Construction to start next year on apartments near Renaissance Square
Construction on the long-planned residential component of Mason Heights in east Fort Worth could start early next year now that funding is in place.
Jim Grauley, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Columbia Residential, said the recent approval of tax credits by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs will fund the first phase, 140 apartments. The program directs private capital to the development and preserves affordable-housing units for low-income households in exchange for federal tax credits.
Construction could start in April and is expected to take 14 months. Apartments would be ready in August 2017, Grauley said.
“In development timeline, that’s pretty quickly,” he said.
Of those apartments, 85 percent would lease at more affordable rates for low- to moderate-income individuals, and the other 15 percent would be at market rates.
The first phase is one of three planned for residential development at Renaissance Square, which is at U.S. 287 near East Berry Street between Vaughn and Mitchell boulevards. The apartments will go north of Grayson Street to Moresby Street, on the former Masonic Home property.
The apartments will also be just west of the Uplift Mighty Preparatory school. Children living in Mason Heights will have priority placement at the school, Grauley said.
The apartments are south of Renaissance Square, the shopping center that opened in 2013 and is anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The 67-acre shopping center is a project of Lockard Development in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Midland-based Moriah Real Estate Co.
FW Mason Heights L.P., headed by Happy Baggett, acquired the 197-acre Mason Home site with plans for homes, offices, shopping and restaurants.
ACH Child and Family Services is also on the former Masonic Home site, and the YMCA plans a facility.
Grauley said the remaining phases of residential development could include senior housing, town houses and single-family homes.
Sandra Baker: 817-390-7727, @SandraBakerFWST
This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Construction to start next year on apartments near Renaissance Square."