Don’t forget - tonight is First Friday at Magnolia Green Park in the Near Southside! Bring your friends and family, along with blankets and chairs, for the second in Fort Worth South’s new series of live music events. Tonight’s First Friday will feature the Josh Weathers Band and JZ & Dirty Pool. The great Chadra Mezza & Grill will be providing food, which is always a big plus.
Magnolia Green is the mixed-use development bounded by Magnolia, Alston, Rosedale, and Hemphill. Magnolia Green Park itself is located on Lipscomb in the heart of the development, across the street from the Magnolia Green Townhomes by Village Homes.
I hope to see a lot of you there - I’ll be in attendance taking photos. See you then!
The Carillion Group’s big party on November 15th now has a flyer. As you can see, it’s “four parties in one” - a grand opening for the Sawyer Grocery Buildings, an appreciation of Wachovia which financed the project, a going-away party for Daniel Carey of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Fort Worth office, and a tenant party for residents of all the properties restored by the Carillion Group (which would be the Markeen Apartments, the Leuda-May Apartments, the LaSalle Apartments, and now the Sawyer Grocery apartments).
Three musical acts will be performing - Tom Reynolds & the Jazz Explosion at 5:00 PM, Ginny Mac at 7:00 PM, and Banjo Bossa Nova & the Leuda May All-Stars at 9:00 PM. Rahr beer will be flowing and Brad Henserling of The Chat Room and (eventually) The Usual will be on hand mixing up the Prohibition-era cocktails he’ll be serving up when The Usual opens at last on Magnolia.
So, Saturday, November 15th, from 5:00 PM until “late,” stop by 201 South Main in the Near Southside for what’s sure to be a heck of a party.
At long last, the funding for improving the West Rosedale streetscape and re-narrowing the street is finally in place. Last month, the Board of Directors of Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District #4 voted to contribute funds to the project, to go along with funds from the city and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Fort Worth South, Inc. says that final design will last through most of 2009, with construction likely to begin in early 2010.
The improvements to West Rosedale come after the street was converted to a six-lane high-speed arterial by federal funds. Because the federal dollars dictated the un-urban six-lane highway configuration, the city agreed to retrofit the street into a slower and more pedestrian-friendly design after TxDOT finished the project. As it exists now, West Rosedale is far too wide, too fast, and very pedestrian unfriendly. The improvement project seeks to correct those problems. Sidewalks will be improved, street trees will be planed along the sidewalks and in the median, and the outside lane on each side will be converted into on-street parking with curb bulb-outs and such.
This rendering I’ve been sent ought to give a good idea of what to expect when Ellerbe Fine Foods opens in the old gas station at 7th Avenue and Magnolia. As I was hoping, they’re planning on turning the old pump island area into a large outdoor dining area. Definitely a big improvement!
I hope to be getting a chance to have a chat with the folks behind Ellerbe Fine Foods and will bring more info about the new eatery once I have it. Until then, click the rendering for a bigger view:
The next First Friday On The Green will be on November 7th from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Admission is free - though you can bring a cat or dog toy for the Human Society. Music from the Josh Weathers Band w/ JZ & Dirty Pool. Come out to Magnolia Green Park on Lipscomb between Magnolia and Rosedale for an evening of live tunes.
The redevelopment of the former Sawyer Grocery buildings at South Main and Daggett, built in 1909 and 1910, has been progressing steadily since the last time I took a walk through the development. In fact, developer Eddie Vanston has progressed so much that the upstairs apartments are already being occupied. The photos here show the finished look of the apartments on the second floor of the buildings, with the last photo showing where most of the work is at now - finishing out the buildings’ retail spaces.
If you’re curious about one of the apartments, better check them out soon - only a few are left of the 14 total. Rents range from the mid $600s to around $1200 per month. For more info, check out the Carillion Group’s site, oldbuilding.com.
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At the old gas station at 7th Avenue & Magnolia in the Near Southside, an alcohol sales permit has appeared in the window for an “Ellerbe Fine Foods.” There’s a web site for the place, ellerbefinefoods.com, but it’s just a teaser at the moment.
What I’m hearing is that Ellerbe Fine Foods will be a combination of a sit-down “white tablecloth” fine dining restaurant and a prepared take-home foods market. With so little info currently out there on the place, though, I would not take that as 100% confirmed until I hear more.
Here’s hoping that the new tenant takes advantage of the old gas station awning to put in a huge outdoor dining area and keep the cars parked to the rear instead of along Magnolia. As I hear more about Ellerbe Fine Foods I’ll fill in the blanks.
Thanks to everybody who sent this bit of news in!
For your viewing pleasure, here are three rough views of the streetcar starter system. Now, for the disclaimers:
This map is not final and all routes are subject to refinement based on engineering processes. This should not be taken as a final, officially endorsed map. This map is solely to give a general idea of the initial streetcar system. It is based on the voted and established corridors and general buzz coming from the streetcar committee meetings but is subject to change.
There are three views - a satellite view, a satellite view with labels, and a map view. This is not final or official but should give at least a good idea of what the initial system is planned to be - just an idea of the general layout of things and what to expect. A visual to help summarize the recent news coming from the committee.
(It would especially surprise me if the actual streetcar wound up on such a big loop in the Cultural District, but for the purposes of this visual it will work.)
At a meeting held last Friday, the Streetcar Study Committee finally decided on what route the modern streetcar line will take through the Near Southside. While there was a push originally for Hemphill and Rosedale, in the end the selection went to the alternative. The Near Southside streetcar alignment was chosen to be the South Main/Magnolia/7th Avenue to hospitals alignment shown previously on Fort Worthology.
EDIT: Based on Mr. Brennan’s comments below I have edited the post to include an alignment which will likely be closer to the finished product, as the line will not go down to Henderson. I’ve changed it to the simple loop by Cook Children’s, as this is closer to what was discussed.
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Personally, I think this is a good thing. Magnolia and South Main are both designated Urban Villages, and both are identified by Fort Worth South’s new zoning and development standards as “main streets” for neighborhood development. Bringing the line down South Main will be a boost to the redevelopment efforts already underway there (along with many cool things in planning), and it will only bring more activity and new development to Magnolia. Bringing the line down to Magnolia puts it within easy walking distance from JPS, and the rest of the alignment links Baylor, Plaza, Cook Children’s, and Harris. It’s an alignment that connects the establishments that make the Near Southside the second-largest employment center in town behind downtown with the current (and future) destination streets that are encouraging so much new interest and activity in the district.
Previous posts revealed some desire to have the line on Rosedale to spur development on that street. I understand these desires - Rosedale is pretty sad in its current state. By looking at the experiences of other cities like Portland, though, the streetcar spurred new development and investment on more than just the blocks fronting the tracks. Rosedale’s two blocks away from Magnolia - I would expect it to get new development as well. I think this will also help to densify Oleander. Finally, Magnolia is not hurting for new development potential - there are still plenty of vacant lots on the street, not to mention some unremarkable existing buildings (mostly post-WWII) that could come down without much real loss.
So that’s my take - what’s yours?
Here’s a little head-up on something that’ll be occurring next month: local developer Eddie Vanston will be celebrating the completion of his redevelopment of the historic Sawyer Grocery buildings on South Main into apartments over retail on Saturday, November 15, starting at 5:00 PM. The party will be held in one of the ground-floor retail spaces. Rahr will be had, and music shall be played: jazz guitarist Tom Reynolds will start things off, and accordion player Ginny Mac and her band will keep things going with her cajun & big band interpretations.
I’ll write more as the date approaches, but just wanted to throw this out there now.
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