The $1B bet on Fort Worth’s Cultural District

Fort Worth’s Cultural District has attracted investments exceeding $1 billion in the last few years, but even many longtime Fort Worthians have never heard of it. 

How is that possible?

First of all, the area has a few names. Some call it the Cultural District; to others it’s Crockett Row or West Seventh; a developer in the mix is trying to make “Artisan Circle” stick. 

The neighborhood in question is about 2 miles west of downtown Fort Worth. Just like its name, the area’s identity is hard to pin down. The Cultural District is known for its world-class art museums and as the locus of Fort Worth’s burgeoning luxury market, but it also has a reputation as a rowdy nightlife hotspot and was the setting of two shooting deaths in the last six months. 

Even so, the neighborhood has become a favorite among real estate investors, from Dallas-based Crescent Real Estate and Younger Partners, to Omaha-based Goldenrod Companies. Goldenrod’s John Zogg called the Cultural District “the best market in all of Fort Worth.” 

In the last two years, it welcomed a $250 million mixed-use development from Crescent – which includes a luxury hotel and much-needed Class A office space – as well as Bowie House, an Auberge Resorts and Collections property. Plus, Crockett Row got a new owner with big plans to revamp the shabby urban village. 

“What that says is a lot of people believe in this part of town,” said Younger Partners’ Moody Younger. “They’re willing to make those kinds of bets on what’s going to happen here in the future.”

And there’s more on the way. 

Goldenrod is building two mixed-use projects in the neighborhood, expected to cost $400 million. 

The Van Zandt — named for the family that owned a chunk of the area until 1936 — is planned for 2816 West Seventh Street. The 250,000-square-foot development will include 226 apartment units, 95,000 square feet of Class A office space and 10,000 square feet of street-level retail. 

The Van Zandt will be around the corner from One University, where Goldenrod is planning a 171-key Autograph Collection hotel, 12,000 square feet of street-level retail, 120,000 square feet of Class A office space and 254 multifamily units. 

Sandwiched between the two developments is Crockett Row, 300,000 square feet of retail and office that Younger purchased in 2022.

Crockett Row was delivered starting in 2009 and began to lose some tenants about a decade later, when the first round of leases expired. But it was the pandemic that emptied many of the block’s popular restaurants.

Younger is bringing tenants to the space, like Terra Mediterranean, a local favorite that closed in 2019. It’s also giving the area a facelift, including the Artisan Circle brand.

The aspirational name makes sense when you gaze across University at the striking Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, which was rated the best-designed building in Texas by Architectural Digest in 2019. But the moniker can seem like a confusing descriptor for an area adjacent to bars with names like Junk Punch and Pour Decisions.

“We want to attract a broader demographic, where you can bring your family out here, or your grandparents,” Younger said. “We won’t be just a bar district. There will be more to do here than just go to bars.”

The name also reflects the developer’s desire to attract local restaurants and retailers. The plan is to eventually close down part of Crockett Street and add green space to create more of a “destination.”

Younger Partners is also wrangling with the area’s poor reputation for safety.

In September, 21-year-old Texas Christian University football player Wes Smith was shot and killed on the 3000 block of Bledsoe Street, just feet from the site of Goldenrod’s One University. Earlier this month, Bryson Rodgers, 29, died after he was shot on Crockett Street.

After Smith’s death, the city launched safety initiatives aimed at decreasing crime in the area, including a new zoning rule that requires bars and clubs to get special approval before they can operate in areas zoned “high intensity mixed-use.”

“I think the city recognizes it and recognizes the need to improve the perception of this area,” Younger said. 

Younger Partners is doing its part, he said. That means putting cameras in parking garages, improving lighting and working more closely with police. 

To folks skeptical about the area’s brighter future, Younger promised, “It’s changing.” 

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