396 replies to this topic

[Thurman52]

A few notes about progress on this project..

The city has been rebuilding the stop light at 7th and Trinity Park to accomodate the new entrance to the development.

They are putting in the railroad crossing this morning.

The first townhomes are framed

What I am guessing is the hotel, from the siteplan has the foundation work complete.

No signs of work on the retail portion as of yet. I am sure they are waiting on a certian percantage of pre-leased before construction begins.

[mosteijn]

Sweet update, thanks! I'm guessin the building with the insulation going up is the hotel, right? I plan on venturing there via Trinity Park sometime soon to get some up close shots (while at the same time trying my best not to tresspass ).

[AdamB]

I still think they will have major problems with only one entrance

[redhead]

The second entrance on the site plan replatted property owned by others for future "Museum Way," to dump out onto Bledsoe---a three block long street with somewhere around two DOZEN dock doors. It is a pin to pin loading zone with forklifts and 18 wheelers in the street from dawn to dusk. The plan has numerous flaws but was approved by city council anyway, seemingly in an effort to get something jump-started in the Cultural District.

First, the plan allowed Hughes to do an "at grade" crossing too close to the one on Seventh---now the subject of a FEDERAL lawsuit that the city is having to pay to defend. Second, the placement of Museum Way is quite bad, in that it could never be signalized at University due to the close proximity to Lancaster. Third, Museum Way looks at a railroad tie retaining wall---NOT the Museum!! Last, but certainly not least---the right of way for the Trinity Parkway has disappeared from the site plan. How does that happen??? Any change of more than a thousand feet to the touroughfare plan requires a public hearing by city ordinance. Such a hearing never occurred.

The more intelligent plan would have been to bisect the distance between Lancaster and Bledsoe and have Museum Way line up with Morton, and hence (ta-da!) look at THE MUSEUM. However, he would have lost some lots so I am sure he did not want that site plan. But from the city's perspective, it would have made more sense, since a. there is already an easement between the two buildings, and b. the nature of the businesses on Morton is not the same as those on Bledsoe. Now the city would have to condemn a very large and expensive building in order to punch Museum Way through.

The city has commissioned Kimley-Horn to do a traffic study that , in my humble opinion, the developer should have had to do prior to approval. BUT NO!!! We rolled over and let him arrogantly tell us why we should be happy to have him. In his famous quote about the Palladium's Group's threats to the city of Dallas over Victory Center years ago, "That may be the way they do business in New York, but not the way we do business here." Too bad Fort Worth did not tell him the same thing.

[mosteijn]

I have decided our city has a problem with urban development. In their eyes development=moolah, rather than development=civic pride, sustainabilty of the central city, national recognition, etc. This applies to virtually every project going up now being developed by an outside developer. Hopefully that will change someday soon...

[John T Roberts]

Jonny, you have hit the nail on the head!

Redhead, this Trinity Parkway -- where was the right-of-way and where was it supposed to go? At one time there was a plan for the Cultural District Boulevard that was supposed to start at 7th and Stayton and go south under the Lancaster Bridge, curve west and follow Harley, then curve south and eventually hit Montgomery somewhere in the new arena area. Is this the same thoroughfare?

[normanfd]

Also, I think we have an issue of definitions. Since the 70s, a "Trinity Parkway" has been proposed to be another link between Fort Worth and Dallas. In NCTCOG plans, it still exists as a proposed extension of Dallas' Trinity Tollway, and would eventually be extended to where the Airport Freeway, approaching from Downtown, meets 820.

[redhead]

John, you have the location correct. It connects Seventh to Harley, but it does not exist on the So7 site plan. The So7 crowd is lobbying hard to get the city to complete Museum Way, but that would be a very expensive proposition. The property that So7 could not buy (apparently for financial reasons) was reccently purchased by another RE developer that has been very active in the Foch Street area, and he paid around 2.5M for the property. Since the proposed Museum Way goes through the MIDDLE of the building, the entire property would have to be condemned and acquired for the road.

The city has paid Kimley-Horn big bucks to do a traffic study, the results of which are to be shared at a stakeholders meeting on September 8th. It should be interesting as the way So7 platted their property, there is no room for the road. What I cannot grasp is how did the ROW completely dissapear from the thoroughfare plan??? And why did the city wait to do the traffic study until AFTER So7 was so far along in the project??? It just does not sit well with me...not to mention that the permits were issued when there were no roads. mmmm...

