24 replies to this topic

[John T Roberts]

I learned through a Facebook post that Riverside Baptist Church at 3101 Race Street is auctioning off their contents tomorrow. Thats Saturday, October 20. The property has been sold to an apartment developer and it is going to be demolished. I would check for historic designations, but I dont have internet service at home right now.

[renamerusk]

"Ooooooooo!"

[Austin55]

Omg. The churches are dropping like flies.

TAD says 1939.

[ramjet]

Is Riverside Baptist relocating or are they folding up shop?  If it's the latter, that would be sad.  It's actually a pretty church, I think.

[JBB]

Isn't this the church that caused some concern several years back for the ability of restaurants on Race to sell alcohol?

[AndyN]

The Save Riverside Baptist Church Facebook page says there is a 180 day demolition delay.

[Austin55]

Can you link the page?

[AndyN]

Here's the link from Nextdoor: https://www.facebook...IhG-BLo&fref=nf

 

It appears that the Riverside Baptist Church complex (3113 Race Street at Six Points in Fort Worth) is under contract to a developer, and will be demolished to make way for a 4-story, 154-unit apartment complex, with an additional 3-story, 42-unit complex at the rear of the property. There are many unknowns at this point (such as who the developer is), but following are a few of the facts:

• Riverside Baptist Church deeded their property to Travis Academy of Fine Arts several years ago, with the proviso that the Riverside Baptist congregation could continue to meet there
• Travis Academy of Fine Arts no longer wishes to utilize the property and has sold it to an apartment developer
• The property is zoned MU-1 (mixed residential and commercial use) by the City of Fort Worth
• Under the City’s MU-1 zoning category, a project doesn’t have to contain retail or commercial uses if there are sufficient retail or commercial uses within a certain perimeter of the project
• With this loophole in the zoning category, a project that is solely residential (an apartment complex) can be built in the MU-1 zoning category
• There is an additional City of Fort Worth designation on the property which is “Demolition Delay”, whereby the designated structure cannot be demolished sooner than 180 days from the date the City issues a demolition permit
• If a property owner wishes to demolish the structure sooner than 180 days they must apply to the City for a waiver and state their case at a public hearing

Hopefully additional information will be forthcoming soon and we will update this page as we become aware of unfolding events.

[John T Roberts]

Andy, thanks for posting this information. I was not aware that it was Demolition Delay.  I thought that it actually had no local designation, even though Demolition Delay is basically worthless.  I couldn't verify that because of no internet access at home this weekend.  It would have taken forever to call up the city's zoning map on my phone.  The one good thing is that the City's Preservation and Neighborhood organizations will get a chance to discuss the sale and demolition at the Demolition Delay hearing, when that time comes.

[Austin55]

I hope enough community support can be garnered to save the building. I'm very supportive of development, but not at the expense of history. The church is a huge contributer to the character of Race St, in addition to it's historic value to the whole city.

[John T Roberts]

Now, I would like to don my pessimist hat.  As I have held several Board positions at Historic Fort Worth, Inc., I have attended several of these Demolition Delay hearings.  Most of which were not enough to save a DD designated building and they eventually came down.

[Volare]

From Pastor Mike Raymond:

I pray you are having a very Merry Christmas season. My name is Mike Raymond and I am the pastor at Riverside Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Parts of our building were built in 1904 and in the 1950’s our church ran around 2,500 people. Many people, pastors, seminary professors and missionaries have been influenced by Riverside.

Through a series of events we are now vacating the building. We will be having our last service in the building on December 23. Although our congregation is heartbroken about these developments, we are a people of faith and believe that the God who has led us to this time, will also lead us through it. Our prayer this Christmas is that God will once again fill our sanctuary as we celebrate what He has done at 3101 Race Street for the last 114 years.

We want those influenced by Riverside in the past to hear about the service and if possible attend the evening service at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 23. We invite past members, community members and any others to come and join us for this night of celebration and prayer for the future.

Here is the information again, 
Riverside Baptist Church
3101 Race Street
Fort Worth, TX 76111
Celebration Christmas Eve(ish) service
6:00 p.m., Sunday, December 23
817-980-1124

Thank you for your time,

In His Grip,

Mike Raymond
Pastor, Riverside Baptist Church
817-980-1124
pastormike@riversideRWG.org
WWW.RiversideRWG.org

[Austin55]

Possiblity to be saved,

https://m.facebook.c...308407026557716

[Austin55]

Great news, looks like it will be saved and turned into affordable housing by Saigebrook development, same group behind the Mistletoe Station in Near Southside

 

 

[rriojas71]

I thought this was going to be some type of Arts school for Travis Avenue Baptist Church?

[renamerusk]

Driven by RBC countless time and was aware of the annex, however, there is actually more building there than what first appears.  If this building catered to a greater degree to "struggling" artists, I believe it would add more to the fabric of Race Street than affordable housing. Race Street has the potential to be a funky neighborhood.

 

There seems to be an adequate supply of multi family and single family housing in the immediate vicinity, but I could be mistaken.

[FWGeek]

Saigebrook is also doing the senior affordable housing development on Oakland in east FW. They were really great to work with - went to neighborhood & business association meetings, asked for feedback, and then made changes when that feedback was delivered. Definitely a breath of fresh air as far as developers are concerned!

[Austin55]

Here is the siteplan as presented to the zoning commission,

 

[Austin55]

Work is underway

 

https://www.facebook...308407026557716

[Austin55]

I saw a blurb on this in, of all places, Chase/J.P. Morgan's website. Article is from April but neat shout-out.

 

https://www.jpmorgan...ordable-housing

 

https://www.jpmorgan...ordable-housing

[JBB]

Wow!  I'm curious to see how they finish out the sanctuary space into apartment units.  Cielo Place is a pretty creative name for a repurposed church.

[John T Roberts]

I'm also curious.

[Austin55]

Now open!

Nice photos by Ann Zadeh
https://m.facebook.c...DAwOTkxODkwNQ==

[Stadtplan]

This project made front page news this morning in the S-T:
https://www.star-tel...=mainstage_lead

[JBB]

This is such an incredible preservation victory.  The prospects for the church building seemed pretty grim when this thread started.