tax money or other public funding to self demolish by calculated neglect is an almost criminal act. It deprives the public of the opportunity to decide whether the historic structure should be saved and perhaps renovated for other uses. It's hard to see how the public ownership of historic structures like the TXU building should not be part of the public trust and that it's fate would at least be in the hands of those who own it.  If a public ballot were taken and the results were negative as to its survival, at least it would be decision made in an active way and it would not be allowed to molder into a heap over time.

 

In the present situation, there is no doubt that the TCC is essentially waiting for the state of the building to deteriorate so that it will have to be demolished for safety reasons, or just fall down on its own.  Thereby letting them then put the bare land on the market with no nasty historical issues to cloud the buyers view. 

TCC of course had another option:  They could just have come out with a public statement that their board had decided to let the historic building deteriorate into rubble on purpose in order make it easier to move the land to a private owner. That would at least be honest and forthright. If they had done that, what do you think the response from the citizens of Fort Worth and Tarrant County might have been? 

 

It's bad enough when private owners follow the demolish-by-neglect route. .  But for a public, tax supported, local institution to lower themselves to a calculated demolition-by-neglect plan indicates a enormous contempt for their taxpayers and the city and county.  But then, that's nothing new, is it?  

[John T Roberts]

Pete, very well said.  If TCC came out on the record that they decided to let the plant be demolished by neglect in order to make it easier to sell to a private owner, I think the citizens would have the Board with their heads on a platter and there would probably be a major outcry for either designation or for the city to step in.  However, I really don't know what the outcome would be from this. 

 

I wonder what would happen if TCC applied and received a demolition permit?  If they had one, that would stop all efforts for designation because our Preservation Ordinance states that if a demolition permit is received, then no attempts can be made to designate or upgrade the designation level.  The power plant has absolutely no local designation on it.  It isn't even designated Demolition Delay.

[djold1]

I'm not a conspiracy theorist...  so I don't want to sound paranoid...  

 

But I do think that on the TCC  board there is a general consensus that they keep the visibility on the building as low as possible and do as little as possible.  

 

I also think, as someone suggested above, that this is at least partly a reaction to the de facto denial of the expansion north across the Trinity.  TXU probably coerced the TCC into taking the land west of the viaduct in return to selling them the part that they really wanted. And, they may have really thought they could do something useful with the old plant, based on the plans for the expanded Trinity North campus, .  The indications are that this was true.. 

 

When it turned out that TCC couldn't cross the Trinity, I can imagine that they were genuinely perplexed about what to do since there was no easy access from the south campus to the TXU area without their silly little bridge.  They obviously hadn't thought far enough ahead to put a clause in their deal with TXU that nullified the whole purchase if they couldn't get north across the river.

 

Where it all turned bad was the incredible lack of credibility that TCC had generated during the whole permitting process. As well as the fact that they chose to drop everything below the local citizen radar and just try to let the building degrade quietly.  I suspect that the current board is nailed to the wall by the sleazy actions of several previous board members and college officials.

 

The only way to recover, if they want to, is to get the whole thing in the public light and then act in a ethical and enlightened way..  

 

Ain't gonna happen..

[John S.]

Well stated, Pete..especially those last three words which come not from a negative lack of faith but from your long experience of observing how things are done in our fair city. Thanks as well for mentioning the highly endangered Garvey house which quietly sits and continues to succumb to the elements. Sadly and coincidentally, the former Isaac Foster House that stood next door (Mrs. Garvey was Isaac Foster's daughter) went down that exact same path of deterioration to oblivion. Roof leaks occurred which the disabled owner was not able nor willing to seek repairs so little by little over years the c. 1882 Victorian Italianate house decayed into an extreme state of neglect. (even local preservationists pronounced it was beyond saving) What remained was demolished in 2003 with little fanfare and the cleared large lot was subsequently sold to a developer. Today, the spacious lot with its old steps going nowhere sits vacant a decade after demolition. I'm certainly not going to surprise you in the least when I state its difficult to be a historic preservationist in Fort Worth. I can only hope a century from now our new buildings will be looked on more favorably than our present citizens do at those old buildings we still have. My only suggestion would be to get those photos of the TXU Plant (and the Garvey House) sooner rather than later. Back in the early 1950's local author Rex Z. Howard echoed the same with his advice to "hurry before the wrecking ball beats you to them". He was right, of course. Funny how some things never change in Fort Worth even after 60 years.

