Nov 20, 2009 1

3rd Street Streetscape Public Meeting Report

By: Kevin Buchanan

Last night was the final public meeting for input on the proposed 3rd Street streetscape project in Downtown. The crowd gathered in the Downtown Central Library’s Chappel meeting room as representatives from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. and HOK presented the final preferred option.

Combining elements of two earlier designs and redesigned a bit for cost savings, the new plan would completely re-work 3rd Street from Henderson on the west to the railroad tracks on the east. The street would feature wider sidewalks, narrower/fewer car lanes, redesigned parking setups, new street furniture, and an Art Deco chevron brick & concrete paving design. Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 27, 2009 15

New Coffee Shop Headed For Downtown

By: Kevin Buchanan

In the shadow of Burnett Plaza, in a small building a block east of Henderson, a new coffee shop is getting ready to open. Above, you can see the current state of The House coffee bar, situated near the Firestone and AMLI Upper West Side apartments and the Westview condos. We’ve not heard a lot of details about this place, and there aren’t any hours posted yet, so we’ll keep an eye out for more information. It’s always good to get some more options in Downtown for coffee shops.

Sep 24, 2009 4

City Of Fort Worth Issues Streetcar Design Request

By: Kevin Buchanan

Major news on the streetcar front. The City of Fort Worth has formally issued a Request for Qualifications, or RFQ, about the streetcar project. This means that the city is actively seeking a firm to do the finalized engineering & design work on the modern streetcar system, from track design and layout to operating and funding processes. Proposals from prospective firms must be received by the City of Fort Worth Purchasing Division no later than October 22. The city states that once the selected firm receives a Notice to Proceed, they must deliver the complete streetcar design & operations package in no more than 365 days.

The RFQ calls for the selected firm to conduct engineering, design, and operational work for the proposed starter system:

The recommended starter alignment includes a downtown one-way loop (including an extension to Trinity Bluff), a West 7th Street route to the Cultural District, and a Near Southside route to the Medical District and the Evans and Rosedale Urban Village. This starter alignment would connect Fort Worth’s two largest employment centers, numerous world-class cultural destinations, and four urban villages.

The RFQ also notes a planned next phase of the streetcar network:

A subsequent phase of the streetcar network would include a route to Texas Wesleyan University on East Rosedale Street and a route to the Historic Stockyards District on North Main Street.

The RFQ is, in total, 14 pages in PDF format. It can be downloaded from the City of Fort Worth’s web site here.

This is where it starts getting real. The city has just gone from the “talk” phase to the “create a complete system design and select an engineering firm” phase. Fort Worth has made some remarkable progress, and we’re now significantly farther into the process than we’ve ever been. Once this process is complete, the city will have a real, detailed streetcar system design specified, from the routes to the vehicles to the fare collection boxes to the operating procedures and everything in between.

It is conceivable that, due to the time frame of the RFQ and the federal TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant Fort Worth applied for to get some “jump start” money, we could be stepping on to the first phase of a Fort Worth modern streetcar in less than three years.

Below, we’ve copied the text of the main part of the RFQ for easier searching and reading. Read the rest of this entry »

Sep 22, 2009 1

Final Phase Of Westview Under Construction

By: Kevin Buchanan

The final phase of Westview, the condo development by Centex in Downtown’s Upper West Side, is now rising from its foundation at 10th & Lexington, just off Henderson. Westview features condos from 822 sq. ft. to 1,342 sq. ft. with prices ranging from the $175,000s to the $259,000s.

Dec 25, 2008 Comments Off

Trinity Terrace Reveals New 20-Story River Tower

By: Kevin Buchanan

Here’s a little Christmas gift for everybody – a new addition to the Fort Worth skyline. Trinity Terrace, the retirement condo development which has called Downtown’s Upper West Side home for many years, has already given us a new skyscraper in the last few years with the City Tower. Now, they’ve revealed the next phase of their development, which will be called River Tower. The new tower will be 20 stories in all, with a height of 238 feet. The new tower will be built on the northwest corner of the Trinity Terrace block bounded by Texas, 10th, Penn, and Fournier streets.

Here are renderings and models of the new tower. River Tower has been designed by the same firm that designed the City Tower: Ankrom Moisan, of Portland, Oregon.

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Browse the Fort Worthology Linklog - interesting and cool urbanism, transit, and bicycle links that aren't necessarily Fort Worth-centric.

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