This is part of the Report\u2019s special 1 Million & Counting growth series, which will be published on Mondays into October. The reporting will lead to a growth summit Oct. 23 at the downtown Tarrant County College Trinity River Campus.<\/p>\n The Eggebrechts, who moved from the Near Southside during COVID to have more room for their two young daughters, say a measure of progress might not be a bad thing for Woodhaven, which hasn\u2019t seen new development in decades.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it has to be appropriate,\u201d Mark Eggebrecht said.<\/p>\n Welcome to Fort Worth\u2019s latest dustup over the D-word \u2014 density, the push for highly populated and developed areas within the city\u2019s urban core. As fast-growing Cowtown surpassed 1 million residents, multidirectional sprawl persisted \u2014 driven by highway access, copious land, relatively inexpensive housing, quality of suburban schools and proximity to job opportunities and the DFW Airport.<\/p>\n But developers\u2019 efforts to fill holes inside Loop 820 often clash with neighbors concerned about the impact on their quality of life and property values. Residents often simultaneously say they want grocery stores and \u201csit-down\u201d restaurants while opposing the residential rooftops \u2014 typically apartments and townhomes \u2014 whose residents would support those establishments.<\/p>\n More of these disputes are likely. The city estimates 8,971 acres inside Loop 820 are vacant, or 14.2% of the total land mass. A new Texas law<\/strong><\/a> could spur more multifamily housing and mixed-use development in those areas, depending on the desirability of sites, urban planners said, as it gives developers more leeway on such developments without rezoning.<\/p>\n Fort Worth has widely recognized examples where population density mixes with restaurants, retail and other uses, including downtown and the Near Southside. But overall, why does density remain a hard sell in the city?<\/p>\n Neighborhoods often don\u2019t feel they have enough voice in what\u2019s built, said former City Council member Kelly Allen Gray, whose nine years serving southeast Fort Worth\u2019s District 8 were marked by clashes over infill proposals to put new development in the middle of mature areas.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t have a city with a million people and no place for them to go,\u201d Gray said. \u201cDensity makes sense. But then I also think we have to be thoughtful of (the fact) not everyone wants to live in multifamily.\u201d<\/p>\n Building in the middle of a neighborhood has been much more likely to trigger disputes than doing so at sites that aren\u2019t immediately surrounded by established communities.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going to build density right in the middle of a community, do you build six stories, three or four stories?\u201d Gray said. \u201cAnd then you\u2019re looking down in my backyard as I\u2019m sitting by my pool? That\u2019s kind of creepy when you think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Woodhaven dispute \u2014 the Eggebrechts aren\u2019t alone in their skepticism \u2014 has keyed on the multifamily piece of the developer\u2019s plans, which range from single-family to retail and other commercial and agricultural<\/strong><\/a>. The City Plan Commission voted Oct. 1 to approve the development\u2019s preliminary layout after hearing hours of debate from homeowners over three meetings.<\/p>\n Opponents, who acknowledge developer Will Northern has engaged in substantial outreach but say he focused on people who favored his development, are now considering litigation<\/strong><\/a> to stop it.\u00a0<\/p>\n They argue the numerous old apartment complexes in Woodhaven are proof enough the neighborhood needs no more multifamily residences. Northern counters that his project will be built-out to today\u2019s much higher standards and that new investment will buoy other multifamily in the area. It\u2019s already prompted some ownership change and reinvestment, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope this project is kicked down the road for years,\u201d Mark Eggebrecht said. \u201cIt\u2019s a risky project. It\u2019s a complicated project.\u201d<\/p>\n Grocery on the Near Southside?<\/p>\n While much of the wrangling over infill projects has surfaced in east and southeast Fort Worth, cases elsewhere have also boiled over.<\/p>\n The development of single-family sites into so-called \u201cstealth dorms\u201d around Texas Christian University<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>for example, led the city to adopt measures limiting the number of unrelated people who could live in houses near campus. Planned apartments on several residential lots along South University Drive near TCU met stiff opposition.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s comprehensive plan calls for more high-density, mixed-use<\/strong><\/a> walkable developments close to the city center in areas such as Northside\u2019s Panther Island.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to argue against the benefits of thoughtful density partnered with walkable mixed-use environments that complement established neighborhoods, urban planners say. Compared to the cost of bringing public resources to undeveloped, farflung sectors of Fort Worth\u2019s sprawl, building up inside a city\u2019s core allows for more efficient use of streets, police, fire and water, and other public resources, planners say.\u00a0<\/p>\n It could also create demand for better public schools and public transportation, they say.<\/p>\n \u201cFinancially, it makes more sense for a city (to add) to an area that already has infrastructure,\u201d said Ann Zadeh, an urban planner and former council member representing Fort Worth\u2019s Near Southside, downtown and the West 7th District.