Kacie Kell

Three run-down vacant apartment complexes south of Airport Freeway will be torn down this year to make way for the 57-acre Midtown Euless, a mixed-use development of shopping, restaurants, urban lofts and town homes. The development, which is east of South Industrial Boulevard, north of West Euless Boulevard and south of Airport Freeway, could be a game-changer for an area in need of revitalization. Centurion American bought the land.

North of Airport Freeway, Euless is flourishing with a plethora of stores, restaurants and housing for single families and urban professionals. Places like Glade Parks are taking off, with restaurants and eateries like Dave & Buster’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and the expected opening of a Belk department store in the spring. Now development is moving south of the highway.

Besides Midtown, the 14-acre Oakcrest Estates with single-family and senior housing, is taking shape south of the freeway, Euless Planning and Economic Development Director Mike Collins said. “That represents probably the largest private investment that has been made in this area in the past 25 years,” he said. “Money likes to chase money. If you can make a profit, that will support additional investment. Folks recognize the opportunity to make money, and existing businesses will reinvest in their property. You hope this will have a domino effect,” he said.

The timing of the new development coincides with the completion of the project to widen Airport Freeway, Collins said, and the “gateway into Midtown Euless will be at Airport Freeway and [Farm Road] 157, which will include a new look with decorative light poles and landscaping.” “We hope that some of the redevelopment opportunities [the Airport Freeway widening] created in Hurst and Bedford will extend in to this area,” he said.

Construction
The three apartment complexes, Shadow Creek, Concord House and Concord Terrace, dating to the 1960s, should be torn down by the end of the year, and dirt will turn on Midtown Euless in early 2016, Collins said.

No commercial tenants have signed leases yet, but the city will approve site plans for the different types of housing and commercial development in Midtown. Midtown will have “villas,” or single-family homes, town homes and row houses on individual lots, as well as urban lofts. Plans also call for an assisted-living center if the market is favorable, he said. Since some of the land is in the floodplain, Collins plans are to add fountains and ponds, which will also help with drainage.

Responding to public interest in local entrepreneurial and artisan merchants, Trademark Property Co. has announced a micro-restaurant program aimed at  attracting unique restaurant concepts to Waterside, its 63-acre, mixed-use development currently under construction at Bryant Irvin Road and Arborlawn Drive.

Fort Worth-based Trademark will lease three or four 600-1,000-square-foot micro-restaurant spaces exclusively planned for the property to local and regional businesses, it announced on Monday.

In an effort to provide local entrepreneurs with an opportunity to lease space they might not otherwise be able to invest in, Trademark said it will offer smaller spaces, lower startup costs, shorter term leases, free outdoor seating and generous tenant improvement packages, as well as other benefits.

“During community engagement sessions, we heard a resounding call for local and artisan merchants. We’re answering that call by committing to only lease these micro-restaurant spaces to the best local or regional concepts,” said CEO Terry Montesi in a news release.

The micro-restaurants will be located around The Grove, Waterside’s central public space. The area will serve as the heart of Waterside, featuring shaded outdoor seating for several restaurants, public art incorporating the site’s history and the re-use of existing playground and amusement ride equipment, a community pavilion, a community promotion shed, and activity areas for all ages.

The micro-restaurant program is a part of Trademark’s Conscious Place initiative, a stakeholder-driven development model that aims to ensure its properties are more than just places of commerce, but also places of community and meaning.

Waterside broke ground on its first phase of development in 2014 and announced a 45,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market, the first in Fort Worth. as its first anchor tenant. Most recently, REI was signed as the second anchor, also a first in Fort Worth.

Phase I construction is underway. It includes the retail project, expected to be mostly complete by spring 2016 when the retail and restaurants are projected to open. The development includes Whole Foods Market, REI, Taco Diner, Zoes Kitchen, Blaze Pizza, Sleep Train, Massage Heights, Envy Nails, Amazing Lash Studio plus many additional retail and restaurants.

