After serving as a temporary overflow night shelter for 1,600 homeless people in Tarrant County for the last three months, the Fort Worth Convention Center is being sanitized before resuming normal operations.
Social distancing guidelines forced shelters to reduce the number of people they could care for at any one time, so the convention center was transitioned into a temporary overflow shelter.
The city said staff is looking for housing for those in need as well as trying to find a replacement location to serve as a temporary shelter through Dec. 30 for about 100 people outside of downtown.
Fort Worth is also negotiating a lease for a vacant, former 44-bed acute care facility in southwest Fort Worth where homeless individuals who are COVID-19 positive or who have been exposed to the coronavirus and require isolation will be housed, the city said in a separate press release.
According to a press release from the city, Fort Worth hired Legends Hospitality, a business venture co-owned by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, to help deep clean and sanitize the convention center and get it ready for the next scheduled event on July 15.
Fort Worth public events director Michael Crum oversees the downtown convention center and worked with Legends Hospitality in his past work in Charlotte.
“There is a lot of concern in the convention and meetings industry about how to meet in a post-COVID environment,” Crum said in the press release. “Going the extra mile in terms of making sure that the building is as clean as it possibly can be is the piece of assurance our clients need in building their confidence in conducting their events in Fort Worth.”
