Alliance Town Center, the mixed-use development within AllianceTexas, is launching a new food park and has already signed up two restaurants, with more on the way.

Called Parkside at Alliance Town Center, it'll be a 3.5-acre food and entertainment destination integrated within a parklike setting, and will launch with two new restaurants that are both locally grown concepts: Grub Burger Bar and Shell Shack.

"Parkside at Alliance Town Center will be unlike any other dining destination in North Fort Worth with unobstructed views of Bluestem Park, our signature greenspace, and a wide range of community programming," says Mark Miller, vice president of Hillwood, the project's developer, in a release. "We are combining unique restaurants, live music, and recreational activities with the family programming that is already taking place at Bluestem Park to create a new, highly-desired food and beverage destination."

Grub Burger Bar offers hamburgers, sandwiches, salads with housemade dressings, milkshakes, craft beer, and signature cocktails.

Shell Shack is a North Texas favorite serving boiled crab, shrimp, and crawfish in five different flavors, along with oysters, chicken wings, sandwiches, and salads.

These restaurants will be joined by other food and beverage concepts that are new to North Fort Worth, creating an entirely new dining destination for the AllianceTexas community.

In addition to food and beverage options, the restaurants at Parkside at Alliance Town Center will fill the growing demand for more nightlife opportunities in North Fort Worth by offering later hours and live music. Upon completion, Parkside at Alliance Town Center will feature a live music stage, comfortable seating, and recreational activities such as cornhole and bocce ball.

Bluestem Park has 14 acres that have been restored to their original, native blackland prairie state by Hillwood Properties. Created in collaboration with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and other partners, the park is home to dozens of species of native grasslands and plants, 500 native trees and shrubs, and diverse wildlife. It has become a place for community engagement with year-round wellness, recreational, and educational activities for guests of all ages.

AllianceTexas is an 18,000-acre, master-planned community anchored by the world’s first industrial airport. It includes the Alliance Global Logistics Hub, Circle T Ranch, and Alliance Town Center projects. AllianceTexas is now home to over 470 companies and more than 2.6 million square feet of retail, restaurant, medical, and entertainment components integrated with a variety of single-family and luxury apartment home options.

The development's park was a key component, says Hillwood marketing manager Sam Rhea.

"We wanted to do something cool and neat, and that's why we built the 14-acre park with the participation of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center," he says. "We're only just starting to get some colors in our plantings; that kind of thing takes a long time. But we're doing everything we can to highlight the park and show off the park we built."

From there, they looked to see what they were missing.

"In the evolution of the town center, one of the things we've seen is that the age of the community is going down," Rhea says. "For those in the millennial category, we were missing a place to get a beer for happy hour or after work, and some entertainment options that would stay open a little later so you can have some drinks and see some live music."

Grub Burger Bar and Shell Shack are both new to Tarrant County, but they're both well known. Grub will have a full inside-outside bar overlooking the park with a 2,500-square-foot covered patio, and Shell Shack is doing those welcoming garage doors.

There'll be five restaurants total when they're done.

"We've had a lot of interest, but we're taking our time picking the next couple of concepts," Rhea says. "We want this to be special for the North Fort Worth area. We'd like it to be a cool place and a good community partner."