At full buildout, Waterside will be a walkable, dynamic district including 200,000 square feet of retail space and riverside restaurants, 800 multifamily residential units, two to three hotels, office buildings, and potential for additional high density single family housing, much of which will be situated along the Trinity River.

More information is available at watersidefw.com or by following Waterside on Facebook and Twitter. For more information on micro-restaurant leasing, contact Daniel Goldware, dgoldware@trademarkproperty.com.

After years of watching restaurants come to nearby Southlake and Roanoke, Trophy Club finally nailed two new high-profile eateries for its Texas 114 highway frontage. The announcement of Bread Winners and Meat U Anywhere BBQ earlier this summer represented a big win for the affluent bedroom community that sits on the Tarrant and Denton County line. There’s just one problem: The Municipal Utility District says the town’s sewer treatment facility is at capacity and can’t accommodate any new connections, which is frustrating Trophy Club officials, developers and residents.

The MUD’s decision came as a “complete shock” to Andy Sedino, owner of Meat U Anywhere BBQ, which opened its first location in Grapevine in 2014. But MUD officials say they’re equally frustrated that the solution to the problem — expanding the town’s wastewater treatment facility — has been bogged down in town politics for months. The MUD No. 1 wastewater treatment facility is mostly hidden by trees on Trophy Club’s northeast side. It uses a mix of old and new technology, some from the 1970s, to treat sewer water from Trophy Club and portions of Westlake.

In May, the MUD started construction to expand and update the treatment facility, but town officials halted the work immediately. Trophy Club officials wanted the MUD to file a replat of the property before commencing construction. The MUD responded by halting new connections to the city, saying they could overload the system, especially in winter. Exceeding capacity could result in fines by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “They did not take this decision lightly. They are residents of Trophy Club, too. They realized what an impact this would be,” said Jennifer McKnight, general manager for MUD No. 1, referring to actions taken by the MUD board in August. “But we can’t subject the residents to delay damages and to fines from the TCEQ.”

At its heart, this fight pits the town against the MUD, which are separate entities. “Our hope is that the MUD does the right thing by providing the water and wastewater service commitments for our community and region,” Town Manager Stephen Seidel said. Town Councilman Greg Lamont has been vocal about the issue in emails to Trophy Club residents.
“The MUD, in my opinion, is using their ability to withhold permits to gain leverage with the town and force the town to grant waivers and not follow their development rules and procedures,” Lamont said. Jim Moss, longtime MUD president, said he’s hopeful the council will approve everything for the wastewater treatment facility at its Sept. 22 meeting. “As soon as they approve that, we’ll approve the restaurants,” Moss said. “I believe it’s going to happen by the end of the month. We just have to take our lumps to keep from giving up these restaurants. The fact that we’re under construction should go a long way.”

‘Environmental issue’
The wastewater treatment plant uses microscopic bugs to break down organic matter, a process that slows down in the winter, officials said. The improvements would add a third membrane filtering process that would increase efficiency and capacity to treat sewer water. “I really dread what could happen this winter with our flow so high,” Moss said. “We’ve been held up. We really should be four or five months down the road now. We haven’t been able to get the town to give us the OK.” For the MUD, it’s a public health and safety matter.

“I don’t want to put our customers in a position where they are discharging pollution,” McKnight said. “That’s not good for the public. It’s an environmental issue. We can’t put those higher levels into the lakes. That’s the concern. From an employee that works in Trophy Club, I would love to be able to go have lunch at a new restaurant. “Trophy Club officials said that they have not seen any official TCEQ documentation that the MUD is out of capacity.

