Fort Worth’s Historic Southside neighborhood will finally celebrate the start of construction on a long-promised mixed-use residential and retail project next month, with a groundbreaking block party scheduled for Dec. 12 at Evans Avenue Plaza. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be followed by lunch and family-friendly activities, marking a major turning point for a development that has been years in the making.
The gathering celebrates groundbreaking on the $61 million Evans & Rosedale Urban Village, according to the Fort Worth Report. That figure differs slightly from the $63 million price tag the same outlet reported back in April, and the newspaper’s November account describes 180 affordable housing units for seniors and families, while its June report put the number at up to 181 income-restricted units intended for the neighborhood’s older residents. Fort Worth officials, Royal Capital representatives and members of the Historic Southside Neighborhood Association are all expected to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony.
What’s Planned for the Site
The project is set to include new apartments, live-work spaces, shops and restaurants, with Evans Avenue Plaza itself incorporated into the plan as a park. About 15,700 square feet is earmarked for commercial uses, including two restaurants, a fitness center, a business center and a coffee shop, per the same report. A grocery concept of at least 3,000 square feet is also planned, along with roughly 283 new parking spaces.
An earlier report from Candy’s Dirt described the development’s website as advertising 27,000 square feet of commercial space, a figure that does not match the newspaper’s more recent 15,700-square-foot total; it is not clear from available reporting whether the two numbers cover different scopes of the project. Preliminary site grading was expected to occur this month, the Fort Worth Report noted, though the outcome of that work has not been confirmed.
Funding Split Between Developer and City
Royal Capital is spending at least $48 million in hard construction costs, while the city of Fort Worth is providing $8.5 million in grants and forgivable loans, the Fort Worth Report reported. Up to $7 million of that city funding is directed toward infrastructure costs through the Southside Tax Increment Finance District. The Fort Worth Housing Finance Corp. and the Fort Worth Local Development Corp. both contributed land for the project…