[John T Roberts]

Pete and John S., I'm really pleased to see both of you telling it like it is in the preservation circles.  You can call me a "Frustrated Preservationist".  Most people don't know how difficult it really is.

[cberen1]

God, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but...

 

... you should get Wendy Davis on your side.  Nobody can capture the spotlight in Fort Worth right now like Ms. Davis.  She likes ruffling the feathers of the business community and with her pending political ambitions there's no such thing as too much publicity.

[John T Roberts]

Wendy was approached about saving the Power Plant back when she was on City Council, and she passed.  In summation, she more or less said that Fort Worth is in favor of saving people's property rights and the designation of the Power Plant was entirely up to the property owner.

 

She also asked Historic Fort Worth to come up with a Samuels Avenue Historic District, but eventually she had to stop on that due to Pro-property rights pressure. 

[djold1]

I suppose that some big publicity from well known people would be very good.  It would also be good t see some TV station take up the banner or have some newspaper columnist get behind the effort.   But that always has its downside as well.  

 

While I have written a Letter to the Editor (my first) to the FWST on this a few days ago, I have my doubts about whether or not it will be printed. The subject of historic preservation and in this case, preservation of the TXU plant building, is not exactly at  the forefront of the public mind.

 

As John S. and others have said many times:  Preservation of the historic resources of a community has to be something that is deeply embedded in the entire infrastructure. That doesn't exist in Fort Worth at this time and never has.  

We are fortunate to have quite a few companies and individuals with deep pockets that can privately develop areas like Sundance Square and that can turn the historic American Airways hanger into a useful building that carries its heritage.  And we have those companies and individuals that have privately rebuilt and refurbished the fine old skyscrapers, downtown buildings and meat packing offices.  The reason that the Stockyards Historic District still has memorable buildings is entirely due to private development with an eye for profit.  We should applaud these efforts, even though at times they appear to be at odds with reality.  Residential areas like Fairmount are few and far between and sometimes appear to present draconian choices to those that whish to realistically bring older homes back to a useful and desirable level. 

 

Apart from these private efforts, there appears to be little community support for realistic preservation.  Certainly not on the City Council. As John Roberts has said many times over the years, the zoning laws and the historic preservation regulations in the city are toothless and are in fact little more than eye candy to distract but not delay demolition.

 

While it has mostly been ignored, there was an historic moment in 2008 when the US Corp of Engineers made a finding that the Trinity Bluffs should have historic protection.  This is what essentially brought the TCCD "rape of the bluffs" project to a close,  but way too late.  This federal precedent should be adopted and expanded by the Fort Worth city government and Tarrant County as a guideline to build on.

 

But I wouldn't bet on it.. 

 

Until the deep under-structure of Fort Worth can accept the idea of reasonable preservation of its historic asserts, then nothing will happen.  This also applies to the under-structure of the public institutions that are tax payer supported like the TCCD or the TRWD and others realize that the land under their jurisdiction contain historic buildings and sites that should be given complete and public scrutiny before they are obliterated.  The idea of "demolish by neglect" should never be allowed in the world of public ownership.  

 

Personally, I am involved in this because as a member since 1997 of the North Fort Worth Historical Society I have had the opportunity over the years to watch with these good people, bad things happen to historic Fort Worth. The NFWHS, who operates the Stockyards Museum in the Livestock Exchange building, are a  small group of  what I would call realistic preservationists. Over the years they have assembled a large archive of the history of Fort Worth and North Fort Worth which is constantly accessed by scholars, writers and historians all over the world. Over 60,000 visitors have toured the Museum in some years. They have researched and placed historic markers and public sculpture.. Because this group does not always play nice and grovel in order to get grants of money from institutions and private organizations that would impose limits, they continually struggle for existence with local donation support from just a few enlightened individuals and businesses.  

