Fort Worthology » mixed-use

MK’s Sushi Headed to West 7th

Kevin Buchanan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:41:40 +0000

MK’s Sushi, which looks to have gotten its start in Bedford, is headed for Cypress Equities’ West 7th development. It’s been added to the West 7th web site, with an address of 2801 W. 7th – that’s roughly in the ground floor of the office/retail building at 7th & Foch, according to Google Maps.

MK’s menu appears to be pretty well-rounded, including several vegetarian options. No word just yet on an opening date.

Aggarwal Building Lofts

Kevin Buchanan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:52:06 +0000

Finally got the chance to take a look at the lofts upstairs above Dr. Aggarwal’s office, located on Lipscomb just north of Rosedale. The Near Southside’s NS-T4-N zoning in many areas of the district requires residential in some form (either all residential or residential and something else). As a result, many of these small mixed-use infill buildings are popping up all over the district, usually with a doctor’s office downstairs and 2-4 apartments upstairs.

The Aggarwal building was designed by the Near Southside’s own TMA Architects, who have designed many of these small mixed-use buildings (their own offices are in such a building on Pennsylvania). Upstairs has four lofts (three are still available) of various sizes around 700 square feet, with rents at about $1.00 per square foot. We took a walk through all three remaining lofts.

Click the photos below for a larger view. If you or somebody you know is interested in living here, it looks to use like a cool project – the lofts are really attractive (love the exposed wood ceilings), and the building’s only a short walk from Magnolia Avenue (about a block or two, depending on how you count things) and just down the street from Magnolia Green Park. For more information, call 817-734-6475 or 972-849-8216.

West 7th Phase II Underway

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:37:18 +0000

Left-to-right: Michael Wheat (Cypress Equities Senior Vice President of Leasing), Fernando Costa (Fort Worth Assistant City Manager for Infrastructure Services), Dale Fisseler (Fort Worth City Manager), Bill Thornton (President and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce), Tom Higgins (Fort Worth Assistant City Manager for Economic and Community Development), Kirk Williams (Cypress Equities Senior Vice President of Development), John Fainter (Cypress Equities Vice President of Development), and Joel Burns (Fort Worth City Council Member District 9).

Phase II of the West 7th development by Cypress Equities officially got underway today with a groundbreaking attended by several Cypress and Fort Worth city officials. Phase II’s site is the “southeast block”, bounded by Currie, Crockett, and Foch, with a parking garage that will go behind Fred’s to the south.

The next phase of West 7th is comprised of 96 new loft apartments on the upper floors above 25,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The additional residential and retail space comes thanks in part to the strong leasing of the original phase – around 75% of the original retail space is leased, and the loft apartments in the first phase are 99% leased.

Below is a rendering of the new phase, showing the new building’s Crockett facade. Click to embiggen:

The new building is of complimentary style to those on the other three blocks from Phase I, and will fully complete the Crockett & Currie intersection, where unique corner elements come together in the center of the project. Additional renderings of Phase II can be found in the gallery below. Hats off to Cypress for keeping the project rolling during rough economic times – we’re looking forward to seeing Phase II rise.

Chunduri Building Progress

Kevin Buchanan — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:01:39 +0000

Progress on yet another small mixed-use infill building in the Near Southside. The building above (which we’re calling the Chunduri Building after the doctor whose office will take the ground floor) is being built just off Jennings at Grainger & Cannon. The building is ground-floor office space with second-floor apartments.

Click the photos to embiggen.

West 7th Phase II Breaks Ground Thursday, June 24th

Kevin Buchanan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:56:29 +0000

Cypress Equities has just told us that later this month, on Thursday the 24th, they’ll be holding a groundbreaking ceremony for Phase II of the West 7th development. The Phase II groundbreaking will be for the southeast block, the last missing piece of the Crockett & Currie intersection. The southeast block was once planned for a hotel, but we’ve heard that instead the block will become another mixed-use building with residential lofts over retail space. The southeast block construction will also wrap around behind Fred’s, as can be seen in the aerial photo above.

