It’s a ghost town today, but here’s why Butler Place is viewed as a gem for Fort Worth
October 11,2023
See full Fort Worth Star-Telegram by Kamal Morgan here.
Butler Place is Fort Worth’s oldest public housing complex.
It is wedged on 42 acres of land between U.S. Highway 287, Interstate 35W and Interstate 30 on the east edge of downtown. But its brick buildings are deserted with boarded-up windows. Boarded-up doors have housing numbers spray painted on them.
The former Fort Worth Housing Solutions administrative building, which, before that, was Carver-Hamilton Elementary School, is empty on the north side of the property. I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and Visual and Performing Arts is on the south side.
The property is owned by Fort Worth Housing Solutions, which is in the process of deciding how the property will be used in the future. City officials see it as a unique opportunity for economic development and to create a cultural hub.
“We intend for it to be a catalytic development for downtown,” said Mary-Margaret Lemons, president of Fort Worth Housing Solutions. “So we want it to be meaningful, we want to honor the past, but we also really want to be creative in how we use it for the future.”
A committee was formed in 2016 to figure out strategies for historic preservation and potential uses for the property.
Fernando Costa, assistant city manager, is part of the committee and says while the history of Butler Place is important, it is in an ideal location for urban development adjacent to downtown Fort Worth.
“It represents one of the various opportunities we have in the central city of Fort Worth to attract young talent who might bring entrepreneurship and innovation to Fort Worth and would appreciate the cultural diversity of our community,” Costa said.
Discussions about the future of the property have touched on a variety of uses: industry, offices, residential, and as a campus for higher education. According to Costa, the idea of using the property for affordable housing was not popular with the committee because of the floor plans of the existing buildings would be unappealing to modern families.
The expansion of the Fort Worth Convention Center, the planned extension of TexRail into the Medical District, and Texas A&M’s expansion downtown are major projects that developers will see as valuable when they consider how Butler Place could be used, according to Andrew Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc.
Taft sees Butler Place as an asset to Fort Worth because of its location. He noted that it is close to a major transit hub, with direct rail access to DFW Airport and a possible high speed rail line in the future. I.M. Terrell Academy also adds value, he said.
“It has an opportunity to move the economic needle in Fort Worth to help redefine what Fort Worth is going to be in the future,” Taft said. “And so I think everybody involved in the project recognizes that this is a rare piece of land and a rare location, and we should be aspirational about what should be attracted to be built in that location.”
HISTORY OF BUTLER PLACE
Butler Place was one of 52 Works Progress Administration projects for low-income housing under former president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. It opened in the early 1940s. It was named after Henry H. Butler, a Civil War veteran and the first African-American teacher in the Fort Worth school system.
The housing project has over 400 units but in December 2020 the last families left with help from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program. The program helped move residents while maintaining their housing assistance as part of a strategy to deconcentrate poverty by providing affordable housing throughout the city.
There are a few hurdles that need to be cleared before redevelopment can occur. They involve the National Historic Preservation Act and the declaration of trust that ties Butler Place to its old use with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The National Historic Preservation Act was created in 1966 to provide a framework for federal, state, and local governments to identify and protect historical landmarks that would be affected by federal projects. Butler Place was listed on National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Justin Newhart, Fort Worth’s historic preservation officer, helped write a list of mitigation steps to complete with the help of Fort Worth Housing Solutions, Tarrant County Black Historical & Genealogical Society and other stakeholders retain the historical relevancy of Butler Place.
“We try to give Fort Worth Housing Solutions time to meet all these requirements,” Newhart said. “Because there’s a lot that goes into them, especially with the community engagement and public education pieces, so we’ll be working on this for the next 10 years.”
These steps will help preserve the historical significance of Butler Place including the construction of an amphitheater, applying for a Historic and Cultural Landmark designation for the former Carver-Hamilton Elementary School building, developing interpretive signage regarding the history of public housing in Fort Worth, and saving a minimum of 1,000 bricks from the Butler Place property. A video history and a collection of historical photos of Butler Place have already been created.
The declaration of trust is a legal obligation that binds HUD’s interest in Butler Place because 179 apartments at the complex are still considered to be in HUD’s system.
According to Lemons, Fort Worth Housing Solutions is working to remove these units from the HUD system by using a Rental Assistance Demonstration conversion. This allows for the transfer of the units to new properties to maintain affordable housing and create mixed income communities in Fort Worth. This will allow Housing Solutions to close Butler out of HUD’s system.
Lemons and Housing Solutions have not made a decision yet on what entity will take over the property. In any case, Lemon wants the land to be an asset to the community for generations by leveraging its redevelopment to provide funding for affordable housing.
“We’re being very intentional and thoughtful about how we move forward for the next chapter at Butler place,” Lemon said.