 

Reasonable preservation does not mean that everything over a certain age should survive and be restored.  Every situation is different.  The history of one place and the ground that it is on is different from another. Fort Worth is not "old" in the sense that places on the US eastern seaboard are old.  But, because of its particular place in Texas it has real history. Great history. And this feeling of history needs to be deep inside the culture of Fort Worth even as it advances as a modern city..

 

Again.. I doubt that this will happen..

[John S.]

Pete,
Well said again. Fort Worth promotes itself as the city of Cowboys and Culture. Both have historical origins here that go back to the earliest days of our community. Historian Julia Kathryn Garrett shared the story of the first piano in Fort Worth during the days of the Fort. She recalled that visiting Native American tribesmen were utterly fascinated with this instrument and would come up to the window nearby and request for it to be played. Considering how heavy many 1840's square pianos were, it must have been a real labor of love to bring frontier culture and the first piano by wagon to the Fort. Cowboys and the American West are national American icons-Fort Worth played a major role in the Western saga but the complete story is known by few. We need more than a cameo herd of longhorns and a few brick paved streets fronted with early 1900's buildings to tell our community's story. Historic Preservation adds tangible evidence of our heritage that written words in a book simply cannot. We all seem to agree that not everything should be preserved (a moot point anyway) but we also mutually agree that too much has been lost while more needs to be done to preserve the little that we still have remaining.

While the TXU plant may seem at odds with Fort Worth's fabled Western heritage, it visibly represents a critical early advancement in technology that helped bring about our modern city. Imagine what our lives would be like today if the technology of electricity had never been developed? Our modern world would simply not exist and I would not be typing this on a computer and you would not be reading it. The harnessing of electrical power is arguably the most important technological advancement in the history of humankind-the TXU Plant tangibly marks the point in local history when electrical technology was radically transforming the simpler past into what we recognize today as our complex modern world. The foreseeable future clearly appears to be one of (renewable) electrical energy-not of fossil fuels-so all the more reason to keep this landmark structure for future Fort Worth generations to commemorate and celebrate electrical power's transformation of Fort Worth into a modern city.

[BlueMound]

Tarrant County College to Explore Options for Former TXU Plant
http://www.star-tele...sp=/99/189/228/

[renamerusk]

Tarrant County College to Explore Options for Former TXU Plant

 

 

SELL!

[Austin55]

"The property does not have any historic designations, but Appleman said it will not be torn down. Thats been suggested to us, she said. We know better than that.

That's nice to hear.

I wonder of they'd use it as an academic expansion of the current campuses. TCC needs a gymnasium, wonder if its possible to fit a few in there. Or perhaps use it as the new May owen center.

Concert Venue...?

[djold1]

From the FWST article lead:

 

" FORT WORTH — The Tarrant County College District has decided to explore selling, leasing or using the century-old abandoned TXU power plant building on north Main Street, which it bought a decade ago as part of its plan for a stunning downtown campus that would span the Trinity River."

 

 

Well, as we know,  the plan to build a "stunning downtown campus" utterly failed from an aesthetic & fiscal standpoint. It resulted in a structure that joins the exterior of the MOM big-box building as a monumental waste of architectural concrete. We can only hope that both buildings soon receive a planting of fast-growing ivy that will eventually cover the disgrace. 

The TCC did partially, at great expense to the taxpayers, redeem themselves with the acquisition of the Radio Shack campus and its buildings which are neutrally contemporary without raising the gorge of passersby.

 

The announcement that the TCCD leadership is just now now "exploring their options" is interesting.  It's hard to believe that there has not been a carefully constructed plan to dawdle until the real estate market recovered and/or Panther Island awoke. This, no matter what the consequences to the the historic old TXU plant might be with their enlightened demolition-by-neglect policy. 

