Brownfields Redevelopment: Montgomery Plaza
Texas VCP# - 1671
Site Description and Location:
The catalog store while still operating as Montgomery Ward.
The catalog store underwent a dramatic facelift, including a six-story-high cut-out to allow vehicle and pedestrian traffic to access the rear of the site (8-17-2005).
This artist's rendering shows the old catalog store as it now appears.
A new SuperTarget located at the rear of the redevelopment site opened in October 2005. (8-17-2005)
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Address: 2600 W. 7th Street, Fort Worth (cultural district)
Latitude: -97.21101 Longitude: 32.45137
Owner: Kimco Montgomery Plaza, L.P
Size: 46.2 acres
Construction for redeveloping the 46-acre Montgomery Plaza site in the Trinity Park Urban Village in Fort Worth, Texas is well underway. The plan consists of the development of 365,000 square feet of retail, including the first floor of the old Montgomery Ward catalog building. In addition, a SuperTarget will add another 170,000 square feet of retail, including a full-service grocery store.
In 1928, Montgomery Ward built an eight-story regional retail and mail order warehouse just across the Trinity River from downtown Fort Worth. The site was one of nine regional centers constructed in the United States between 1926 and 1929. An automobile service center was built on the site in 1936. In 1961, a massive distribution center was constructed on the rear of the property. In 1986 the catalog operation closed on the site and ten years later Montgomery Ward filed for bankruptcy protection. In March 2000 the distribution center took a direct hit from a tornado, killing one person. The tornado left the warehouses severely damaged, and six months later Montgomery Ward completely vacated the site.
Challenges to redevelopment included: extensive environmental remediation; damage from the 2000 tornado; updating an aging infrastructure while accommodating sustainable investment; and adaptive reuse of the former catalog building on a difficult site.
The catalog building is slated for loft apartments and specialty retail. A six-story-high passage was carved out through the center of the U-shaped building, allowing traffic to access the rear of the site, and creating a more pedestrian-friendly facade.
City redevelopment incentives provided:
Economic and Community Development Department: Kimco Montgomery Plaza, LP received a one-year tax abatement (2005 tax year) for up to 100% of its increased real and personal property taxes attributable to the property. In return for the environmental remediation of the property and adaptive reuse of the historic catalog store, Kimco is eligible to receive up to 21 annual economic development program grants. The total value of the grant package, including the one-year tax abatement, is capped at $22,705,027.
Economic and Community Development Department: Target received a one-year tax abatement (2005 tax year) for up to 100% of Target’s increased real and personal property taxes attributable to the property. In return for the development of a SuperTarget with a full-service grocery store component, Target will be eligible to receive up to 21 annual economic development program grants. The total value of the grant package, including the one-year tax abatement, is capped at $13,000,000.
Environmental Management Department: The City approved the developer’s application for a municipal setting designation (MSD) on the site in April 2005. The MSD was certified by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on August 31, 2005. MSDs are a means by which the scope of investigations and response actions addressing groundwater contamination may be limited, if the groundwater is prohibited for use as a potable water source by municipal ordinance or restrictive covenant.