Officials Release Designs for Hughes House Development in Stop Six

by

Fort Worth Housing Solutions and the City of Fort Worth have approved final designs for Phase I of Hughes House, the mixed-use development that will bring 210 apartments and townhomes with a variety of floor plans to the Stop Six neighborhood by 2023.

The Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative will emerge on portion of the former Cavile Place public housing site along East Rosedale Street and Amanda Avenue and will include about 12,000-square feet of ground-level commercial space ideal for neighborhood businesses. Crews are expected to break ground in June, with substantial completion planned by Dec. 31, 2023.

Two additional phases also will be part of Hughes House, which takes its name from famed Dunbar High School basketball coach Robert Hughes Sr. Basketball-themed bollards are envisioned for the property’s Rosedale-Amanda entrance and in recreational and greenspaces as a tribute to the coaching legend.

Hughes, the winningest high school boys basketball coach in history, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017. While winning games led to fame, it was positively impacting the lives of his players and students that is his legacy.

Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem Gyna Bivens, whose District 5 includes Stop Six, says Hughes House design approval marks a significant milestone in the transformation of the community.

“Hughes House will be a new center of activity for Stop Six, a place where people can visit from their porch, walk from their homes to neighborhood businesses and services and enjoy playtime with their children — it’s just incredible to see the pieces coming together,” Bivens says in a statement. “The overall master plan truly honors the leadership Coach Hughes provided in our community as he mentored generations of players, fans, and families.”

Rental units will range in size from a 668-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment to a 1,621-square-foot, four-bedroom townhome on two levels. Units also will be available in two- and three-bedroom configurations. Amenities will include a community swimming pool and splash pad, a fitness center, and dog park. Plans also call for a linear park that will connect future phases and provide a pedestrian path east to Rosedale Park, and a future community hub.

“All of our partners have poured heart and soul into the vision for Hughes House,” says Mary-Margaret Lemons, Fort Worth Housing Solutions president. “Our collective goal is to provide beautiful homes in a desirable community with access to services and amenities that allow people to thrive.

“We can’t wait to see the transformation that will take place.”

Hughes House is the second housing phase called for in the Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative. Construction of Cowan Place Senior Living, at East Rosedale and Stalcup Road, began in September. Pre-leasing for the 174-unit community designed for residents 62 and older is scheduled to begin in 2022.

The effort is seeded by a 2020 U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant focused on transforming housing, neighborhood improvements, and support for residents who previously lived in J.A. Cavile Place public housing community. Cavile’s 300 units were demolished this year to make room for modern residential development. Former residents relocated to homes of their choice with rental assistance and have the right to return as new communities come online.

Hughes House is designed as a walkable environment. Residential buildings face the street with resident parking tucked away behind the homes and street-facing front porches and sidewalks encouraging interaction with passersby. Parking for the mixed-use buildings along Rosedale will also be tucked behind, connected to the street-facing retail and resident amenities with paseos, said Michael J. Bennett, principal and CEO of Bennett Partners, architect for the development.

“We worked to design a place where anyone would want to live. We focused on creating a great neighborhood and designed the buildings around that,” Bennett said. “There really isn’t another neighborhood like this in town. It will welcome a diversity of incomes and family types and we believe attract other development. We think it will be fabulous for Fort Worth and this community.”

In the coming months, development partner McCormack Baron Salazar of St. Louis and general contractor Block Companies, of Houston and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, will finalize construction budgets, secure permits and financing, and conduct an outreach campaign to recruit local subcontractors and workers interested in participating in the construction effort.

Interested subcontractors should contact Wendy Taylor of the Kuniklo Corp. at [email protected] or (623) 505-4855, Ext. 6. Potential workers from the Fort Worth area should contact Jerome Johnson, Fort Worth Houston Solutions Workforce Coordinator Jerome Johnson at [email protected].

The project timeline is tight to meet the Dec. 31 completion deadline, a requirement of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, says Louis J. Bernardy, McCormack Baron Salazar senior vice president and Texas development director. The agency awarded Hughes House a 9% tax credit to help finance the project and encourage development of affordable housing.

“A lot will be happening over the next few weeks to engage with businesses, meet with small contractors and keep city leaders up-to-date along the way — all so we can get to our June closing and bring this vision to reality,” Bernardy says. “We know that Hughes House will be an incredible catalyst for Stop Six that will attract the people and economic development needed to create a sustainable, inclusive, and desirable neighborhood of choice.”