 

Consider the past way that land has moved between the TCCD and other taxpayer owned entities in the Trinity Bottoms over the years. It may not be too large a stretch to assume that a deal has been done already to transfer the old plant out of TCCD's unloving hands and that the current mumbling's are simply the overture to the main play.  

If, as John Roberts and others have said previously, the old TXU holdings fall into private hands, then any hope of oversight for historic preservation probably fails unless the buyer comes up with some killer use for the structures that will justify it financially.  It could happen..  but.. 

[John T Roberts]

At least TCC is getting the public and Historic Fort Worth involved with seeking suggestions.  This is a small step forward.  There also may be a way to put in some restrictions in developing the property by not allowing demolition or requiring local designation.

[BlueMound]

Wasn't there a plan to turn this plant into an aquarium ?

[prideftw]

An aquarium in Fort Worth would be nice

[Fort Worthology]

Wasn't there a plan to turn this plant into an aquarium ?

 

I don't believe there was ever a serious plan to turn it into an aquarium.  I think that was just an idea somebody suggested.

[cberen1]

 

Wasn't there a plan to turn this plant into an aquarium ?

 

I don't believe there was ever a serious plan to turn it into an aquarium.  I think that was just an idea somebody suggested.

 

 

Guilty.  I just thought it would be a cool place for an aquarium, next to the river/town lake.

 

I do think it's an opportunity for a kick-off project for Panther Island.  If someone wants to make that the centerpiece in a "Left Bank" style development, I think it could get that little island moving.

[cerebralshrike]

I was heavily involved in the drama department at TCC Trinity from 2012-2014. The big rumor had always been that TCC was looking to turn the plant into a performance hall, which would have been pretty cool. Not sure if it was just water cooler talk, or if it was actually brought up at some point by the board.

[McHand]

TCCD "asking the experts what they've got"

Read more here: http://www.star-tele...l#storylink=cpy

 

http://www.star-tele...-old-relic.html

 

(don't forget to read the comment)

[Austin55]

I'm more in favor of them selling it to the TRVA and letting them do their thing. They've been turning everything they touch into gold lately (Panther Island Pavillion, the Ice Rink, the old subway barn, the drive in, etc) They'd probably turn it into a music venue or similar, I don't care what really, and be able to restore and put it into proper use much sooner then TCC would. They could later use it as an asset when attracting private development when the canals and bridges are dug. TCC has no such motivation, and would probably wait several years for the TRV infrastructure to be completed before they'd be able to do anything with it, either selling it or using it for academics, and who knows how much more neglect it can take. If succesful, do the same with Ellis Pecan. 

 

Trinity Uptown - Repurposed Historic TXU Plant by Trinity River Vision, on Flickr

 

Thoughts?

[FWFD1247]

I really would like development like the old Seaholm "city of Austin" power plant development. I always loved the building any time my wife and I would go kayaking in Austin.

http://www.seaholm.info

[Volare]

Realize that everything that you mention that TRVA/TRWD has "turned to gold" is temporary. It's all designed to gererate some revenue or interest in the TRV but once the TRV is built all of that temporary stuff is gone. It is also completely beyond the scope of what they are supposed to be doing as a water district, but that's a discussion for another thread.

[JBB]

Yeah, I know that doubting the water district and their intentions is akin to worshipping the devil in the eyes of some around here, but I can't help but think it feels a little to think of them as a go-to source for developing an important piece of real estate.

[Jeriat]

 

Wasn't there a plan to turn this plant into an aquarium ?

 

I don't believe there was ever a serious plan to turn it into an aquarium.  I think that was just an idea somebody suggested.

 

 

I've actually thought that would be a PERFECT place for an aquarium, with the (future) urban lake near by. 

[RD Milhollin]

How about renovating it for the new city hall 

[Austin55]

Just wanted to share this new FWBP article with ya'll.

 

http://fwbusinesspre...U-facility.aspx

[renamerusk]

 

 

Wasn't there a plan to turn this plant into an aquarium ?

 

I don't believe there was ever a serious plan to turn it into an aquarium.  I think that was just an idea somebody suggested.

