Report to Members & Partners

February 2002

T&P Pedestrian Tunnel - Expect the tunnel connecting the Vickery parking lot to the TRE trains and the lobby of the T&P Depot to be open in May when the bus transfer activity begins at the Vickery Boulevard transfer platform. Delay is due to some final work on the tunnel and the planning associated with rescheduling bus schedules and routes.

Hot Damn - Angele Stavron's little tamale business, Hot Damn, Tamales! has grown to the point where they need more space. They've relocate manufacturing activities from 713 W. Magnolia to 2415 Cullen and their retail outlet is at 3403 W. 7^th Street. On May 11 they will open a retail store at the new Fort Worth Public Market in the former Santa Fe Freight House on Jones Street.

They'll join 16 other vendors, a full scale fine restaurant, and a weekend farmer's market in what will become a very special place.

Day Labor Center - Located at 2016 15^th Ave.(east of Forest Park and north of I-30), this City sponsored activity is the place to find the day laborers that used to go to work along Lancaster. The center opened on January 14. On one day last week 60 workers signed in, 22 contractors came by to find help, and there were 41 job placements. The center doesn't set rates. Wages are negotiated between the parties, and generally range from $7 to $10 per hour. About 15% of the workers are currently homeless. The rest come from all over the city. Most arrive by car. 10% arrive by bus. Warren Harris runs the center for the city. A good guy. Phone 871-8720.

Rosedale - Forest Park to Main Street - TXU pole line is being relocated, and it looks like two property owners will pay to place the wires underground. Most utility work will be completed in August although some major underground water and sewer line work near 12^th Avenue that will take longer. Construction on the roadway will begin in September and continue through the end of 2003. Traffic will, in the worst case, be one lane each way with a dedicated left hand turn lane. Rosedale - Main Street to I-35 -Utility work started in December 2001 and is pretty much completed. The three large railroad bridges will be replaced by four. Completion of this section is projected to be January 2004. Rosedale - I-35 to SH 287 - Texas Department of Transportation is now acquiring property to permit the widening of this section of East Rosedale. TXDOT expects to let the utility construction contracts in late 2003.

5^th Avenue 2-way - 5^th Avenue, which now handles only southbound traffic, will begin handling two-way traffic between Cooper and Rosedale during the week of March 11. In the future most of 5^th Avenue will become a 2-way Harris Methodist campus driveway.

Fire Station #8 - As a result of the widening of Rosedale St., the fire station located at W. Rosedale and S. Lake will be relocated to the southeast corner of W. Rosedale and 12^th Avenue. The new station will face Rosedale with driveway access to both Rosedale and 12^th Avenue. The four-bay drive-through building of 13,000 sf will use some property currently occupied by the Fort Worth & Western Railroad. The City is acquiring the railroad right-of-way between Rosedale and Mistletoe. The overhead railroad bridge of Rosedale will be removed and the railroad fill material will be graded out to fill in the low areas. There's quite a bit of underground water and sewer work to be done so construction on the new station will not begin until the end of the year.

Banners - The new blue FWS banners"THE NEW URBAN VILLAGE - FORT WORTH SOUTH" are being installed around the district. If you'd like to have one in front of your property please give Jim Eggleston, ABC Flag, a call at 335-2548. The hardware, banner, and installation cost $200. Jim is currently the Treasurer of Fort Worth South, Inc.

History-Class - Half of the 192 apartments at the Homes of Parker Commons at 905 South Jennings are leased. The units in the two historic school buildings have attracted the most attention. We've been surprised that only 12 of the residents work in one of the five local hospitals. We expect local employees will become a growing proportion of residents as people learn about the new options. Homes at Parker has loft units and 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartment units renting from $497 to $1,000 per month. Phone 817-870-1739.

Fort Worth South Technology Business Association forming - Please contact Rick Matus of Pointwise, Inc. ([email protected]) or Nelson Claytor of Fresnel Technologies, Inc. ([email protected]) if you are interested in joining a FWS Technology Business Association. The purpose is to address issues specific to technology companies (e.g. technical workforce development and telecom infrastructure) as well as to attract more technology companies to Fort Worth South.

Partner's Breakfast - All members and guests are encouraged to join us to "just talk business" at 8 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. March's meeting will be hosted by Adrian Davis at the Wellness 4 Life Fitness Center, 1401 South Main, in the former St. Joseph’s Hospital chapel space, which has been remodeled as an exercise area, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., on Wednesday, March 6.

Quoin - It is a masonry term for the cornerstone of a building or the strongest point of a structure, but it is also the new name of the consolidated DFW chapter of the Associated General Contractors. The Fort Worth office of AGC opened at 417 Fulton Street (north of Pennsylvania & east of Henderson) in 1978 and has just completed a major $700,000 renovation and expansion of the 15,000 sf office building and parking area. Quoin's Fort Worth office has five employees. Every day about 60 contractors come to the Quoin offices to review construction plans for new Metroplex projects that have been put out for bid.

Mixed-Use Zoning - On February 28 Fort Worth South, Inc. met with a group of property owners of parcels adjacent to the intersections of Magnolia, Hemphill, and Rosedale. The purpose was to introduce FWS's plan to rezone the area called Magnolia Village to the new mixed-use MU-1 zoning category, and at the same time adopt FWS's Urban Design Guidelines over the same area. Both changes will support and encourage new development. The response from the owners was very positive. The initial submission to the Zoning Commission will include properties adjacent to the intersections of Hemphill, W. Magnolia, W. Rosedale, as well as selected areas along both sides of W. Magnolia. FWS will use the new petition based process that's part of the MU zoning ordinance. It allows for the rezoning of multiple parcel/multiple owner areas with 1) the endorsement of owners of at least 50% of the area and 50% of the parcels, 2) the City staff's endorsement, and 3) conformity with the City's Comprehensive Plan.

Trees - The City's Parks and Community Service Department has planted 55 new red oak trees along W. Magnolia in the formerly vacant tree wells. With a little time (25 years) and attention, the trees should be about 40 feet tall and create a wonderful canopy over the sidewalk. As an aside, grackles like evergreens, light, warmth, and trash!

Have / Want

For sale - 500-512 S Freeway, formerly Railway Controls, Ltd., 27,352 sf bldg, 46,200 sf site, $850,000, Huck Newberry, 332-6300

Have office bldg for lease - 219 S. Main, historic 3-story, 13,500 sf, former Regian & Wilson Adv., Linda Clark, 924-1987

Have office bldg for lease - unique, fully restored historic Fire Station #5, 503 Bryan, 5,000 sf on 2 floors, , Linda Clark, 924-1987

Have studio apartment - 1000 W. Magnolia, 2 units, 1,130 sf, above the police station, $825 per month, Nancy Medford 688-1744

Have loft apartments - 750 sf & 1,550 sf, Modern Drug Village, 709 W. Magnolia, Fran McCarthy 233-4040

Members - There are now 222 dues paying members of FWS, Inc. Since the beginning of the year we have added 21 new members, lost one, and the owners of St. Joseph Professional Buildings upgraded their membership level. These are February's additions: