How a Panther Island property listing could bring ‘new era’ for the Fort Worth project

A new energy could be coming to Panther Island, with nearly 30 acres on the market and long-awaited bridges expected to open this year.

LanCarte Commercial announced in April that 26 acres, mostly on the east side of North Main Street, would hit the market. It’s the largest batch of privately owned land to be on sale on the proposed 800-acre island, and the first significant sign that developers may be interested in growing a key part of Fort Worth’s core. The announcement follows the opening of the White Settlement Road bridge and the anticipation that bridges for Henderson and North Main will wrap up later this year.

The area is not yet an island since the federal government hasn’t funded a proposed bypass channel between the two forks of the Trinity River, but it is poised for redevelopment, said LanCarte Commercial’s founder Sarah LanCarte.

The proposed Panther Island is sandwiched between downtown, which has seen a boom in hotel growth, and the Historic Stockyard District, where the retail development Mule Alley has brought new energy.

Of the 10 parcels for sale, six are ready for development, including three smaller lots that face North Main. Three large lots to the east of North Main offer the largest pieces of land ready for development. They include two large blocks between North Commerce and Calhoun streets that span from N.E. Fifth to N.E. Seventh streets. Another large block of Calhoun Street is adjacent to La Grave Field.

As it was originally conceived 20 years ago, Panther Island is intended to be a highly dense, walkable district that supports 10,000 residents as well as retail and office space.

Several parties have already expressed interest in some of the lots, LanCarte said. While she wouldn’t provide specifics on the potential buyers, she said the parcels are prime for any number of possible developments including a mix of uses or a corporate campus.

“With proximity to downtown and all the amenities along the river, it provides a great atmosphere for employees of a company looking to relocate,” she said.

Four more properties that sort of surround La Grave to the east are not ready for development. The three largest parcels would require the levees to come down for them to be fully developed. If that happens, they offer a large stretch of riverfront property.

Speculation about remodeling La Grave and bringing some form of the Cats baseball team back to Fort Worth hasn’t gotten off the ground. But if that happens, the properties hitting the market have the most potential to form an urban neighborhood around the ball field, which LanCarte equated to a smaller Wrigleyville, the neighborhood around the Chicago Cubs stadium.

“Reinvigorating that area would be huge, not only for the district but also for the city as a whole,” she said.

Speculation about Panther Island’s development has been ongoing for about two decades. Much of the land needed environmental cleanup, but the cloudy future of the bypass channel did not help.

Development had been wrapped up in the Trinity River Vision Authority, a body created to coordinate between the city, county and water district as well as the nonprofit Streams and Valleys. Following a consultant’s report, the duty of promoting development on the island was more clearly outlined as a city responsibility.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, in an email, said the city wants to see quality development on Panther Island.

“While this project is flood control at its root, clearly there is incredible potential for economic development there,” she said. “Panther Island is the largest piece of land attached to any major city’s downtown in the nation, and developing it can play a major role in capitalizing on the massive economic and job opportunities for the city’s center.”

Panther Island energy

Despite the lack of a channel, this year has brought positive energy to the Panther Island concept.

In early April, with zero fanfare, the bridge for White Settlement Road opened to traffic. Of the three bridges under construction to connect the future island, that bridge was the only one without a clear detour. The road closure strained businesses along White Settlement, so the quiet opening was met with excitement. A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for later this month.

Encore Panther Island, an apartment development, will bring 300 luxury units to the area. Leasing is expected to start later this year.

It features the first channel and river walk, which flows through the middle of the complex. Though the stream looks like attractive landscaping for a high-end development, it’s really part of the effort to control flooding on the island.

J.D. Granger, the long time leader of the local effort behind Panther Island, celebrated the LanCarte property listing as evidence momentum was building again for the project. Speculators have been buying and holding land there off and on for years, he said.

“This listing is the first strong statement by investors that they believe the timing is now ripe to move forward from holding to going vertical,” Granger said in an email.

It is unclear whether developing parts of Panther Island will spur the federal government to prioritize funding the 1.5-mile bypass channel needed for flood control and to create the island.

Though the local office of the Army Corps of Engineers supports the project and has requested about $36 million every year, federal budgeters have taken little notice. Washington has sent about $62 million since 2006. Congress approved up to $526 million in 2016. On the local side, taxpayers have spent more than $335 million on related components of the project, like environmental cleanup and land purchasing, according to a quarterly report.

Last year the project received $1.5 million, the only direct allocation the Trump Administration gave the project. The money was marked for a project feasibility study, but local officials rejected the funding saying the study wasn’t needed.

The bypass channel, which along with oxbow-style floodplains downstream in Riverside Park, is designed to help prevent a Trinity River flood. The intention is to allow Fort Worth to remove some levies near downtown while maintaining the existing size of others.

Granger, in the email, said the federal government wouldn’t care about development in the area and is instead focused on protecting roughly 2,400 acres from river flooding.

Tarrant Regional Water District General Manager Jim Oliver said he wasn’t sure whether Washington would pay attention to development in the area, but activity on the island should be a positive for locals. With interest in developing the island building and a change in the administration in Washington, Oliver said “a new era is dawning for the project.”

“It certainly helps the community to understand how valuable that area is to Fort Worth,” Oliver said. “Basically we’ve had for the last 50 years a dead zone down there and now it’s turning around.”