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.
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:
A couple of comments left over the last few days shed some light on projects that had slipped off the radar. First, thurman52 reports that the garage and associated development at The Village at Camp Bowie seems to have been shelved, at least for the time being:
It looks like the developers have canned the garage plans. The building in the back that was going to be demolished as part (La Playa)is under going a facelift. I guess the garage can move further West and scale it down but he Lay Playa people said the deal was dead.
Over in the Cultural District, JP writes of the planned Presidio townhomes by CityHomes across the street from Montgomery Plaza:
I talked with a Centex rep yesterday. He said that they are pulling out of this proposed project on Carroll because there’s too much competition with Montgomery Plaza and So7 (and even those places aren’t selling as quickly as planned).
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!
A story on Museum Place by Sandra Baker in the Star-Telegram gives some updates on the Museum Place development:
One Museum Place: The eight-story building, which will serve as the anchor to the development, will have 25,000 square feet at street level for shops and restaurants. Eddie V’s Edgewater Grille is taking 10,000 square feet, and space is committed for a branch for Legacy Texas Bank, Domain, a barber shop, cleaners and Joy Floral….
…3100 Camp Bowie Blvd.: This Flatiron-looking structure where the Texaco station once stood is four stories, with shops on the ground level and offices on the top three floors. Fort Worth law firm Nelson Bumgardner Casto has leased the third floor. This is the building where the yet-to-be-identified national tenant will be, the developers said.
3300 West Seventh St.: This building is to the back of the development and contains the remaining five condos: three two-story units and two single-level units. The street-level space will have a 2,300-square-foot 7-Eleven urban market, which is under construction. The condo sales office will be located here beginning the first week of November.
Post office: The new 6,000-square-foot post office is now open at Bailey Avenue and University Drive. The old post office, about a block away, will come down after the first of the year, in part to make room for an apartment building.
Still to be completed
The Hotel at Museum Place: In February or March, Champ Hospitality is expected to break ground on a $22 million, 140-room aloft brand of the W Hotel chain, a division of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. The six-story hotel will be at Arch Adams Street, between West Seventh Street and Camp Bowie Boulevard.
The Plaza at Museum Place: The 7-Eleven on West Seventh Street, west of University Drive, will be torn down so construction can begin on the first of two five-story apartment buildings. This first building will have 224 apartments on the second through fifth floors. The street-level retail space — about 40,000 square feet — will have mostly restaurants, Garvey said. This building won’t be ready until 2010. Apartments will range in size from 600 to 900 square feet. Rents have not been set.
The Courts at Museum Place: Construction is scheduled to break ground in the spring on the second five-story apartment building. It will also have 224 apartments above a courtyard and street-level space of offices, shops and restaurants. It will be west of the hotel.
The Plaza at Museum Place is the building that will occupy what used to be part of Arch Adams Street, with the new Arch Adams alignment that’s been built marking the edge of the building.
Sources have sent in the first rendering and site plan for the redevelopment of the former Carnival on 8th Avenue in Fairmount by Cook Children’s, and I’ve actually got some good news about the project. While the existing suburban-style layout isn’t going away, unfortunately, and the building’s definitely not going to be winning any beauty contests even after redevelopment, Cook Children’s has decided to try and mitigate the site’s shortcomings with an extensive landscaping and screening makeover.
As seen in the site plan, the blank wall at the rear of the building will be dressed up with new Chinkapin Oak trees. The exposed loading dock on Allen will be enclosed with a gated ornamental fence. The unfortunate front parking lot will be encircled by a new 16″ high curb, in front of which will be new landscaping consisting of Asian Jasmine, Sherwood Abelia, Dwarf Yaupon Holly, and Red Yucca. Sidewalks around the site will be improved, and new Dynamite Crapemyrtles will be planted in sidewalk planters around the site. Finally, new streetlights will be installed around the site as well.
While it’s still going to be an unattractive suburban site plan, the changes will at least dress the site up somewhat, divide off the parking lot with a physical separation, and improve the streetscape with new trees and lights. If the building and site plan have to stay so suburban, rather than a more urban new construction with parking to the rear that I’d personally prefer to see, at least they will be improved. Kudos to Cook Children’s for at least making the effort to improve the existing conditions.
And incidentally…
My source tells me that Cook Children’s originally wasn’t planning to make such extensive site improvements. The changes shown above came about because of people of influence reading our original post on the project and the discussion that followed. It’s not just me reading your comments - our discussions here can have real impact. Thank you to all of you, and keep it up!
The rumors were true - the Albertsons at TCU will be coming down to make way for a mixed-use development featuring the first urban-styled grocery store in Fort Worth. The new development, on the northwest corner of University & Devitt and just south of the Bank of America at University & Berry, will be five stories tall and feature a ground floor consisting of a 50,000 square foot urban Kroger store and another 4,300 square foot retail space, a 584 space parking garage in back, 38 new on-street parking spaces, and 164 residences on the upper floors.
Below are a couple of closer looks at the site plans of the first floor and upper floors. Click any of the renderings for a bigger view!
The image above is our first look at the new building being planned by XTO Energy for the block at 7th & Calhoun across from the historic Binyon-O’Keefe Warehouse that XTO’s moving into. The new building features a few floors of office space and then several floors of parking. Local firm Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford has created a building that compliments the style of the Binyon-O’Keefe Warehouse very nicely. Click for a bigger view.
The site plan above depicts a new mixed-use development planned for the southeast corner of University & Devitt near TCU. The development will feature 7,200 square feet of retail space, 52 residential units, and a 122 space parking garage. Click for a bigger view.
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