[mosteijn]

Wasn't the Trinity Parkway supposed to be an expressway (toll or free)? If this is a sign the city no longer has interest in it...big loss. We don't need to choke off our downtown with freeways, which has been the mistake of so many other cities in the past.

[John T Roberts]

I think there may be some confusion on the name. From what I remember, it was to be named Cultural District Boulevard and it was to go from 7th and Stayton and curve over to Montgomery by crossing University at Harley.

[Urbndwlr]

RE: Traffic Study:
Why would the developer (or the city) need to have a traffic study done?
In what cases does one have to have such a study done? I can't imagine that 59 residential units or 125,000 sf of retail are really going to cause a huge traffic snarl.

RE: "Trinity Blvd" or "Cultural Dist Blvd":
I don't see why we would need a road to cut through from 7th to Univ. There are several streets that people can take to get to Lancaster and then travel south on Univ. BTW, "Cultural District Blvd" is the least imaginative name I've ever heard. I hope that name never comes to fruition.

RE: Museum Way
I'm not crazy about the name of that either. I thought it did line up with Bledsoe directly to the Kimbell, but apparently the median in University cuts it off (and it's slightly off axis.
Redhead, do you think the developer of So7 or anyone else is going to ask the city or the property owner of the Foch street warehouse to tear down part or all of that building for the road? If so, wouldn't you expect the owner to have bought it anticipating that move? Perhaps the So7 delopers are going to wait until they build all 59 townhouses before they open the street to the west - timing it so that the momentum can carry to the blocks to the west. I think that little neighborhood is very well located in relation to downtown and Trinity Park.

[mosteijn]

I think someone needs to buy every last piece of property between 7th, Univeristy, Lancaster, and So7, and turn it into a West Village (I lack knowledge of similar developments in other cities) like place, with 3 story buildings fronting University transitioning to about 5-6 story buildings closer to So7 (maybe a few high rises near Lancaster). There would be ground floor retail throughout, condos AND apartments above, and maybe a hotel or two fronting 7th or Lancaster. I would also reserve one of the blocks for a park/plaza.

Sound like a good idea?

[Thurman52]

How tall is that hotel project at this site? I drove by today and they were putting a 4th floor on I was assuming it would a typical suburban hotel 2-3 stories.

On Trinity Parkway, I agree there are plenty of other routes in the area, and I think the parkway would be a just a speedway similar to Forest Park along the river.

Johnny I like the idea for your 7th/ University development, but I have got to question how much High End development can FTW handle? Samuels Ave, Downtown, Trinity River Vision, Magnolia, Lancaster, Camp Bowie Village.... all seems to after the same market high end retail and restaurants. Don't get me wrong I love all these developments, but worried about over building and then developers get desperate for revenue and settle for tenants.

[mosteijn]

Johnny I like the idea for your 7th/ University development, but I have got to question how much High End development can FTW handle? Samuels Ave, Downtown, Trinity River Vision, Magnolia, Lancaster, Camp Bowie Village.... all seems to after the same market high end retail and restaurants. Don't get me wrong I love all these developments, but worried about over building and then developers get desperate for revenue and settle for tenants.

Well, it wouldn't be high end per se. I was thinking high end retail (something the FW market could DEFINATELY absord, seeing as how it's virtually non-existant), and having the residential units priced all over the place, something along the lines of 90,000-1 million. Maybe some units could even be reserved for low income residents.

And as for the hotels, boutique is the way to go. How 'bout one hotel is a 5 star boutique hotel, and the other is a 4 star chain (but still not very big), like a Four Seasons or a W. I think that would suit the Cultural District well.

[Thurman52]

I agree with the W thoughts. That would fit nicely!

I still dis-agree that FTW can absorb that much high end development. There are only so many StoreHouses, Starbucks etc a city can absorb.

[mosteijn]

Lol, when did Starbucks become high-end?

I think the fact that FW is something like 6th on Forbes' best places to be rich list, and only has a Niemen Marcus to cater to it's upper-end shoppers should tell you that there is a serious gap in the high-end retail market, at least on the supply end of the deal. I don't think even after all this new construction will the market reach capacity.

One thing I forgot to mention in my "plan" is that I would like to see 7th street get most of the upscale clothing boutiques, maybe a few restaurants. Something along the lines of the Champs Elysees, only on a MUCH smaller scale.

[mosteijn]

I was looking at the So7 website and I went to the link for the people marketing the retail space, and they had this site plan:



And click this link for more plans: http://www.citycomme...f/So7_Plans.pdf. Maybe there's a bit too much surface parking, but all in all it looks pretty urban and walkable (assuming you drive there first.)