As reported onFort Worthology, the large metal poles which once held a billboard at the Cultural District intersection of 7th, Camp Bowie, University, and Bailey but which were stripped clean and bent over by the 2000 tornado are at last being reinstalled in front of the new Museum Place Post Office. Reader Jeff W. sent me this shot of the reinstallation underway now.
The poles will form the centerpiece of a new public plaza in front of the Post Office. The front wall of the building itself (seen in the photo covered in white Tyvek wrap) will be covered by ceramic tiles with a large mural of a thunderstorm crossing the prairie, along with the words “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” The Post Office and the plaza are both still under construction as part of the big Museum Place development.
Personally, I’m very happy to see the distinctive poles reinstalled as a piece of public art. They are an incredible reminder of the power of nature (don’t forget, they were bent simply by the force of wind) and an eye-catching landmark for the rapidly redeveloping Cultural District. It’s great to see a bit of the area’s history brought back as a centerpiece of a development that points towards its future.
If you were planning to be in Council chambers on the July 8 for the high-impact hearing on the Eighth Avenue drilling site, your evening just opened up. A source close to the process confirmed this evening that Chesapeake contacted the city and asked for a postponement.
What this means remains unclear right now, however this doesn’t seem to be a sudden Road to Damascus moment on the part of Chesapeake, this is just RealPolitik. The word going around was that the votes weren’t there for Chesapeake, and we aren’t talking a 5-4 vote. It was going to be a clear majority, if not a unanimous vote, against the permit.
This issue has gotten too hot for the Council and no one, not even Chesapeake’s BFF Mayor Mikey, was willing to stick his neck out when Council chambers would be overflowing with hundred of pissed off residents of Ryan Place, Fairmount, Mistletoe Heights and Berkeley neighborhoods. They were already setting up shuttle bus service to take people to the meeting — not a good sign for Chesapeake.
However, what will happen next is complicated and convoluted. [Read more]
As I’ve said before, one of my favorite restaurants on the Near South Side is Chadra Mezza and Grill. The food is terrific, but it’s the wonderful people that keep me going back. Heck, my wife and I have even been known to pick up a bartending shift or two at the restaurant… we enjoy being there that much!
Nehme and Christina Elbitar recently added outdoor seating behind their Park Place eatery, so every Wednesday night they are inviting folks to bring their dogs to enjoy a night out on the patio. Dogs get a bowl of water and a treat, while their people can enjoy a full bar and selections from the Lebanese/Greek/Italian menu.
Chadra Mezza & Grill
Lebanese/Greek/Italian/817-924-2372/1622 Park Place Avenue/$$/Reservations advisable on Friday Night/11AM-3PM Mon and Tues; 11AM-10PM Wed-Sat http://www.chadramezza.com/
As you may have noticed, this site generates some passionate debate among our readers. We think that’s absolutely awesome, since that means there are people out there who are just as fired up about Fort Worth as we are!
Unfortunately, though, sometimes the debate can get a little out of hand and cross over from debate to what’s commonly called on the internet “flame wars.” (Thankfully we haven’t gotten to the point of some sites, but we prefer to take a proactive approach to hopefully prevent nastiness before it starts.)
We haven’t had a commenting policy to this point, since we’ve usually been able to handle things on a personal basis. As the site grows, though, it’s going to be increasingly hard to continue to do that, so what we’d like to do is craft a reasonable and fair comments policy with the help of you, dear readers.
Give us your thoughts on what would make our comments area a place that you’d like to come back to. Based on your feedback, we’ll come up with something that makes this an inviting place to participate and share our collective love of Fort Worth.
After years of rapid home-building north of Loop 820, Fort Worth’s population has reached 702,850, according to estimates released Thursday by the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
What I find interesting is this tidbit:
It’s a milestone — the city has more than 700,000 residents for the first time — but it’s tempered by indications that some people are shifting away from buying new homes in outlying neighborhoods and toward apartment rentals in Dallas.
Fort Worth added 16,000 residents — 3,850 fewer than Dallas, which has more apartments available and a more mature urban transit core.
I’ve been expecting news to eventually surface that the big urban living boom in Dallas would be a boost to their growth like this. While we’ve been doing some tremendous infill development in urban Fort Worth, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more to come as demand for central city living draws more interest to new residents. And I have a feeling the emphasis on condos over rental apartments that has been big here for a while will shift back towards rental for this very reason. The several hundred new apartments being built on 7th Street now (yes, the vast majority of units on 7th under construction are not pricey condos but actually rental apartments) along with the several hundred about to get underway at Trinity Bluff will likely set the tone for the near future. Already, there are plans for big urban apartment infill projects being talked about in the Near Southside.
The other issue mentioned is transit. We’ve got more on the way, and more planned - in today’s world, I’m betting they’ll become big draws if we can get them built as we wish.
A cool note to this weekend - Scat Jazz Lounge is now open on Sundays as well. Huzzah! If you tastes trend more metal than jazz, West & Clear’s friends No Scope lead a pack of Fort Worth metal bands tonight at the Ridglea for a benefit for the theater’s Roy Valez (pictured), their Chief Sound Engineer who has sadly passed away recently.
