Fort Worth Development Aims To Embrace The Future While Honoring Neighborhood’s Past

Two years after being tapped by the city of Fort Worth to develop several vacant lots in the Evans & Rosedale neighborhood, a Dallas-based developer has unveiled its vision for a mixed-use urban development it says will jump-start growth in the community and beyond.

Hoque Global, which hopes to break ground in the third quarter of 2022 after winning design approval from the city and district stakeholders, said Thursday it will transform the 7.5-acre site by creating a community that nurtures innovation, offers a mix of housing types and respects the historic character of the area founded by middle-class Black residents in the early 1900s.

“This development will become a gateway growth district not just for this community, but its neighbors as well,” Hoque Global Vice President Arthur Santa-Maria said in a release. “We’ve been heavily engaged with the Historic Southside community, incorporating input and addressing concerns to make sure that we are being mindful of values and goals from the local community. We recognize that this is an area rich in culture and history.”

Hoque Global is also one of two companies behind a 20-acre development between Canton Street and the convention center in Downtown Dallas.

Plans for the 7.5-acre Fort Worth development located east of the South Freeway and south of Terrell Avenue call for separate east and west blocks with 320 multifamily residences and 27K SF of ground-floor commercial space, including live-work units intended to foster a community of entrepreneurs and small-business owners by giving them a street presence as well as a place to live.

The project would also include townhomes lining the eastern portion of the site and Neighborhood Brew, a roastery-by-day, brewery-by-night concept that will offer additional innovation space for small-business owners, startups and entrepreneurs to collaborate and share resources.

Hoque Global was awarded the project in 2019 after a public selection process that included community workshops, public meetings and stakeholder review of submitted proposals. And local input didn’t end there. The company said it has continued to work with the community throughout the planning and design process to ensure its heritage and history were woven into the new development designed by Merriman Anderson Architects.

To that end, the proposed project was designed around existing structures and incorporates features characteristic of the area, taking inspiration from the iconic Evans Plaza and the area’s churches, institutions and brick sidewalks. Green spaces, including a new playground, will offer room for events, gathering and even working remotely outdoors to accommodate the growing number of employees who work from home.

The developer said it was also working with the city to ensure some portion of units are available at below-market rents to support income diversity, although it didn't specify how many.

“I truly feel that we are about to launch what will be a resurgence of what came before and build what many could never have imagined,” Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce Chairman Sultan Cole said. “We know that this is the right place and the right time.”