This is at least the third thread dealing with a new city hall in Fort Worth, but for some reason I had never seen it before, that I consciously remember. However, Austin's initial post may have been in the back of my mind when I posted this in another City Hall topic about a year later:
"I say take out the Zipper Building and straighten out and extend/improve 13th St. so it provides a direct route from Henderson St. to Throckmorton St. at the Omni Hotel. Then take out the diagonal stretch of Texas Street; stub it off to the east at the existing City Hall.
Next, excavate down three floors the land from "new" 13th St. north to Old City Hall. Construct underground parking there. The 2/3 of that lot south of City Hall becomes the City Hall Plaza. South of that the remaining 1/3 of the lot gets a high rise "New City Hall", height depending on projected needs of city staff and functions needing a central city location. Decentralize other city functions to "urban villages" as necessary for obvious cost and service reasons. Install underground horizontal elevators between the two city hall structures as part of the parking structure design.
Sell Zipper Bldg., associated parking lot, and Lancaster Ave. frontage to a real developer with design restrictions to complement architecture in the area, with some incentive for more rather than fewer floors, and required parking garage at the north edge facing the new 13th Street that could be shared with city employees or city customers.
Clean all the clutter out of Old City Hall and restore to original open and airy design. Either move the unfortunately placed Light Sculptures along Lancaster Ave. or the oddly-placed "Working Man" sculpture in Burnett Park to City Hall Plaza or commission a new significant art piece to go there. If available ask donors to fund a re-acquisition of the Calder "Eagle" from wherever the heck it is now to come back as a centerpiece of the new plaza."
I still think this is the best option for the city to pursue. "Old" City Hall is a sunk cost, and "rehabilitation" or restoration to it's original designed state would be much more affordable than demolition and rebuilding. The big open unused roof could host a solar panel installation or be a green roof, or both. There have been several other worthy proposals floated on the Forum regarding alternate locations such as the presently decrepit T&P Warehouse, but I feel rehabilitation and reuse of that massive structure would be best left to private interests with experience in that area... too much of a risk for city "amateurs" to either "get it wrong" or start a money sink that would end up making Panther Island look like an "Uh-Oh". The Plaza is needed on that side of the Convention Center, 13th Street would provide the alternate route to Lancaster, The new commercial frontage facing Lancaster would allow for a significant facade to add to the other monumental buildings along that stretch, and the city could call the tune (or at least set the standard) on what it looks like. City Hall itself could be any sort of design, a glass tower, a complement or a contrast to the existing City Hall... Lots of opportunities there for design strategies. The high rise format and design elements incorporated into the new building could serve to set an example for developers on how property in the inner city should be best developed. The "City Hall Plaza" would be about half the size of Sundance Square, not a bad size for smaller events (Mayor's announcements, proclamations, art exhibits, etc), no need for another large open space downtown within a couple of blocks of the Water Gardens and Burnett Park, but instead a paved civic plaza midway between the two parks. Another aspect I had failed to grasp before is that this development would have Jennings Street running alongside; this street should be in prime consideration for a Southside access streetcar line once the powers that hold the purse-strings wake up to the need for this sort of transportation system for in-town Cowtown. Starting at Fort Worth Central Station the train could travel across 9th Street with a stop at the Convention Center front door to Hyde Park, cut south, stop in the park, cross 10th Street and Throckmorton at one crossing with integrated traffic signal control, and head south on Jennnings past City Hall, across Lancaster, and under the old tunnel and into the Southside. Jennings could take the streetcar al the way to Magnolia.
I was pleased to see that other minds that contribute here had "independently" come up with ideas similar to what I thought would work best to suit this need. One other thought: if there is still a possibility that a Smithsonian-affiliated museum could be located in the Cultural/Museum District (if Arlington drops that ball...) perhaps the Fort Worth Central Library/Repository could be part of the permanent collection of that facility... Lots of history documented there for a large geographic area from back in the day.