Both restaurant sites are on platted lots with installed infrastructure approved by the MUD and the town dating back more than a decade. Owners of both sites have paid taxes to the MUD. The town requested a replat because it says the wastewater treatment plant wasn’t up to code. That’s important because sewer treatment is a heavy industrial use that’s located near residential homes and Army Corps of Engineers environmentally sensitive areas, town spokeswoman April Reiling said. No plans were submitted to the town for review until Trophy Club stopped work on the site. But the MUD counters that the treatment center has been updated three times, most recently in 2001. None of those updates required a replat.

‘Silly and ridiculous’
Caught in the middle of the fight is Russell Holley, whose family has owned the land where the Meat-U-Anywhere is planned. He’s already had 10 other deals fall through for various reasons. He’s hoping to sell the land to take care of his widowed mother, who lives in a retirement home. The deal to sell the land to Sedino is expected to close in mid-October. “It’s kind of silly and ridiculous,” said Holley. “We get to the 11th hour and MUD decides to shut it down.”

Sedino said Trophy Club is perfect for the second Meat U Anywhere location because his children attend Westlake Academy across the highway and he will be coaching his son’s 13U Select baseball team that’s based in Trophy Club. He said he doesn’t want to be a “political football” in this matter, either. “You can imagine a $2.5 million to $3 million completed development with a water hose and an outhouse; we are BBQ, but we ain’t that rustic,” Sedino joked.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article35265828.html#storylink=cpy

Construction on the $115 million Anthracite Building at Taylor and Sixth streets downtown will begin by the end of the year, with plans calling for it to be ready for tenants in two years. But the office tower, to be built at 640 Taylor St., has been reduced to 25 stories from 26 since it was announced in March, according to the owner, Fort Worth-based oil and gas company Jetta Operating.

The Downtown Tax Increment Finance Board approved $4.8 million toward the project Monday to cover infrastructure work in the public right-of-way. The bulk of the funds, estimated at $3.6 million, will pay for an electrical vault and two backup transformers required by Oncor that will go under the sidewalk to bring power to the structure.

The money will be reimbursed to the owners over three years beginning in 2018. The building will still have four floors of below-street parking and 11 stories of above-ground parking, but only 14 floors of office, residential and restaurant space, not 15, the company said. Under the agreement with the TIF board and Downtown Fort Worth Inc., Anthracite will be required to allow third parties to use the parking garage on nights and weekends and to offer valet parking for events at market rates.

Anthracite Realty Partners, the real estate operation of Greg and Laura Bird, bought the property in 2014 from the Fort Worth Club. The land covers three-quarters of a block bounded by Taylor and Lamar streets on the east and west, and Fifth and Sixth streets on the north and south. Morning-Star Capital, the company owned by oilman and Texas Rangers co-owner Bob Simpson, owns the building on the southeast corner of the block. Jetta currently has its headquarters in the nearby Fort Worth Club building at 777 Taylor St. Its 150 employees will move into the new structure. Laura Bird said she expects to announce another large tenant for the building once a lease is signed.

The building will have 230,000 square feet of Class A office space, 7,000 square feet of street-level retail space and 900 parking spaces. On the 12th and 13th floors, the building will have a combined 16,000 square feet of restaurant space and outdoor terraces, and conference, training and event space, a fitness center for building tenants and some executive suites. Earlier this year, the project was approved by the Downtown Design Review Board.

After Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. landed Whole Foods at its $100 million Waterside mixed-use development, CEO Terry Montesi knew he was on a roll. “We landed the first Whole Foods in town and we are in a very special site and in a special development,” Montesi told me. “We want to make sure this is a great place to hang out and meet your friends to sit under a big shade tree. This will be unlike anything you’ve seen before.” That special vibe has brought some big retailers to the 63-acre mixed-use development at Bryant Irvin Road and Arborlawn Drive, along the Trinity River. The project is under construction Montesi’s firm has landed tenants for about 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, with plans to sign another 50,000 square feet of retail space in the near future.

