City of Fort Worth
A rendering of the planned development.
The development company that has remade the Fort Worth Stockyards intends to pour another $630 million into development in the city’s historic district.
City staff briefed the City Council during its meeting on Tuesday night on plans by the Fort Worth Heritage Development to add 300,000 square feet of commercial space and 500 hotel rooms over 17 acres just north of Cowtown Coliseum. The firm’s plans also include a minimum of 295 apartments.
The city would provide incentives to the development company, including annual grants estimated at slightly more than $71 million total, as well as the city’s purchase of two underground parking garages with 1,300 spaces.
Scheduled date of completion is December 2032.
Said District 2 Councilman Carlos Flores, who represents the Stockyards area: “This proposal is based on a proven framework to the original 380 agreement, which gave us the successful phase one development through that public-private partnership and that has exceeded financial expectations, and that’s to be commended.”
Fort Worth Heritage Development is a collaboration between Majestic Realty Co. and Hickman Companies, and development partner M2G Ventures of Fort Worth.
The council is expected to be asked at its meeting on June 25 to update its economic development agreement with Fort Worth Heritage, which had originally planned a $75 million investment and two above-ground parking garages in Phase 2 of a planned three-stage development program. Under the original deal, the city was to reimburse the developer $20 million a year from the Stockyards tax district.
A replacement of the previously approved TIF agreement will have to be approved by the Stockyards tax district. That will likely go before its members in August.
City of Fort Worth
The proposed site of the new development.
Phase 1 — the acreage that includes Mule Alley and the Hotel Drover — has been an overwhelming success for the private and public stakeholders, dramatically increasing the value of the land and resulting in nine million visitors annually to the Stockyards.
Phase 2 will include property three times the size of Phase 1, according to Michael Hennig, the member of the city’s economic development team who briefed the council on Tuesday.
Under the proposal, the developer would make about $15 million in improvements to Cowtown Coliseum and facilities for the Fort Worth Herd, including a new barn structure, horse stalls and steer pens, and a covered arena for steers and horses to warm up. The arena would also support operations at the coliseum.
The city would pay back those investments through the creation of a new “Project Financing Zone,” which allows cities to collect taxes for improvements to public arenas and convention centers. Fort Worth used them to construct Dickies Arena and make improvements to the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The city would be responsible for the maintenance costs at those facilities.
The city will also buy the planned underground parking garages at a cost not to exceed $126 million and then enter into a 30-year lease agreement with the developer.