Report to Members & Stakeholders December 2000 Year Five - Fort Worth South, Inc. is now halfway through its fifth year of operation. Thanks to many, the District is primed for extraordinary change. St. Joe - The trustee, U.S. Trust Company, and their advisors are now gathering information to sell the old St. Joseph's Hospital, again. Recall that Heritage Geriatric Housing Development bought this property from Columbia HCA in September 1996 along with eight other closed hospitals in Texas, Florida, and Illinois. After a major ($15 million) rehabilitation of a third of the 600,000 square foot complex, it opened the 156-bed Alzheimer's care facility in July 1998. The business went into bankruptcy in May 2000, forcing the closure of the facility. There are currently eight commercial tenants occupying about 40,000 sf. in the building. Finally - The Mehl building at 1204 W. Magnolia is to be renovated for reuse as apartments and retail/commercial space.This three-story mixed use building with first floor commercial space, located on the corner of Henderson and Magnolia, was built in 1916 for B. Max Mehl, a world renowned numismatist whose clients included Winston Churchill, President Roosevelt, Amon Carter, and Adolph Menjou. His business was located behind an elegantly cast stone storefront that faces Magnolia. In recent years the vacant building has been home to pigeons and the largest climbing vine in the District. Interior demolition has begun, and occupancy is expected in about 12 months. Gideon Toal - Trinity Pain Management purchased the old Dr. Pepper bottling plant at 1401Henderson that has in recent years been the headquarters for FWS member Gideon Toal, Architects and Planners. Gideon Toal will relocate to the 14th floor of the Bank of America tower on 7th Street on January 1. This may only be a temporary stop for them since they have purchased the old Ellis Pecan Building on North Main. That building was constructed as a Ku Klux Klan hall in May 1924, fire bombed in November 1924, rebuilt and used as a boxing arena in the mid '30s. Ellis Pecan bought it in 1946. Street Sweeping - The City's contractor, Infrastructure Services, Inc., provides monthly street sweeping on the major corridors through the District. Weekly sweeping is provided along the streets adjacent to the hospitals. Mechanized sweeping of the less traveled and residential streets is provided only by special request to the City's Street Services dispatch office at 871-8100. In the Central Business District the street are swept often, sidewalks are pressure washed five nights per week, and extra day pickup and whisk broom cleaning occurs six days per week. This extra cleaning service is all paid for by a Public Improvement District in which property owners have agreed to tax themselves to fund extra services to enhance the appearance of the area. Central Cities Residential Study - Fort Worth South, Inc. and Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. have joined forces with a group of other private and public funding sources to assess the demand for central city housing. Work will begin in January and should be completed in April. MPF Research will be the primary contractor with local support from Integra Realty Resources. An interesting component of the study will be three surveys of Fort Worth residents. The first will poll current central cities residents, the second will poll people working in the downtown and medical district, and the third will poll existing single family home owners living outside the central cities area Annual Meeting — Fort Worth South’s Annual Meeting of its Board of Directors, members, and stakeholders will be held on Tuesday, January 23, 2001, at 4:00 pm, at the Women’s Club of Fort Worth, 1316 Pennsylvania Avenue. As has been our custom over the last four years, the annual meeting is open to anyone interested in learning more about the revitalization project. Please join us as our guests. Membership - Welcome to two new members. There are now 186 members of the company:
Special Thanks to somefolks who have recently brightened up our lives at FWS: Earl Cox, A.L. Lock, and OFCO Office Furniture — Thanks for the donation of the meeting and conference tables. They dress up the office environment and make doing business more pleasant. Homer Dowd, & the Alann and Charles Bedford Fund of the Community Foundation of North Texas— Thanks for the $2,000 grant. It will be used in combination with other resources to create a streetscape design for the "Oleander Walk" corridor. Oleander is the lane that runs for about 1/2-mile east-west from Hurley to College between Rosedale and Magnolia. In the FWS master plan it is envisioned as a pedestrian spline through a multifamily residential development of for-purchase and for-rent units. John Robinson and the Amon G. Carter Foundation — Thanks for the extraordinary grant of $25,000 to Historic Southside for use by Fort Worth South in support of the revitalization project. Many will recall that in 1996 the Carter Foundation donated $30,000 to the initiative. It was used to finish remodeling the interior space of the historic building on the corner of College and Magnolia, which became home to 65 police officers of Neighborhood Policing Division #8. This early effort to deal with public safety concerns has served as the catalyst for much of the redevelopment that has followed. I recommend a book: Suburban Nation - The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. It defines the societal parameters within which initiatives like Fort Worth South are advanced. A few thoughts from the book: Growth - There is bad growth — sprawl, toward which most people feel indifferent at best. There is no growth, a situation difficult to sustain and often unrealistic. The third choice is good growth, or creating places to which people are attracted. Places like Charleston, Boston’s Beacon Hill, Nantucket, Sante Fe, Carmel, and others. In Fort Worth, as in most other cities around the country, this type of good growth is "illegal." Zoning ordinances created in the ‘50’s and still in effect prevent the replication of these kinds of mixed-use special places. Places where land use regulations permit a mix of residential and retail and commercial uses on the same site or in the same building. The mixed-use zoning ordinance now being considered by our City Council is a first step toward encouraging good growth in our community. Prerequisites for Street Life - The first rule is that pedestrian life cannot exist in the absence of worthwhile destinations that are easily accessible on foot. The second rule is that street space must not only be safe, but also feel safe; third, the street space must be comfortable; and fourth, the street must be interesting. Think about Magnolia Avenue and South Main Street and Evans Avenue. The goal of Fort Worth South is street life. The economic vitality comes with it. Middle Class Housing Crisis - In 1970, about 50 percent of families could afford a median-priced home. By 1990 less than 25 percent of families were able to afford a median-priced home. While there are many reasons for the change, the most significant is that in today’s environment every single adult in a household must drive a car in order to be able to function. According to AAA, the average cost of owning a Ford Escort - one of the cheapest cars available - is over $6,000 per year. At conventional mortgage rates, that translates into more than $60,000 in home-purchasing power, i.e. two cars pays for a home! Wonder how things would change if people could live comfortably near where they work? Have / Want 1015 Henderson - Have climate controlled warehouse storage space, 50 sf to 1,500 sf, month to month, Shurgard, call Laura Gray, toll free 1-877-589-8264. 210 St. Louis - Have Historic Markeen Apartments, ready for occupancy in January, 1BRs w private porches, just renovated. $850/month, call Suzy @ 214-850-3408. 901 W. Vickery - Have 10,000 sf with office space & 20,000 sf of storage, call Katy Cairns, $4/sf, 569-7781. 215 S. Jennings — Have first floor retail/office space in the Historic Bicocchi Building, 2,100 sf and/or 3,100 sf, call Rick Matus, 377-2807 ext. 107. 1255 W. Magnolia - Have 1,250 sf office/retail, Wade Building, $12.50 per sf, Tom Reynolds, 336-8005. This newsletter is being sent to 766 Fort Worth South Directors, Members and Stakeholders. Fort Worth Southside Development District, Inc. (dba Fort Worth South, Inc.) is a private, member funded, nonprofit, organization dedicated to the revitalization of the near Southside of Fort Worth. The District is a 1,400-acre area bounded generally by new I-30, Evans Avenue, Allen Avenue, and the Tarantula Railroad. www.fortworthsouth.org |