 

 

I've actually thought that would be a PERFECT place for an aquarium, with the (future) urban lake near by. 

 

 

I get a bit worried when the first thoughts for reuse of iconic buildings are restaurants, hotels, apartments, etc. as if there is drastic shortage of these businesses or projects already on the board to address the "shortages".  I like the idea of reusing the North Main Power Plant (NMPP) and the P.O. in a public way that makes them a destination that the general public can enjoy. 

 

IMO, the best steward of the NMPP would be the Fort Worth Zoological, Inc.,  who is one of the most  respected organization in the city and who has the skills to build and operate a great aquarium that would rival or exceed the one in downtown Dallas.

 

TCCD could rebuild a lot of goodwill that it lost with its downtown campus fiasco by handing over the NMPP to the FWZI.

[Volare]

Just wanted to share this new FWBP article with ya'll.

 

http://fwbusinesspre...U-facility.aspx

 

Best quote:

 

But of a partnership, she said, “you have to be really careful with something like that. We’re very conscious of the fact that we’re dealing with taxpayer money here.”

 

Why start now?? No one seemed to concerned with taxpayer money when y'all were building the single most expensive building per square foot in the entire city all without a single taxpayer approval!!

[renamerusk]

 

Best quote:

 

But of a partnership, she said, “you have to be really careful with something like that. We’re very conscious of the fact that we’re dealing with taxpayer money here.”

 

Why start now?? No one seemed to concerned with taxpayer money when y'all were building the single most expensive building per square foot in the entire city all without a single taxpayer approval!!

 

 

Well at least it is comforting to hear that TCCD has learned something from the messy situation that it found itself in downtown.  This time the public and the editorial media will be more engaged than before.

[djold1]

I think it would be unwise for anyone or any entity to "partner" with TCC on this.  Their track record is not good and the words in their releases are pretty mealy mouthed. That property needs to be separated from TCC completely.  And soon before it becomes just a heap of rubble... 

[BlueMound]

Adaptive Redevelopment of Power Plant Properties
http://www.westonsol...ment_Weston.pdf

[360texas]

Interesting.  One item I remember being discussed was severe soils contamination and very expensive Remediation.  I think I also remember the City of Fort Worth classified that power plant land area as far too expensive to clean up.  Might be that the clean up expenses exceeded the fair market price of the land??

 

Found this.  http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php/1940-Fort-Worth-Downtown-Tarrant-County-College-Campus 

 

Partial Quote from forum article:

TCC eyes TXU plant site for new campus
By Sandra Baker

Star-Telegram Staff WriterTXU retired the power plant in March. The plant, built in 1912, had not been used for several years. The college has paid for environmental tests on the soil, but the results are not known. An old TXU power plant in Dallas was dismantled and 200,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil was hauled away six years ago in preparation for the construction of American Airlines Center. The cost of the "brownfield cleanup" was estimated at $10 million and was aided by $2 million from the Environmental Protection Agency. Tarrant County joined the brownfield program in 1998.

 

[Volare]

I would imagine it's gonna have to be cleaned up one way or another, with the "town lake" going around that area, the soil is going to be significantly disturbed.

[360texas]

I would think so too.  Environmental clean up cost should be responsibility of the current property owner.... NOT THE TAX PAYER or City of Fort Worth.

[RD Milhollin]

Do you mean TCC? Then the tax payers of Tarrant County will have to pay for the remediation. It REALLY should have been the previous owner, the one who caused the pollution. I think the present name is Energy Future Holdings, but it used to be TXU, TESCO, TUGCO, etc. Every few years these energy giants fold up through bankruptcy to avoid continuing responsibility for the mess they make while generating massive profits. The gas drilling industry is like next... The profits are already pocketed, and costs will be borne by the taxpayers. 

[Austin55]

I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject, but isn't this exactly what Superfund sites are for?

[RD Milhollin]

I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject, but isn't this exactly what Superfund sites are for?

 

Well, it is what the Superfund is for. But here we go again, this time ALL the taxpayers in the US paying for the costs that should have been incurred by an energy company...