FORT WORTH, Texas — Trademark Property Co. could secure millions of dollars in grant money from the City of Fort Worth to support the next phase of its WestBend development.
The Fort Worth-based company wants to add a seven-story mid-rise with 300 apartment units and 4,500 square feet of commercial space facing University Drive in west Fort Worth.
According to a Aug. 20 presentation to city council, Trademark will develop a minimum 265,000 square feet and invest $81.6 million into the new site, which is nestled along the Clear Fork of the Trinity River. That includes investments in the nearby Trinity Trail, including a new trailhead, sidewalk improvements, bike repair stations, public art, outdoor seating and landscaping.
The city is proposing giving Trademark a minimum of about $3 million across 10 grants from 2029 through 2038, dependent on the company meeting certain requirements.
Those requirements include building a development with a minimum of $65.3 million in taxable value. Plus, a reasonable effort to install a retail/neighborhood market in a space that used to be a grocery store, a minimum of 15% of hard construction costs going to business equity firms and completing construction by July 31, 2028.
Fort Worth City Council is scheduled to vote Aug. 27 on the agreement with FW River Plaza LP, which is an entity of Trademark.
The city also granted Trademark incentives for the first phase of WestBend. The end of that Chapter 380 agreement is approaching. The city estimates those grant payments will total about $3.2 million by the time the last grant is dispersed in 2026. The first phase of the project was completed in 2015, according to the city.
Trademark's plans to expand the development, called Westbend South, were unveiled in April. State filings indicate more than 500,000 square feet was being developed, but that included the parking garage and such Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filings are often preliminary and subject to change.
District 9 Council Member Elizabeth Beck thanked the city's economic development team for working on the project, saying it "wasn't the easiest to navigate."
"I know it's been a couple of years in the making, but I'm excited that people are going to finally stop complaining about the fence on University, and we're going to see some great developments," she said.
In 2016, Trademark acquired the 3.5 acres of land along University Drive. The site used to be home to the Hawthorne Suites hotel, according to previous Dallas Business Journal reporting.
