Fort Worth Business Press, May 12, 2014 Vol. 26, No. 18 | Page 9

news fwbusinesspress.com | May 12 - 18, 2014 9 The T, Housing Authority, city study possible mixed-use project n Scott Nishimura T [email protected] he Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T), Fort Worth Housing Authority, the city and Fort Worth South are teaming up to study whether there’s a market for a mixed-use residential, parking and commercial complex on a 2.1-acre parking lot south of the T&P Station on the Near Southside. The complex could be one or two buildings of up to 10 stories apiece and could include a mix of market-rate apartments and ones that people who make less than the area median income could afford. Such a development would be next to Fort Worth’s westernmost terminal of the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) and the planned launchpad for TexRail trains between downtown and Dallas/ Fort Worth International Airport. The team members envision it as helping Fort Worth fulfill its desire for more transit-oriented development around public transit stations, better serving commuters, funneling more workers to employment hubs such as the airport, and taking cars off the streets. They also believe it could spur redevelopment in the city’s South Main Urban Village, where an $8 million remake of the street from Vickery Boulevard to West Magnolia Avenue is underway that will include reconstruction, bike lanes, trees, lights and other pedes- “We think it’s a very attractive location.” – Ramon Guajardo, a former Fort Worth assistant city manager who is consulting with the Housing Authority on the potential project trian-friendly improvements. More activity on South Main would deepen the appeal of living in the new buildings, the team members say. “We think it’s a very attractive location,” said Ramon Guajardo, a former Fort Worth assistant city manager who is consulting with the Housing Authority on the potential project. “Our board of directors is interested, and the agencies have some very common interests, but we’re a few steps away from anything concrete right now,” said Nancy Amos, Fort Worth T senior vice president. “We’re talking concepts here. We do know the site is big enough.” “We’re all about trying to shorten the time between home and work,” added Dana Burghdoff, Fort Worth’s deputy planning director and one of the city staffers working on the project. The T owns the rectangular site in question at South Main and Vickery, which is currently a popular 100-space free parking lot for TRE passengers. The north boundary of the site is the Interstate 30 overpass, which covers more TRE parking. The T, the Housing Authority and Near Southside’s Tax Increment Financing district have agreed to pay $15,000 for a day-and-a-half public design workshop to be scheduled in June. The Urban Land Institute and the American Institute of Architects will help moderate a conversation on what the complex should look like and “what kind of impact would it have on the neighborhood,” Guajardo said. Generally, the four team members are See South side u23