Two major projects are set to open in Fort Worth’s Cultural District as another doubles in size.

FORT WORTH, Texas. The new complex along West 7th Street in Fort Worth has doubled in size and new visualizations of its design were released in June.

Goldenrod originally planned to complete the mixed-use development in the summer of 2023, but it took more than a year to acquire the Snap Kitchen property and neighboring architecture firm on the corner of West 7th Street and Currie Street.

“It takes a long time to negotiate these deals,” said Brandon Schubert, head of acquisitions at Goldenrod. “It made more sense to try to collect some land and spread the costs.”

The new land increases the project area from 0.8 acres to 1.6 acres. When completed, it will have 226 apartments, 107,000 square feet of Class A office space, and 11,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space along the street. This is more than originally planned for 149 apartment buildings.

The large footprint also allowed the project to cut out one floor of the garage and add kiosks.

“It’s going much better. It’s much more efficient,” Schubert said. “I think it’s better for tenants to see here.”

Just a few blocks away, John Goff’s Crescent Real Estate plans to complete its major cultural district project on Camp Bowie Boulevard across from the Kimbell Art Museum in August or September.

Initial plans included a 200-room hotel, 167 luxury suites, and an adjacent eight-story, 168,000-square-foot office building.

Further down the street, The Bowie House will also open in late 2023, with 88 rooms and 18 suites and a restaurant.

“I think the area is poised for a lot of new development,” said Scott Wilcox, chairman of the Cultural District Alliance. “Just having this extra hotel inventory is going to be incredible for us.”

Wilcox is also the chief operating officer of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art directly in Bowie’s projects.

“I think the area is ready for a lot of new developments,” he said. “There were always a lot of people coming to see him, but when you got here, there was just nothing to do.”

Wilcox acknowledges that the new development could mean new traffic problems. There are plans to beautify the section of University Boulevard from Interstate 30 to West 7th Street and Camp Bowie, which created traffic problems when the same project was taking place on West 7th Street.

“Traffic has a way of understanding that as you drive through and get used to being there,” he said. “We don’t really want traffic to go through the Cultural District, we want it to go to the Cultural District.”

Another potential pitfall is that, despite a surge in bars opening nearby, Crockett Row has been struggling with tenant turnover for several years, but Wilcox and Schubert say the new developments are making the area attractive.

“We think the more online, especially in terms of quality, the better,” Schubert said.

Schubert added that Fort Worth has also done a better job of retaining young professionals between the ages of 21 and 39 in recent years, making new projects profitable. He said they met with Crescent early on to see how the two projects could be mutually beneficial rather than competitive.

The Goldenrod project is currently expected to begin construction and demolish the Snap Kitchen property in June and open in the first quarter of 2025.

All three projects revitalize the area that has been the source of Fort Worth’s growth.

“There was simply no economic advantage for developers,” Wilcox said. Now I think they are.