Stockyards News
City council approves new round of development in Fort Worth Stockyards
Fort Worth trots out its animals.
The Fort Worth City Council approved an incentive for a Fort Worth developer to move forward on a mixed-use development in the Fort Worth Stockyards, that would include hotels, residences, and parking garages.
According to a release, Fort Worth Heritage LLC – a joint venture between Majestic Realty Co. and Hickman Companies – will develop Phase II of the Fort Worth Stockyards along with development partner M2G Ventures.
The site will be located between East Exchange Avenue, Stockyards Boulevard, and Packers Street.
The incentive from the city will consist of annual grants totaling approximately $71.6 million across the incentive’s 30-year term. The city would also reimburse the developer up to $15 million for improvements to support the Cowtown Coliseum and the Fort Worth Herd.
The development will include commercial space, hotels with 500 rooms, a 295-unit multifamily residential property, and two or more below-ground parking garages.
It follows phase one of the Fort Worth Heritage project, which focused on Mule Alley and Hotel Drover and have proven to be wildly successful, says Stockyards Heritage Development Co. managing partner Craig Cavileer in a statement.
"Phase one of the Heritage developments were transformational to be sure as evidenced by the incredible response from both locals and tourists with the opening of the award-winning Mule Alley and Hotel Drover," Cavileer says. "The over $200 million invested in this phase really set the tone for what and where the opportunities are with our future phases."
The original project – also incentivized by the City Council in 2014 – called for the second phase of Fort Worth Heritage to include two above-ground parking garages. It was determined those would eat up a significant portion of the remaining land available for development, so they pivoted to underground garages.
The ownership of those parking garages is complicated: The developer will build them but will convey their ownership to the city after their completion. The city will lease the garages back to the developer for 30 years, receiving the majority of the net parking profits, with a portion set aside to cover bond debt service. After 30 years, the developer will have the option to buy the garages back from the city, or postpone that purchase by another 10 years.
In a statement, Mayor Mattie Parker said "this significant investment by Fort Worth Heritage LLC, in collaboration with M2G Ventures, represents the continuation of the successful revitalization of our historic Fort Worth Stockyards, emphasizing our shared dedication to our community's economic growth and preservation of our rich heritage."