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if you have to improve, refresh and redo some of that infrastructure, it\u2019s a bigger return on your investment, as far as the taxes you\u2019re going to garner from that, than allowing low-density sprawl development in an area that doesn\u2019t have the roads and pipes and all those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Zadeh and others cite examples of new mixed-use development in the middle of sensitive neighborhoods that\u2019s worked: the renovation of a church on Race Street in Riverside into the Cielo Place Apartments<\/strong><\/a>, the historic Masonic Lodge site in southeast Fort Worth that\u2019s now the mixed-use Renaissance Square<\/strong><\/a>, and the Sunset at Fash Place<\/strong><\/a> senior living complex on Oakland Boulevard in east Fort Worth.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to show real-life examples,\u201d Zadeh said.<\/p>\n Fort Worth witnessed the post-World War II expansion of suburban neighborhoods, such as Wedgwood, along the city\u2019s edge that meant a loss of investment and residential growth closer to the core, said Mike Brennan, an urban planner and president of the Near Southside Inc. economic development organization.<\/p>\n Lost businesses, security problems and diminished quality of life followed in the Near Southside, he said. \u201cIt all ties back to the number of housing units and design of those units,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Now, the area\u2019s West Magnolia and South Main districts have filled in with the help of designation by the city as mixed-use urban villages<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> with toolboxes of financial incentives available to developers and form-based city development codes that promote walkable mixed-use environments.<\/p>\n The revitalized Near Southside has a range of housing, from single-family homes to garage- and small apartments in the middle of neighborhoods such as Fairmount to large multifamily buildings along West Magnolia Avenue and South Main Street to the new 95-unit Bryan Flats super-efficiencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan Flats offers small furnished apartments with shared kitchens, laundries and common areas \u2014 and no on-site parking \u2014 targeted at young renters who like to walk, bike and use public transit. Walkability and connectivity from one neighborhood to another within those districts, is prized.<\/p>\n Brennan said this increased density is moving the Near Southside toward a plum it\u2019s long sought: a grocery store.<\/p>\n The Near Southside doesn\u2019t have sites big enough for the largest supermarkets, but it does have some that can accommodate smaller stores about the size of the Tom Thumb off West 7th Street, he said.<\/p>\n Potential sites include the shopping center at the northeast corner of West Rosedale and Hemphill streets and a historic laundry off of Hemphill. Brennan notes the shopping center\u2019s owner has reinvested in improvements, \u201cand there are tenants there that have leases, so there\u2019s no expectation that\u2019s going to change anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The new life in the Southside \u2014 combined with downtown and areas such as Historic Southside and adjacent neighborhoods on East Rosedale east of Interstate 35W \u2014 has achieved enough density to support a grocery store, Brennan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, that would take a public-private partnership with financial incentives, given the likely high cost of acquiring the site and grocery stores\u2019 thin profit margins, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brennan says he understands many neighborhoods\u2019 wariness toward infill development and feels much of the criticism is well-deserved, given apartment developers\u2019 push several decades ago to build in areas \u201cwhere they were just an island of apartments and not connected to any sort of activity center.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou had this separation of land uses and the apartments \u2026 (that) often looked like fortresses with gates around them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s new law<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>will allow redevelopment on land that\u2019s already designated for certain commercial uses without going before the city to request zoning changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brennan sees potential for the law to attract developers to some Fort Worth sites, including along South Hemphill Street and Camp Bowie Boulevard.<\/p>\n \u201cThat still doesn\u2019t mean that apartment developers are going to just be grabbing property up left and right along these streets,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need the sites to be of a certain size, and they need to be thinking that this is a place where people want to live.\u201d<\/p>\n Zadeh views the law \u2014 the result of a legislative push to facilitate the development of more affordable workforce housing \u2014 as an outgrowth of developers\u2019 collisions with neighborhoods.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen developers who want to build things constantly get shot down by NIMBY neighbors, they\u2019re going to get to a point where they try another path, and that\u2019s exactly what happened,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Neighborhoods worry about what the new law could mean. Zadeh shares concerns about what she views as the consistent lack of planning by the city. However, Fort Worth has posted an opening for a chief planning officer, which Zadeh sees as a positive sign.<\/p>\n \u201cFort Worth kind of has a reputation of being a place that planners don\u2019t want to go because there\u2019s not a whole lot of proactive planning going on,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think we\u2019re at an inflection point where that could change.\u201d<\/p>\n What next for Butler Place and empty schools?<\/strong><\/p>\n The historic, isolated 42-acre Butler Place public housing site<\/strong><\/a> across from downtown holds potential for redevelopment into a mix of high-density uses.<\/p>\n Fort Worth Housing Solutions, which owns the site, on Sept. 25 announced federal officials gave the go-ahead<\/strong><\/a> for the group to reallocate public dollars for Butler\u2019s former 179 subsidized apartments to other properties in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n That allows Housing Solutions to move ahead in a study of potential uses it\u2019s conducting with the city of Fort Worth and a consultant.