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM on Thursday the 24th in the Movie Tavern, upstairs and across the street from the southeast block. This should provide a clear view over the site, and Cypress will undoubtedly be talking about the plans for the development’s second phase.

We are looking forward to seeing more buildings rising at West 7th. The development has thus far been the most successful of all the 7th Street projects at creating a real sense of place and making walkable, livable, and enjoyable spaces, and getting the last corner of Crockett & Currie filled in will make it even better. We hope to have some renderings and other information on Phase II shortly.

Mixed-Use Infill Near West Leuda Park – Progress

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:21:07 +0000

This two-story mixed-use infill project just off the new West Leuda Park in the Near Southside has made a lot of progress since the last time we looked at it – it’s now got facade materials going up, a mixture of brick and stucco.

The new building is apartments over ground-floor medical office.

Bajaj Building Progress

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:04:35 +0000

Another update on one of the many small mixed-use buildings going up in the Near Southside. The Bajaj Building is coming together pretty quickly now, and it’s easier to get a sense of the finished product. The building is located on Lipscomb just north of Rosedale and is loft apartments over ground-floor medical office. It was designed by the Near Southside’s own TMA.

Bajaj Building Progress

Kevin Buchanan — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:25:30 +0000

A quick update on another small mixed-use building going up in the Near Southside. This is the Bajaj Building, on Lipscomb just north of Rosedale. It’s lofts upstairs and medical offices downstairs.

The building’s facade has been going up for a while now. New is the popped-out corner window treatment there on the right. The building was designed by the Near Southside’s own TMA Architects, who have done many of these single-lot mixed-use buildings.

Sushi Restaurant Headed To Museum Place Flatiron Building

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:41:14 +0000

The Business Press is reporting that Blue Sushi Sake Grill is headed to the ground floor of the Museum Place Flatiron Building:

Blue Sushi Sake Grill leased the ground floor at 3131 W. Seventh St., known as the Flatiron building, in Fort Worth’s Museum Place mixed-use development. The building is located at the intersection of University Drive and Camp Bowie Boulevard. Blue Sushi Sake Grill inked a lease for 5,560 square feet with plans to open in fall 2010.

We’re not familiar with Blue, and a quick Google search seems to indicate that there are three locations – all of them in Omaha, Nebraska.

Daiches Building To Be Saved, Restored

Kevin Buchanan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:11:04 +0000

(Photo by John Roberts, fortwortharchitecture.com)

Fantastic news for Fort Worth historic preservation! What is commonly called the “Daiches Building” sits at Houston & Weatherford in Downtown, right across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse. So-called for the jewelry store that has inhabited its ground floor for the last 81 years, the building was built in 1910 and is basically the only original “courthouse square” structure still standing in even somewhat original condition. It was given a ground-floor modernizing in 1955 (when the blue mosaic tile was added), but otherwise looks totally original, if rather shabby.

With Joe Daiches relocating, there were many fears among Fort Worth preservationists and urbanists that the little building would be plowed into the ground for a parking lot, has happened to two neighboring buildings not many years ago. We are very happy to report, though, that the building will live on. We were contacted today by commercial real estate broker David Tuttle, who is announcing that he and investor Darwin German have acquired the building and are restoring it to its original condition for adaptive re-use.

The building’s 1955 ground floor remodeling will be removed, and the entire original appearance restored. Upstairs, the 2nd and 3rd floor were a hotel until the 1970s and have been vacant since. Describing the 2nd and 3rd floor as being “like a time capsule,” the original suites still include tons of original details, including original doors, transom windows, hardware, wood floors, chair rails, molding and tin ceiling tiles.

The plan is to restore the 2nd and 3rd floors and lease the suites as office space with all the modern amenities. It is intended that the ground floor be leased as retail space – ideally, the owners want to see a coffee shop or sandwich place go in.

This is a great victory for Fort Worth historic preservation, and it’s also a great victory to keep this building active and engaged with its surroundings instead of becoming another blank parking lot. We are looking forward to seeing the building’s restoration progress and hope to bring you photos as it goes.