Scat Jazz Lounge | Map Marvin Stamm and Bill Mays - Friday - 9:00 PM Corner Pocket - Saturday - 9:00 PM Trio Cubano - Sunday - 8:00 PM
I’ve heard from a couple of different places now that July 13th is the “end of the road” for J & J’s Hideaway, the west side landmark bar that’s been keeping the locals watered since the ’80s. If you’re a fan, I’d suggest you get a good eyeful of the building’s Mike Brady chic design while you can, because the bulldozers are knocking at the door.
The Hideaway will be falling to Museum Place, the big mixed-use development that’s been slowly but surely working its way back from the big 7th/Camp Bowie/University/Bailey intersection. One building across from the Hideaway, 3300 West 7th, is nearly completed - a modestly-scaled three-story building featuring luxury condos on the upper two floors over a ground-floor retail space that will hold a 7-Eleven Corner Store, a new type of gas pump-less more-upscale neighborhood store 7-Eleven being developed by the company for a future when they won’t be able to sustain themselves on gas and cheap hot dogs anymore. Another building, the big One Museum Place, has topped out at the big intersection and is in its finishing stages. That building will be ground-floor retail, four floors of office space, and three floors of luxury condos. Edgewater Grill has been announced as one of that building’s retail tenants. Still another, a glass & metal triangle-shaped structure now going up at the big intersection on the former Texaco site, will be ground-level retail (I’ve heard rumors of a sushi place) with three floors of office space above it. The avant garde slanted south facade, I’m told, will reflect a view of the Modern back towards the big intersection.
The Hideaway will make way for another large mixed-use building, which will feature ground-level retail with upscale rental apartments above. Not only is the Hideaway going away, but the entirety of Darcy Street itself is going away - the new building will completely cover the current Darcy right-of-way, and the street will cease to exist in that part of the Cultural District.
Several surrounding buildings, such as the rather nasty strip mall that formerly held a Pro-Cuts, have already been demolished near the Hideaway, and the Hideaway’s demolition will be accompanied by the demolition of the old Post Office across the street. The USPS is moving to the big intersection between University and Bailey, into a new Post Office designed by ultramodern architectural firm Venturi, Scott-Brown, and Associates of Philadelphia. The new Post Office will face the big intersection with a wall of ceramic tiles painted with a mural of a huge thunderstorm crossing the prairie, and in front of that will have a public plaza centered around the soon-to-be-reinstalled steel poles bent by the 2000 tornado.
Well, this is certainly out-of-nowhere. Sandra Baker in the Startlegram has the news:
The Tarrant County College District said this morning that it will pay $238 million to buy the downtown Fort Worth Radio Shack complex from KanAm Grund.
The purchase will not affect construction of the TCC facility underway on the south bluff of the Trinity River in downtown Fort Worth. Construction north of the Trinity River will no longer be necessary.
Huh. On the upside, that mean we’re pretty much finished with the stories of the cost overruns and such on the new campus. On the other hand, though, it’s disappointing for those of us who were looking forward to seeing that new campus completed, at least from an architectural perspective.
Two questions come to mind:
1) Where’s Radio Shack going to go? There’s not much vacant office space in downtown, and while I’d love to see them build something new I doubt they’re in much of a position to do so.
2) How does this affect (if at all) the old TXU power plant across the river from the Radio Shack HQ, which is also owned by TCC (unless I’m mistaken)?
UPDATE: The now updated article says Radio Shack will lease space back from TCC through 2011, with an option to continue until 2013.
We wrote about this not long ago, and things have been progressing steadily at the Restaurant Formerly Known As BJ Keefer’s on Magnolia. Friends of West & Clear have scouted the site and reported back that the initial rumors (such as a taco shop or pizza joint) aren’t looking too likely. To start with, here’s reader Ross’s report from the previous post:
UPDATE: Paper is off the windows. I’m changing my guess - it’s SUSHI. Or at least Asian. No way a pizza joint has that much bamboo.
Followed up with reader Chewy’s observations:
I was going to post this as well. I walked by last night and they were scraping the lettering off the windows and the “illuminated” B.J. Keefer sign is down. Hopefully they put something up there soon enough.
I can’t tell what it’s going to be but the owners don’t appear to be half-assing it so hopefully they’ll put as much into the food and service as they are redoing the interior.
I personally hope it’s not sushi since I’m not a big sushi fan, but I’d much rather see that than a CiCi’s type place. I personally hold out hope it’s a Buff. Bros. type place with an expanded menu beyond wings, sammiches, and pizzas.
I didn’t peek in and see any bamboo, but if it’s bamboo then it could be a more Fuzzy’s type place with bamboo serving a hut motif. The entrance has some slat hardwood looking stuff so they might be going to for a hut look. I’m no interior decorator though so I’m just making a wild ass guess which is what the Interweb was built for.
I don’t know - I could always go for a Fuzzy’s-style taco shop, but a good sushi place on Magnolia would make me thrilled, especially since I plan on moving there in the not-too-distant future. I’ll swing by the new place this afternoon and get some photos.
I don't want to give away all our secrets, but the West and Clear team uses just about every Google product available, including a few not even on that list.
