Bob on Business: Historic Northside project receives grant for continued growth
The North Texas Community Foundation awarded a $250,000 multiyear grant to the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to support the Historic Northside District Main Street pilot program.
The award, made through the foundation’s Fund for Good, will support various efforts from possibly creating an organization to focus on redevelopment for the Historic Northside District to a housing study for the area. The Historic Northside District Main Street pilot is one of two city of Fort Worth-designated Main Street America pilot corridors. The other is a similar effort in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood now being led by Texas Wesleyan University.
Since its launch, the Historic Northside District Main Street pilot has supported more than 440 small-business assistance efforts, delivered districtwide programming and engagement, and helped implement $84 million in active and planned corridor investment projects in the area. Signature cultural programming, including the annual Sonidos del Summer concert series, draws more than 9,000 visitors each year to Marine Park.
The grant will support strengthening the coordination, staffing and systems required to grow the pilot from a program within the chamber into its own entity over time.
Funds will also support a missing middle housing study for the area — identified as a priority recommendation from the national Urban Land Institute advisory services panel — to help the community better understand housing needs and explore strategies that support neighborhood stability as development accelerates.
On the Northside, the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will coordinate implementation to shore up more small businesses as well as create public-private partnerships, cultural programming and community engagement along the North Main Street corridor.
These funds will help move the project forward, said Dee Lara O’Neal, Main Street project manager for the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
“Our plan is to incorporate an independent nonprofit organization to continue to steward the work going forward,” she said. “Until now, it’s been a program of the chamber, but it’s really developed in terms of the amount of stakeholders and community members that are participating. It’s definitely more than a pilot program.”
The Historic Northside is a longstanding gateway to the city, home to approximately 11,000 residents, nearly 97% of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino.
As major development advances nearby, the Urban Land Institute advisory panel identified growth trends that increased property values in the area by approximately 60% between 2016 and 2021.
The Northside pilot program focuses on the historic preservation of both the buildings and the community located between the fast-growing Fort Worth Stockyards and Panther Island areas of the city. It calls for the establishment of a Hispanic small-business hub in the district to foster and grow entrepreneurship opportunities.
In 2025, the city continued funding of the program.
Among other efforts in the neighborhood, Community Design Fort Worth is advancing a districtwide cultural asset mapping initiative, while partnerships with the Texas A&M Law School have supported heirship and legal assistance, and collaboration with Trinity Habitat for Humanity has helped connect homeowners to critical home repair resources.
Renovation layoffs
Nearly 120 employees at the Stockyards Hotel and H3 Ranch in Fort Worth are expected to be laid off during a $30 million upgrade and remodel of the two Fort Worth Stockyards institutions, according to a Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notice filing from the properties’ owners.
Exchange Hotels Management noted in the filing that layoffs are scheduled to begin April 6.
The cuts are a result of the temporary closure of both businesses for the renovations, according to the notice. While the closures are expected to be temporary, the notice states that employment separations are expected to last longer than six months.
The Stockyards Hotel, 109 E. Exchange Ave., opened in 1907 and was restored at least once, in 1982. It is expected to reopen in early 2027. The hotel has a Bonnie and Clyde Junior Suite where the famous gangsters stayed in 1933, according to local lore.
The H3 Ranch upgrades will focus on the kitchen and back-of-house operations along with a refreshed dining room. H3 Ranch opened in 1998 as part of the hotel’s dining options.
Fort Worth company lights up a record
Fonroche Lighting, which has its U.S. headquarters in Fort Worth, announced they are the first company in the world to earn a Guinness World Record for solar street lighting installation.
In October, Fonroche Lighting America installed 70 solar streetlights across 3.1 miles in Rowlett, in just 10 hours and 35 minutes, earning an official Guinness World Records title for the most solar streetlights installed in 12 hours.
Fonroche provided Rowlett with a solar-powered alternative that illuminated three major corridors — State Highway 66, Rowlett Road and Dalrock Road. This was done at half the cost of a traditional $2.8 million utility proposal, according to the company.
Since entering the U.S. market in 2019, Fonroche has delivered installations across 1,000-plus municipalities in 43 states. The French company opened its Fort Worth headquarters in 2025.
| Haslet homes Kindred Homes has opened The Vines, an exclusive community in Haslet offering luxury homes on half-acre lots. “We’re pleased to expand into Haslet and become part of a growing community,” said Trent Horton, co-founder of Kindred Homes, in a news release. The Vines sales office and model home are located at 629 Verona Drive in Haslet. |
Have something for Bob on Business: Send to bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
Bob Francis is business editor at the Fort Worth Report.
The North Texas Community Foundation is a supporter of the Fort Worth Report. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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