Distillery project at former Glen Garden Country Club moving forward

Plans for a whiskey distillery at the former Glen Garden Country Club in southeast Fort Worth seem to be picking up nearly two years after the owners won a contentious zoning approval for their project despite objections from the surrounding neighborhood.

The Fort Worth City Council this week approved vacating rights of way on Coleman, Bundy, Jennie and Golfers streets, totaling 5.1 acres and running along the southern boundary of the 109-acre property that will be replatted by Firestone & Robertson Distillery. The rights of way existed only on paper and were never built, according to a city report.

Firestone & Robertson want the “paper streets” vacated on a new plat “in order to clean up title on the property,” the report said. The city originally acquired the rights of way in a platting process and never purchased the easements, the report said.

Firestone & Robertson also recently received a permit to start grading the property, city records show. It has also submitted the project for a required state review that shows it plans to spend more than $17 million.

The co-owners, Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Few details have been made public since the two received zoning approval in July 2014. They bought the property at 2916 Glen Garden Dr. in December of that year.

According to a city-approved site plan, plans call for repurposing the existing clubhouse as an event venue and offices, creating an outdoor event space with night lighting and scenic views, adding five buildings for such things as a visitors center for public tours, and tasting rooms, production and bottling areas, and cottages for overnight guests.

Plans also call for moving the entrance to Mitchell Boulevard off of Glen Garden Drive.

Firestone & Robertson has been making whiskey in Fort Worth since 2011.

Glen Garden, the city’s second-oldest country club, is where golfing legends Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson learned the game as caddies.

The surrounding neighborhoods fought the zoning change, saying the destination would create too much noise and traffic.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Distillery project at former Glen Garden Country Club moving forward."