Stockyards’ future begins with demolition

Somewhere between 1876, when the railroad’s arrival made Fort Worth a major livestock shipping point, and that day still years from now when Majestic Realty and the Hickman family complete a planned $175 million development in the Fort Worth Stockyards, there’s a sweet spot.

It’s a blend of the Stockyards’ storied past, Fort Worth’s Western heritage and the ever-changing, modern future.

Fort Worth Heritage Development, as the Majestic/Hickman partnership is called, won’t be able to recreate the past in every detail. Neither will it have carte blanche to build whatever it wants wherever it wants.

But there is a sweet spot.

Heritage Development says it’s aiming for that spot. The City Council is building a regulatory structure to include a historic district and a code to describe what structures can look like.

Many people believe that neither Heritage Development nor the City Council is doing enough to preserve the past, and their influence has been felt in the two years since the Majestic/Hickman partnership was announced.

There’s every reason to expect that the result of all this will preserve key elements of the past and, if Heritage Development is to be profitable, blend those elements in a comfortable and authentic environment for visitors.

For its part, Heritage Development said last week that it has completed expert evaluations of the structures and facilities on the 70 acres it controls. It has determined which structures can be economically preserved and which can’t.

Demolition of those that can’t be preserved is starting, beginning with a hay barn and scale house behind the Exchange Building on East Exchange Avenue.

By September, wrecking crews will move to about a dozen buildings on the former Swift & Co. meatpacking property, east of Niles City Boulevard. Preservationists worked hard to save those buildings.

Heritage Development has also announced a crucial new element of its redevelopment plans.

Materials and artifacts from demolished structures will be saved and, together with historic facilities that will remain, included on a Stockyards Heritage Trail for walking tours winding through the 70 acres.

The trail could go a long way toward blending the past and the future.

“We want to make sure we tell the story correctly, truthfully, accurately and celebrate it the way it should be celebrated,” Josh Wheeler, a Majestic vice president, told Star-Telegram reporter Sandra Baker.

That’s a pretty good way of describing what everybody in Fort Worth wants.

This story was originally published July 25, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Stockyards’ future begins with demolition."