A historic part of Fort Worth is gaining momentum on a transformation.
Right now, the city is looking for developers to submit their ideas for a new development being planned in the Stop Six community as part of the Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative.
The development is part of a bigger plan to build an urban village in the Lake Arlington area, alongside numerous other projects planned across the neighborhood to bring massive commercial and residential development opportunities to residents. It's an effort city leaders say can help with the high unemployment, crime and poverty that has affected this neighborhood for decades.
The city has recently issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to find a master developer for a four-acre patch of city-owned land at the corner of Berry and Stalcup streets. The deadline for developer submissions is in February, with construction expected to be underway in the next three years.
Click here to view the Lake Arlington/Berry/Stalcup master plan put together by the city.
It’s just the latest in a string of investments and interest that has been building in the Stop Six for years.
“We are really excited about it. We think the timing is just really fantastic. In the last 10 years or so, there’s been over $120 million of public investment in the area,” said Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, assistant director of the Fort Worth Economic Development department.
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In April 2020, the city of Fort Worth won a $35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to use toward the Stop Six Neighborhood Choice Initiative. Before that, HUD opened an EnVision center in 2019 to help low-income families. The Fort Worth police department has also built a substation there.
In recent years, there have also been a number of old buildings being torn down and vacant land being prepared for construction. It’s part of the work of Fort Worth Housing Solutions to assemble vacant land to use for large-scale housing revitalization.
Currently, demolition of the 1950s-era J.A. Cavile Place public housing community in Stop Six is underway and will continue through March. City leaders said the property will be the future home of three phases of mixed-income housing as part of the development plans.
Aside from modern and affordable housing, future projects in the initiative include an aquatics center, a community center and a senior living community.
Construction of the first development, the Cowan Place senior living community located at the intersection of Rosedale Street and Stalcup Road, is scheduled to begin in spring 2021.
“It is such a historic and important neighborhood,” said Hicks-Sorensen. “The folks that continue to live there are incredibly passionate about their neighbors and their community. So to be able to see this kind of investment into the community is really something that I think is definitely needed -- and it’s things that a lot of folks are really looking forward to and embracing.”
The Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative is a collaboration between Fort Worth Housing Solutions, the City of Fort Worth, Fort Worth ISD, McCormack Baron Salazar and Urban Strategies Inc., with support from area agencies.
