The expansion and refurbishment of the Fort Worth Convention Center notched a milestone in early August, when the project saw its highest structural steel beam hoisted into place with the traditional fir tree along for the ride.
It was the first topping-out ceremony for the $95 million city project, courtesy of a construction management joint venture AECOM Hunt-Byrne-EJ Smith.
“Expanding our convention center means expanding opportunity for local business and creating jobs,” said Bob Jameson, president and CEO of Visit Fort Worth, in a statement. “The word is out about Fort Worth and this center will enable us to keep up with growing demand to meet in our city.”
But the topping-out ceremony is only one piece of the growing changes occurring in that sector of downtown. Along with the convention center, the new Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus, the Omni Hotel expansion and further improvements along Lancaster Avenue will transform that area of the central business district, said Michael Bennett, CEO of the architecture firm Bennett Partners.
Bennett Partners is working on several of the projects in the area, including the convention center and the Texas A&M developments.
“That part of town is going to look dramatically different in five years than it does today,” said Bennett.
These developments won’t happen overnight.
The convention center expansion project will take place in two phases and the facility is remaining operational during both. Totaling 76,794 square feet, the $95 million Phase I includes the construction of a new grand southeast entrance, state-of-the-art food and beverage facilities, demolition of the 1980s annex to double loading docks, and realignment of Commerce Street to create a site pad for a future convention hotel. Phase I of the expansion is set to complete in 2026.
Phase II, estimated at $606 million, is in the planning and design stage, with construction anticipated to begin in 2026 and run through early 2030.
The convention center upgrades have been in the planning stages for several years. In 2019, Hunden Partners issued a study that said an updated convention center could generate an estimated $6.9 billion in new spending over 30 years.
Tourism is big business for Fort Worth, valued at $3.3 billion and one of its largest employers with more than 30,000 jobs. The convention center expansion is part of the city’s larger economic development strategy to attract meetings from across the state and nation.
The convention center project is only one part of several big projects in the south end of downtown, said Bennett.
“We’re doing what you might call a visioning plan that really looks at how all those things might fit together,” he said. “We’re looking down the line, saying, ‘how do we find places to park all those cars that are going to accompany everything that we’re doing here?’ It’s one of those efforts where we hope to make things clear for everybody.”
Beyond the convention center and Texas A&M projects, there are other developments in the works, Bennett said. The Omni Hotel is getting an upgrade, work on Lancaster Avenue is continuing, a new luxury high-rise residential complex has opened, and development firm Hillwood has purchased a city block just south of the Texas A&M project, he said.
“There’s a lot going on, not just with the public investment that is happening, but there is a lot of stuff going on in that part of town,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity in that part of town coming up soon and we need to be prepared for it.”
On Sept. 24, the Local Development Corp., which was set up to accelerate development of the Texas A&M-Fort Worth project, approved an agreement with AECOM for $765,000 for project support for the Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus, the convention center and other southeast downtown projects. The project support will include coordination of the area’s infrastructure, including parking and transportation.
The Texas A&M project will require more parking space but is not adding it in its initial phase.
“All that points to the need for us to have a more robust kind of public transportation program,” Bennett said. “So we’re looking at that and maybe there’s a way to incentivize other developers building their projects in that area to maybe overbuild their parking.”
That could lead to some more technological solutions to the transportation needs of the area.
“Maybe we can use that technology and, if you look before you go, maybe there’s a way to find a space in a garage and it doesn’t require us to build some massive parking garage.”
One advantage the area has, Bennett said, is that it is in the center of a transportation hub, with both Trinity Metro and rail available in the area.
Bennett also hopes to see more options at the street level to keep students, residents and convention center visitors in the area longer.
“Street activation is really super important,” he said. “We need to be sure that we activate the streets so that this feels like a place where people want to be, where people want to walk and where businesses can be successful.”
Bennett said he expects those changes to be significant when complete. With the convention center’s two phases expected to be complete by 2030 and Texas A&M’s Fort Worth campus open for business by then, the changes to the area will be remarkable, he said.
Fort Worth Convention Center Timeline
September 1968 – Tarrant County Convention Center opens. Total cost of the project was $20 million, including the demolition of 14 square blocks known as Hell’s Half Acre.
The convention center was designed by local architects: Preston Geren, Herman Cox, Hueppelsheuser & White, Morris Parker, and the firm of Wilson, Patterson, Sowden, Dunlap & Epperly.
The convention center was expanded in 1983, 2002 and 2003.
1997 – Fort Worth purchased the convention center from the county, renamed Fort Worth Convention Center.
2023 – Phase 1 of convention center upgrade begins. Broaddus & Associates Inc. is project manager in partnership with Elements of Architecture Inc. Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, a global architectural design firm teaming with local firm Bennett Partners, are providing design and construction administration services. AECOM Hunt, Byrne Construction Services and EJ Smith Construction created a joint venture and are serving as construction manager at risk for the first phase of the center’s expansion.
This story was originally published by Fort Worth Report | Oct. 29, 2024