“We have another six or eight leases in negotiations, which would be around another 50,000 square feet,” he told me. “Things are moving along.” Montesi said the firm is negotiating with a variety of retailers and restaurants ranging from local, regional and national concepts. Other plans for the Waterside development include residential development, about two or three hotels, 200,000 square feet of retail space, and about 800 apartments along the Trinity River.

The 20,000 square feet of new leases include the following tenants:

Taco Diner will open its second Fort Worth location within a 3,900-square-foot restaurant within the project.

Zoe’s Kitchen will open its second Fort Worth location in 2,800 square feet of space.

LeBron James-backed Blaze Pizza will make its Fort Worth debut with a 2,800-square-foot restaurant.

Mattress retailer Sleep Train will bring a new prototype store to a 3,602-square-foot space within Waterside.

Massage Heights

Envy Nails

Amazing Lash Studio

Pretty Kitty

Waterside is the first ground-up project that will be developed as part of Trademark Property’s “conscious place” initiative, which will have a focus on bringing the community into the development. Those elements include a public space called The Grove, a trailhead for the Trinity Trails, signature bridge, chilled water station, urban garden and a riverfront amphitheater. Construction on Waterside began last year, with the initial phase slated for completion in late spring 2016. The initial phase of Waterside also includes 375 luxury apartments built by Transwestern Development Co.

Famed Dallas eatery and bar, Bread Winners Café and Bakery & The Quarter Bar, is opening a new location in Trophy Club next year! Owners Jim and Cindy Hughes have signed the lease on a property located on SH 114 frontage road in the Trophy Wood District, an up-and-coming suburban destination featuring distinctive dining, overnight accommodations, and development plans for future shopping, a Town Hall/Police facility and public amenities. Design plans for the new restaurant and bar are underway and include the uniquely eclectic Bread Winners style with classic architectural touches, a court yard feel, rooftop space and old-world charm.

“Trophy Club and the region will benefit immensely with the addition of Bread Winners and Quarter Bar,” said Trophy Club Mayor Nick Sanders. “Trophy Club residents will be very excited when the doors finally open!” The Trophy Club location is the first Bread Winners/Quarter Bar in Tarrant County and brings the restaurant’s sought after, world-class menu to the western portion of DFW. From breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner to cocktail hour, Bread Winners and Quarter Bar will service the region with enticing daily specials, delicious food options and unique bar concoctions. The Trophy Club restaurant will also serve as the corporate catering hub for the west side of the Metroplex.

“Jim and I and our team couldn’t be more excited about bringing Bread Winners and The Quarter Bar to Trophy Club,” said Cindy Hughes, Bread Winners Co-founder & Owner. “We can’t wait to embrace our new neighbors and become much more than just a new restaurant. We will be an active, engaged partner in the growth of this great town.” The Trophy Wood District currently has two hotels with two more under construction, a Baylor Medical Center and professional office. The Town previously purchased 5.56 acres in the area for a future Town Hall/Police facility and has an additional 7.441 acres under contract for future development plans.

Trophy Club’s Pursuit of Bread Winners Pays Off
Trophy Club partners actively pursued the Bread Winners team for over a year to entice the restaurant into opening a location in town, and after months of negotiating and planning, Bread Winners will soon become a member of the Trophy Club community. Trophy Club leadership is focused on bringing the right restaurants that suit the town’s culture and values, and the Town Council, Economic Development Board and Tax Increment Financing Board entered into a public-private partnership with Old Town Development to help bring about high end, destination eateries to the Trophy Wood District.

“The Town Council and EDC 4B Board hit a home run with the Old Town Development collaboration; Justin Springfield and Chris Gordon have done a great job partnering with the Town to seek restaurants that align with our vision as a community and region,” said Trophy Club Town Manager Stephen Seidel. “The addition of Bread Winners and Quarter Bar will not only elevate Trophy Club’s dining market, but also help jumpstart economic development activity in the Trophy Wood District,” said Seidel. About Bread Winners

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Bread Winners Café & Bakery, The Quarter Bar and Henry’s Majestic operate 6 of Dallas’ most beloved bars and restaurants. Founded in 1994, Bread Winners Café & Bakery operates 4 locations in the Dallas-area and offers patrons an unforgettable dining experience. Guests enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner, a tempting array of freshly baked breads, pastries and desserts, and Bread Winner’s famous weekend brunch.