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be in lockstep with the city,\u201d Mary-Margaret Lemons, Housing Solutions president, said.<\/p>\n Butler Place is bounded by Interstate 30 on the south, I-35W on the west, and U.S. 287 on the east. Given the site is landlocked and not immediately surrounded by other uses, with the exception of Fort Worth ISD\u2019s I.M. Terrell Academy<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> access and costs are the biggest challenges to transforming it, planners say.<\/p>\n As part of that process, Lemons said Housing Solutions must work with the city on so-called \u201centitlements,\u201d such as zoning and platting, which lays out locations and dimensions for parcels, streets and other features.\u00a0<\/p>\n Financial incentives available to developers also will be in the mix, she said. Lemons sees the redevelopment proceeding in phases over years with an initial draft of plans expected in 2026.<\/p>\n A major goal, besides achieving income the agency will use to fund its programs, will be to \u201cput the majority of that land back on the tax rolls,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n What kind of development could sprout there? She foresees a vibrant mixed-use community, but isn\u2019t being specific yet about the kinds of uses Butler Place could see.<\/p>\n As far as density, \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit,\u201d she said. At the same time, \u201cwe want to be responsible and respectful. We don\u2019t want to see a second downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in other areas of town, the contracting Fort Worth ISD will close and likely sell some campuses, such as De Zavala Elementary School<\/strong><\/a> in Fairmount and the McLean 6th Grade<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>center in the Westcliff-South Hills-Bluebonnet Hills area.<\/p>\n Those sites are likely to draw development interest. Such transactions would have to first negotiate a tangle of restrictions<\/strong><\/a> governing sale of a school property.<\/p>\n Zadeh said her Community Design Fort Worth<\/strong><\/a> group has offered to help the school district in its discussions about the future of those sites.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have old schools and we have old churches that are all in single-family neighborhoods that could be adaptively reused to provide housing and mixed-use walkable (uses) in a really positive way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some community members would love to see those schools repurposed for other civic uses, such as spaces for the arts or even housing for artists, Brennan said.<\/p>\n Back in Woodhaven, Will Northern of Fort Worth\u2019s Crescendo Development, the Woodhaven developer, negotiated his way<\/strong><\/a> through the Fort Worth Zoning Commission earlier this year, obtaining zoning for a mix of residential and commercial uses for the country club and golf course. The case bogged down<\/strong><\/a> at the City Plan Commission this summer, over his proposed preliminary plat.<\/p>\n The City Plan Commission\u2019s vote frees Northern to begin installing infrastructure and marketing parcels to other developers who specialize in building certain uses, like multifamily, retail and commercial, single-family and agricultural.<\/p>\n Opponents will get another bite of the apple in trying to slow or stop the development. Developers who buy parcels will have to present their proposed site plans and final plats to the Zoning Commission and City Council for approval. Northern told the Report he doesn\u2019t think the controversy will affect his ability to sell the development.<\/p>\n \u201cThis development is going to be a catalyst,\u201d he told City Plan commissioners Wednesday.<\/p>\n Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for the Documenters program at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org<\/strong><\/a>. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/OneMillionandCounting@3x.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KellyAlleyGray.jpg\")
Kelly Allen Gray, at home in United Riverside (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"(Maria](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0924-MMDensity-09-.jpg\")
The Eggebrechts\u2019 dog sits inside the fence of the family\u2019s Woodhaven Country Club home, which borders the 10th fairway of the defunct golf course. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_9180.jpg\")
After construction of so-called \u201cstealth dorms\u201d proliferated around TCU, the Fort Worth City Council passed an ordinance regulating building occupancy. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AnnZadeh.png\")
Ann Zadeh (Courtesy photo | Ann Zadeh)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Church.jpg\")
The Cielo Place Project repurposed the former Riverside Baptist Church sanctuary as a commons area. (Fort Worth Report|Matthew Sgroi)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/905_Bryan-Flats_Capstone_Model_unit-405_Gifted_Stills_cam2_2K.jpg\")
A Bryan Flats model apartment. (Courtesy photo | Bryan Flats) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MikeBrennan.png\")
Mike Brennan (Courtesy photo | Near Southside, Inc.)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Butler-Place-4-SADEK.jpg\")
The historic Butler Place site near downtown Fort Worth is expected to be transformed into a mixed-use development. (Courtesy photo | Fort Worth Housing Solutions)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GWOT_Mary-Margaret-Lemons_9221.jpg\")
Mary-Margaret Lemons (Courtesy photo | Fort Worth Housing Solutions)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC_1796.jpg\")
Fort Worth ISD is considering the closure of De Zavala Elementary School amid declining enrollment and increasing maintenance costs. The school is featured on the 2025 Fairmount Tour of Historic Homes. (Courtesy photo | Stacy Luecker)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WillNorhern-WoodhavenCountryClub.jpg\")
Will Northern is preparing the former Woodhaven Country Club, including its golf course, for redevelopment. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
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