The City of Fort Worth and Crescent Real Estate have broken ground on a $250 million mixed-use project that will fill open space at Camp Bowie Boulevard and Van Cliburn Way in the city's Cultural District. Crescent Fort Worth is expected to open in 2023.
Crescent Cultural District will include an eight-floor office building, 8,600 square feet of meeting space, 170 apartments, a bar, and a 26,000 square foot spa and fitness center.
"All those things come together as really being the marquee project we've known we needed at this location but has been difficult to see come to fruition," says Mayor Mattie Parker.
The project will also include a 200-room hotel. Crescent Chairman John Goff says the Cultural District has museums, UNT Health Science Center, Dickie's Arena and Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, but visitors had to stay in a different part of the city.
"There's such an established base, but there's no great place to stay," he says.
According to Visit Fort Worth, the city draws 9.4 million visitors a year.
"People can come and visit Fort Worth, walk to the Cultural District, enjoy the museums, and that may be their entire view of Fort Worth for the weekend," Parker says. "You can still go to the Stockyards or downtown, but there really wasn't anything like this in the Camp Bowie District in West Fort Worth."
Goff says Crescent will model its architecture to fit in with the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and Kimbell Art Museum across Camp Bowie.
"We didn't want to, in any way, compete with what's across the street because you can't. That's world-class architecture. We wanted something contemporary but felt in keeping with the city," he says. "We also didn't want just another old-school look of Fort Worth with longhorns, leather and rawhide. Those can be beautiful, but we need something that really speaks to the guests who come here from all over the country and all over the world to visit these museums."
"This will only fit in perfectly," Parker says. "The architects who are working on this project are completely working alongside the vision that was here with the Kimbell."
Goff says the project will contribute to Tarrant County's tax base, saying since Crescent opened in Dallas, Uptown now has a higher taxable value than Downtown Dallas. He says Crescent Fort Worth is talking with the museums about the potential to rotate some pieces of art through the development.
"There's always that pressure to do things right, but this, right in the heart of all of our friends, we've got to really knock it out of the park," Goff says.
Over the next two years, he says Crescent will meet with landscapers and the city to design easier ways to cross Camp Bowie to reach the museums without driving.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD