18 replies to this topic

[Stadtplan]

A PDC was filed today 1/12/24 for a "Montgomery Street Hotel" by consultancy firm Manhard that offices out of this address: 505 Pecan Street Suite 201 Fort Worth, TX 76102 817.897.5008 TBPLS Firm No. 10194754.

https://www.manhard.com/

 

Only a few details so far, no attachments, no parcel info yet.  Hoping this is not a La Quinta type hotel.

 

Record PDC-24-0011: 

Pre-Development Conference

Record Status: Pending

 

Project Description:

Montgomery Street Hotel

 

PROJECT INFORMATION

Proposed Square Feet: 245,120

Proposed Use: commercial

 

(Edited to remove Montgomery Corner LLC details as this project is at Montgomery / Byers and Bryce)

Edited by Nitixope, 29 January 2024 - 09:16 AM.

[george84]

I have always thought that empty land was prime for this kind of development with the proximity to the arena. I bet it will be a nicer hotel than a La Quinta.

[Crestline]

Cool, I've been waiting for someone to come and develop these big empty lots!

 

Below I quote a year-old post about future land use plans at 2501 Montgomery. Based on those plans, I think 2050 Montgomery would be easier to develop into a hotel.

 

 

That lot and the antique mall are all included in the Botanic Garden master plan.  I would assume there's a long term plan and possibly even an agreement of some sort for the city to acquire that land.

 

Ah, crud, you're right. Here's a screenshot from the interactive zoning map future land use categories:

 

 

And another from the comprehensive plan appendix C:

 

 

Relevant quote from the appendix screenshot (note "the west side" rather than "both sides"):

 

12. Encourage compatible development between residential and commercial

properties along the west side of the Montgomery Street corridor.

 

I don't see anything about incorporation of this land into the botanical gardens in their own master planning document from this summer, so it doesn't seem like this is likely to happen soon.

 

Frustrating! In my opinion, Montgomery would make for a better and livelier commercial / residential / cultural corridor with appropriate (large and dense, I think) structures on this land. It would be nice if those structures had a public bike-and-pedstrian connection to the botanical gardens, but using the entire frontage for the gardens feels like a missed opportunity.

 

[george84]

When I first came to Fort Worth in 2010, we went to check out UNT after my wife (then girlfriend) was accepted to PA school there. My first impression of the city was what I saw on Montgomery street after exiting. It was not a good first impression. Things have improved on Montgomery with the arena and other developments. Hopefully stuff like this will continue, and Montgomery will become the gateway to the museums that it should be.

[roverone]

Here was that early plan:

 

https://bennett.part...at-14.07.48.png

[rriojas71]

 

When I first came to Fort Worth in 2010, we went to check out UNT after my wife (then girlfriend) was accepted to PA school there. My first impression of the city was what I saw on Montgomery street after exiting. It was not a good first impression. Things have improved on Montgomery with the arena and other developments. Hopefully stuff like this will continue, and Montgomery will become the gateway to the museums that it should be.

 

And Dickies was a huge game changer for the area, I'm suprised it has taken this long to see these type of changes, I would have thought development would be commensurate with the completion of Dickies.

 

I think it was that little bump in the road from 2020 that stunted any potential growth that a new Arena usually produces.

[Urbndwlr]

Yikes, that looks bad. 

That site plan by Holland Basham Architects is inappropriate for that location.  That is a 100% suburban site plan.

There should be no parking lots in front of any buildings, especially on Montgomery Street. 

The parking garage looks like a beast - push it back from Byers, put building area on the south side of it (prob single loaded corridor building, I know not ideal).  Guessing its not tall so could help to make it slightly narrower and taller so can get more building area & not dedicate so much land to car storage. 

Not forcing them to build on south side of garage, so could be a placeholder space that is landscaped in short run, enabling future development on south side of garage.

 

The casitas seem to be a waste of the land - very low density use that arent oriented toward the sidewalks at all. 

[JBB]

What am I missing?  Where are there parking spaces fronting Montgomery?  I don't disagree about a buffer between Byers and the garage.  Couldn't that east-west drive and its surface parking in the center be eliminated and the garage pushed back to the north?  The available information gleaned from these site plans is a little scant, but this looks better than your average La Quinta on the interstate.

[Austin55]

The good thing about PDCs is this is very early in the design process so lots of time for things to change, hopefully for the better.

[John T Roberts]

Austin is correct about PDCs.  Many years ago, I worked on a remodeling of the old warehouse building on Bryce, just to the west of Ramblin' Trail.

[Crestline]

I tried to outline the site in red on this Google Maps screenshot:

 

 

Observations:

 

1) Further to the comments above, I don't think this design adds any new parking on Montgomery, which is good.

2) Further to the comments above, I actually don't mind the medium density of the casitas, because they provide a gentle transition from high density on Montgomery to low density on Owasso, one block away to the west.

3) The big garage on Byers will surely be open for paid public parking during Dickies events. Every little parking lot on Montgomery is being used for that purpose during the rodeo this month, so the demand is there. I do wish they could push the garage north toward the alley in the middle of the development, but this means vacating the alley and relocating the utility poles in it. 

4) I am happy to see that the small apartments' surface parking lot in the southwest corner is being removed. Presumably those apartments will gain access to parking in the new structure or on the new north-south road.

5) I am surprised to see the new north-south road on the west edge of the design. This must be for fire code? Seems excessive; I bet it adds back more asphalt than was removed with the old surface parking lot.

[JBB]

I did not notice the utility poles, but I cannot imagine they would stay in the new development.  Perhaps the parking spaces in that alley space are destined for exclusive use by the apartment residents to replace the lot that's being removed and the north-south drive provides access drive up access directly to the apartments and those spaces from two directions.  There's also what appears to be a garage exit on that drive that could be providing for more efficient traffic flow.  You may be onto something about emergency access and the drive.  I don't know that its excessive enough to cause me much of a moment of pause.

[roverone]

If you notice, in the site plan in post #12 the north small apartment building is replaced with a larger and also another smaller building.

 

Who knows if that is a model anomaly or an indication of a change -- but doing an overlay, the south building is true to position and size.

[Austin55]

I'm very curious how tall the building might be.

[JBB]

If you notice, in the site plan in post #12 the north small apartment building is replaced with a larger and also another smaller building.

 

Who knows if that is a model anomaly or an indication of a change -- but doing an overlay, the south building is true to position and size.

 

It's the same buildings.  They just rougly grayed out the roof of all of them.

[txbornviking]

The site plan certainly raises a lot of questions, but some elevations or street level renderings would really be helpful in conveying the scope and intent of this project

[rriojas71]

It appears that the footprint at the NEC of Bryce and Montgomery we're seeing restaurant , BOH, event is all ground level and the hotel is above.

 

 

 

What are all the dotted lines supposed to signify?

[roverone]

 

If you notice, in the site plan in post #12 the north small apartment building is replaced with a larger and also another smaller building.

 

Who knows if that is a model anomaly or an indication of a change -- but doing an overlay, the south building is true to position and size.

 

It's the same buildings.  They just rougly grayed out the roof of all of them.

 

 

[JBB]

Yes, that's what I was referring to.