Opened in 2000 with two stories, plenty of outdoor areas, and an unmistakable French Quarter feel, The Quarter Bar in Uptown transports you straight to the Big Easy. The newest addition to the family is Henry’s Majestic which offers a place to imbibe & feast, to relax & reflect, a place that offers the riches of cultured community setting & genuine southern charm.Want good food and strong drink? You’ll find it at Henry’s Majestic. All of these unique, award-winning locations have one thing in common: they are premier hot spots for food and libations made from scratch daily in an atmosphere unlike any other.

City will have two TEX Rail stations and create TIFs to pay its share of costs.

The city has officially joined the TEX Rail project by approving an agreement to participate in the planned commuter rail. City leaders said they believe that the stations planned for Iron Horse Boulevard and the Smithfield area will be catalysts for development on nearby property, besides giving residents a transportation alternative. The rail line will link downtown Fort Worth and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. City Councilman Tom Lombard compared the rail line to the city’s opening of the Iron Horse Golf Course in 1989 and to the city’s extensive trail system. “I think this is a big, big game-changer for us,” Lombard said.

Tarrant County’s population is expected to increase from 1.8 million residents in 2010 to 2.06 million residents in 2020 and 2.3 million residents in 2030, according to the Region C Water Planning Group. “Building more roads to address congestion is impractical, unsustainable, cost-prohibitive, and none of us like sitting in that traffic,” Mayor Oscar Trevino said at a recent City Council meeting. “A lot of people don’t think it’s going to be here. That rail is going to be running through North Richland Hills, and we deserve stations on it.”

The city will pay for its contribution to the project, overseen by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, by creating tax increment finance (TIF) districts, or something similar, around the station areas and using TIF revenue from the city’s Home Town NRH area. TIFs typically take the tax revenue gleaned from a property’s added value from development and use the money for public projects. The rail project is not expected to impact the city’s property tax rate, city officials said. The 27-mile TEX Rail line will begin at the T&P Station in Fort Worth and continue northeast through Haltom City, North Richland Hills and Grapevine and on to Terminal B at DFW Airport. The North Richland Hills stations will be at 6416 Smithfield Road and near Iron Horse Boulevard, a half-mile north of Northeast Loop 820, according to Transportation Authority and city documents.

Commuter rail line is expected to begin transporting passengers in 2018 and cost more than $800 million. The money is expected to come from federal, county and local dollars. Participating communities were expected to approve a half-cent sales tax to cover their share of the project. But North Richland Hills is at its state-mandated 2 percent cap, with 1 percent of its sales tax revenue going to the general fund and half-cent sales taxes going to crime control and parks and recreation. The TIF represents a compromise and allows the city to join the regional effort, city officials said. The City Council voted 7-0 July 13 to allow City Manager Mark Hindman to enter into an agreement with the Fort Worth Transportation Authority to allow the city to participate in the TEX Rail project.

Firms produce more jobs, spending than required

Companies receiving tax incentives and grants from the city created 56 percent more jobs than they were required to and spent far more than they were required to spend on goods and services last year, a report shows. In the 2014 review of 40 tax abatement and Chapter 380 economic development agreements — five more companies than reported in the 2013 review — companies committed to hiring 9,014 employees to receive a benefit. But they actually hired 14,049 employees, the report shows.

