The city of Fort Worth recently approved economic development incentives for a $1.7 billion mixed-use project just west of downtown Fort Worth, which includes the city’s largest office development in decades.
Dallas-based Larkspur Capital and Fort Worth’s Keystone Group, chaired by Fort Worth billionaire Robert Bass, are at the helm of the 37-acre project, which is expected to extend a development boom that has pushed out from the city’s Cultural District north toward University Drive.
The potential incentives include an unspecified Chapter 380 grant from the city, which would be paid out over 15 years, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The developers are also seeking $45 million from the Near Westside Tax Increment Financing District to fund infrastructure improvements.
The agreement clears the way for the developers to begin construction before year’s end. The multiphase development is slated for 880,000 square feet of office space, 238,000 square feet of retail, 1,785 multifamily units and a 175-key hotel.
The project will rise along University Drive, White Settlement Road and Foch Street, land once occupied by low-rise industrial buildings and the former Fort Worth ISD headquarters. Austin-based Michael Hsu Office of Architecture is leading master planning, with Dallas-based Corgan as architect of record and Seattle’s GGN overseeing public space design.
The grant is tied to investment milestones. Larkspur and Keystone must meet minimum construction benchmarks, including at least 200,000 square feet of office space and 95,000 square feet of retail.
The agreement requires the developers to invest $410 million in the first phase, which will deliver a luxury office building with ground-floor retail and a multifamily component at the northeast corner of White Settlement and University.
The project represents Fort Worth’s largest single delivery of office inventory in 43 years, local officials said.
The second phase is slated to include Fort Worth’s first mass timber office building, a construction method that offers faster construction schedules, a warmer design aesthetic and sustainability benefits, Larkspur Vice President Schafer Smartt told the outlet. The development team visited fabrication plants in the Pacific Northwest to learn best practices for mass timber design and delivery, he said.
The developers aim to create a district that feels “organic” and “uniquely Fort Worth,” Smartt said. Plans include wide sidewalks, local food and beverage tenants and a walkable environment.
— Judah Duke
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