We recently toured the new Colonial Park and Gallery 1701 apartment developments near Forest Park just off University. Colonial Park and Gallery 1701 are located on Rogers Road, next to the Trinity River and Trinity Trails and just down the street from University Park Village. Both are run by Lincoln Property Company, the same company running the Lofts at West 7th, Lincoln Trinity Bluff, Lincoln Park, and other similar large-scale developments.

Colonial Park and Gallery 1701 are complimentary developments, with Gallery 1701 being the more upscale of the two. Both developments feature a wide range of floor plans and finishes. They are the first two projects we’ve seen completed in this particular part of Fort Worth that actually have an urban feel and design to them, so in a sense they are the first step in densifying and urbanizing University Drive between I-30 and the zoo/Forest Park.

We begin our tour in Colonial Park, seen above from Rogers Road.

Colonial Park’s ground floor features apartments and the building’s fitness center, with three-sided views of the Trinity Trails and surroundings.

Here, we’ve moved in to a first-floor unit. Some units, like this one, feature bamboo floors. Units in Colonial Park range from efficiencies of 357 square feet, to one bedrooms between 672 and 1,038 square feet, and two bedrooms between 1,036 and 1,654 square feet.

The living room area of the first-floor unit. The units at both Colonial Park and Gallery 1701 feature open loft-style floor plans.

The dining area, and a view out the sliding glass doors to the exterior.

The loft-inspired design carries over into the bedrooms, separated by a low partial wall rather than being fully enclosed.

The contemporary styling goes all the way to the bathrooms.

Colonial Park’s parking garage is located behind the building, allowing the interiors of the block to become courtyards ringed with apartments. This courtyard contains the building’s swimming pool.

This courtyard features pavers, grass, picnic tables and grills.

Next up is a higher-floor two-bedroom unit. This is the second bedroom.

Here’s the kitchen. This unit features boomerang-patterened Formica counters.

The living room, with balcony overlooking Rogers Road.

The master bedroom.

The view from the balcony. The thick trees mark the location of the Trinity River and Trinity Trails.

Looking down Rogers Road, with Gallery 1701 across the street.

Typical balcony at Colonial Park.

Inside one of the bathrooms of the two-bedroom unit.

Another angle in the bathroom, looking back out toward the bedroom.

Another view of the two-bedroom’s living room.

Another view of the kitchen, showing off the bamboo floor and track lighting.

Looking through the kitchen to the dining area.

The second bathroom.

Next, we go across the street to Gallery 1701, which is a bit more upscale with higher-end finishes and features like stainless steel appliances and granite counters. Gallery 1701 is built atop a partially below-grade parking garage.

The Gallery 1701 lobby. The common spaces at Gallery 1701 are spacious. While Colonial Park has open-air hallways, Gallery 1701’s are climate-controlled.

Gallery 1701’s pool, which is located at the corner of the development looking out toward the Trinity River and Trinity Trails.

Another pool view, showing off the park-side setting of the development.

We start off in a two-bedroom unit. Apartments in Gallery 1701 range from one bedrooms of 659-930 square feet to two bedrooms of 1,276-1,371 square feet.

Living room. The units in Gallery 1701 feature very large balconies, and they can be accessed from either the living room or bedroom.

Master bedroom with balcony view.

Typical balcony at Gallery 1701.

The loft-inspired design is also found at Gallery 1701, as living room and bedroom are separated by partial walls allowing light to spill over between them.

Gallery 1701 master bathroom. This bathroom featured large shelves and cabinets, a tub in the center, and a large walk-in shower behind it just out of camera view.

Reverse angle looking out toward the master bedroom.

This shot of the kitchen shows the typical finishes in Gallery 1701.

Dining area view.

Second bedroom.

Next up is a one-bedroom, one of the larger one-bedrooms in the building. This unit featured a spacious bedroom with the same sort of wall cut-out seen in the two-bedroom.

This one-bedroom showed off a different color scheme.

This unit’s bathroom featured a separate tub and glass shower.

The kitchen in the one-bedroom unit.

Colonial Park and Gallery 1701 are leasing now. Lincoln is offering three free months, which can be prorated out over the course of a 13-month lease. Colonial Park is located at 1700 Rogers Road, while Gallery 1701 is across the street (1701 Rogers Road, naturally). For more information on the developments, check out their web sites:

http://www.colonialparkapts.com/
http://www.gallery1701.com/

The Brace Building, at the northeast corner of 8th Avenue & Magnolia in the Near Southside, finally had its day with the demolition crew. The historic two-story load-bearing brick structure came down on Sunday, as crews tore into it with heavy equipment while spraying water on the debris to keep down asbestos dust.