To receive benefits, companies must commit to spending a certain amount on projects as well as spending money for goods and services with Fort Worth companies. The report shows that the companies spent $466.8 million on their projects, 66.5 percent more than the $280.4 million they committed to spending. Moreover, the companies spent $45.2 million with Fort Worth companies, nearly 300 percent more than the $11.4 million that was required to earn the benefit. Of that, the companies committed to spending $214.1 million with Fort Worth minority- and women-owned businesses, but actually spent $288.6 million. They also spent $17.2 million on goods and services with minority-and women-owned businesses, more than double the $7.4 million required.

Of the 12 companies with active tax abatement deals in 2014, only three received the full benefit. Abatements are typically reduced when companies don’t meet hiring or spending goals. Had all the companies hit their goals, they would have received $5.7 million in abatements, but they only received $3.9 million. That meant the city received $1.7 million, which is $473,101 more than projected, the report said. The city also offers Chapter 380 deals, which are like property tax incentives but can go beyond 10 years. Of the 28 companies with Chapter 380 agreements, 18 earned the full benefit last year.

For 2014, $23.7 million in taxes were collected on the projects, with $13.8 million going back to the companies in grants. The city retained $9.9 million. Robert Sturns, interim director of the city’s economic development office, said the numbers are a positive picture of the incentive program. “Historically, the tax abatements have tended to have lower numbers on full compliance,” he said. “I’d probably tie that to the hard construction commitments that have to be met. If they don’t hit the commitment on spending with Fort Worth or MWBE contracts, for example, it reduces the total amount that can be earned for the life of the agreement. For 380s, not hitting those initial goals will usually result in termination of the deal.”

Fort Worth Star Telegram -Sandra Baker, 817-390-7727

Arlington’s Viridian community, one of the largest residential developments in North Texas, has been purchased. The Johnson Development Corp. and Tricon Capital Group Inc. have purchased the 2,083-acre site located just west of State Highway 360 along the Trinity River from Cross Harbor Capital Partners of Boston. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

“Viridian aligns with our core value of developing inspirational master-planned communities,” said Larry D. Johnson, president and chief executive officer of The Johnson Development Corp. of Houston. “We’ve had our sights set on the D-FW market for quite some time and without question, Viridian is the perfect fit for us.”

One of the nation’s largest infill master-planned communities, Viridian has approximately 1,000 lots have been contracted to be sold to 10 national and regional homebuilders, of which approximately 700 sales have already closed. Viridian plans to add a 10,000 square-foot event center, a sailing center managed along with the city of Arlington, an adult pool, event lawn, two tennis courts and a basketball court as part of the Viridian Lake Club’s second phase.

Johnson in involved in several master-planned communities includes 14 currently under development: 13 in Houston and one in Atlanta. Tricon Capital is a principal investor and asset manager focused on the residential real estate industry in North America with a market capitalization of $1.1 billion and approximately $2.5 billion of assets under management. “Our new ownership will ensure Viridian’s continued success as one of north Texas’ premier master-planned communities,” said Viridian General Manager Robert Kembel. He said Viridian’s management team and master plan will remain intact.

Jesus “Jay” Chapa, most recently director of economic development for the city of Fort Worth, and Valerie R. Washington, deputy director and chief financial officer for the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety, have been appointed new assistant city managers of Fort Worth. Chapa’s appointment becomes effective July 18. Washington is expected to take her new role in September.

“Both of these people are great fits for Fort Worth as we run a $1.5 billion business that supports the nation’s fastest growing big city,” said City Manager David Cooke. “Each of these innovative leaders has built a career working in cities and industries dealing with growth and providing outstanding public service and citizen engagement.” During his nearly 19 years with the city, Chapa has served in leadership positions in the housing and economic development, water department and budget office. He previously worked at BNSF Railway as director of public policy in the public-private partnership group of the railroad.

Washington is responsible for the operational and financial management for eight divisions in Indianapolis, including police, fire, EMS, Homeland Security, and animal care and control. Previously, she was deputy director for the office of audit and performance. Prior to that, she was chief financial officer for the Department of Public Safety and was assistant director of finance for the Marion County Supreme Court.