The City of Fort Worth must consider new plans for how to develop its Historic Southside neighborhood.
Following multiple years of delays, Fort Worth officials have agreed to cancel a $70 million mixed-use development project that would have brought nearly 300 multi-family units, live-work units, townhomes, as well as retail and office space to the city’s Historic Southside, NBC 5 DFW reports.
Dallas-based investment company Hoque Global was given the green light to build the Evans and Rosedale Redevelopment project in 2018, but despite receiving overwhelming support from community members and city officials, the $70 million development failed to get off the ground.
While the decision to cancel Hoque Global’s contract was met with disappointment by some community members, District 8 Council Member Chris Nettles of Fort Worth says it was necessary to maintain the city’s promise to the community.
“For our efforts to make sure that something does happen, we have to move in a different direction,” Nettles said, per NBC 5.
Considering development activity has fallen behind in Fort Worth’s Historic Southside, community members were hopeful the Evans and Rosedale project would breathe life into the neighborhood.
“At this moment, as you can see, there’s not a lot that’s here,” said James Walker, president of the Historic Southside Neighborhood Association, per NBC 5. “The development that we were looking for to take place would have meant a lot to the community.”
In response to losing its contract, a spokesperson for Hogue Global said, “No one has wanted the timeline for Evans and Rosedale to move along and meet deadlines more than we have.”
“The project with deep community engagement has required time and detail, and we have followed the city’s lead, all during very challenging economic times,” the spokesperson told NBC 5. “Initial construction launch dates were impacted, and real estate cycles have been missed.”
Although construction plans were completed at the start of 2023, the spokesperson says the city failed to promptly process the project’s building permits and had not yet completed its process for environmental clearance with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
However, city officials claim the TCEQ permit could not be issued until the developer closed on the land.
“They have never been able to come to the table to secure financing and close on the land, and so we have not been able to move further into the process,” Nettles said, per NBC 5. “That’s not acceptable. We can’t continue to push it along.”
As for the next steps for Historic Southside, “… we’ve got to start over from scratch, we have to go vet another developer, bring them in, and work the process over,” Walker told NBC 5.