The building has been demolished to make way for a Comerica bank. The new bank has been the subject of a long-running feud between Comerica and neighborhood interests, as Comerica has been pushing to build a single-story building with a fake second floor, while bodies such as Fort Worth South, Inc., and Historic Fairmount have been pressuring Comerica to construct a building of at least two real floors so that the building could serve a mix of uses in the future after Comerica leaves. We expect some news on changes to the new construction soon and will report more once we hear it.

Next up in the seemingly endless wave of small mixed-use buildings being constructed in the Near Southside is this structure, which will be built on Lipscomb across from the mixed-use building we featured yesterday. That’s the explanation for the fenced-in vacant lot across the street noticed by some of you.

This building will be a ground-floor office for Dr. Gurpreet Bajaj’s orthopedic clinic, with loft apartments above. It is another in the long line of mixed-use buildings designed by TMA Architects, who designed the Aggarwal Building, Dalal Building, and more.

Construction hasn’t quite started yet on the Bajaj Building, but from the looks of the site, it may not be much longer. Click the renderings for a larger view – the rendering above is the Lipscomb (west) facade, while the rendering below is the south facade.

TMA Architects

We reported on this not long ago – another new mixed-use building rising in the Near Southside – and now we’ve got a look at the finished product. The building will feature a ground-floor medical office for Dr. Ved V. Aggarwal, while the second floor will feature four apartments, two of which are 1 bedroom/1 bath plans and the other two of which are 1 bedroom/1 bath/study plans. Above is the building’s eastern elevation, facing Lipscomb, while the other elevations are of the west, south, and north elevations. The building is the latest in an ever-longer string of small mixed-use buildings by TMA Architects, who previously designed Oleander Plaza, Pennsylvania Lofts, the Dalal Building, and the Red Oak Foundation mixed-use building near Montgomery Plaza.

Just a heads-up on a new blog that promises to be interesting: our friend Mark “Hawkeye” Louis, of 96.3 KSCS fame, has just started a new blog. Metroplexing will serve as Mark’s comparison of living in Fort Worth and Dallas, as he now lives in Dallas after 20 years of living in Fort Worth. It’s brand-new, but one we’re definitely going to watch, as we imagine it will serve as a great jumping-off point for discussions on the age-old topic of Fort Worth vs. Dallas.

Thanks for letting us know, Mark – looking forward to seeing what you write!

Capital Bar, the new drinking establishment near the West 7th development, looks like it’s nearly finished up. The conversion of the formerly humble building into an elaborate bar with a gi-normous rooftop deck must be one of the more radical redevelopments in recent Fort Worth history. Here’s a screenshot of the old Google Street View look at the building before redevelopment:

One thing we noticed that is unfortunate – the developer did not put in any sidewalks. The sidewalk space is entirely taken up by planters. Given the area’s redevelopment into a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use area with developments like West 7th, leaving out sidewalks is an unfortunate black mark on what is otherwise a very cool project. As the area densifies further in the future, the lack of sidewalks here will be rather frustrating for pedestrians.

Capital Bar is rumored to be opening very soon – we expect to hear a more solid date any day now.

Cook Children’s is in the middle of the largest expansion project in their history at their main Near Southside location. The expansion will bring the total number of beds at the medical complex to 400, up from 297.

Currently, a large pit has been dug along 7th Avenue and Pennsylvania, and the segment of 7th running alongside Thistle Hill has been closed as a result. Two tower cranes have risen over the site as the new expansion starts to rise. In addition, a nearby parking garage is being expanded, and new columns are rising from it to add additional floors.

This new infill development is rising just to the north of Rosedale. While there isn’t much information visible on the signage around the site, we’re going to guess that it’s another example of a medical office on the ground floor and apartments on the second floor (the site is located in an area with the Near Southside’s T4-N zoning – the “N” indicates that all developments must include residential uses). No architect sign was visible, though it resembes some of the other developments designed by TMA Architects, so they’re our leading candidate.

It’s good to see some infill activity to the north of Rosedale, and we look forward to seeing the building finishing out in the weeks ahead. Click the photos for a larger view.

Scharbauer Hall at TCU, located on the new campus commons, is nearing completion – the photo above shows just how far it’s come since the last time we looked at it. Scharbauer Hall is a new classroom building that will allow the consolidation of AddRan College into Reed Hall and Scharbauer Hall. Rather than being connected to Reed, as the old Brown-Lupton Student Center on this site was, Scharbauer Hall will be separated from Reed by a courtyard.

Below is a site plan showing the design of the courtyard and other grounds around Scharbauer. Click for a larger view.