Historic TXU plant going on the market as Fort Worth’s Panther Island redevelopment starts
Tarrant County College is putting the 113-year-old shuttered TXU North Main Power Plant in Fort Worth up for sale, capping what began 20-plus years ago as a dream for the college to connect its downtown campus to the historic property north of the Trinity River.
College officials on Friday confirmed they will publish an invitation for bids beginning Oct. 23 on the 8-acre site on the northwest side of the North Main Street bridge along the river.
The property anchors the south end of the 300-plus-acre Panther Island, a proposed redevelopment of Northside acreage held by the Tarrant Regional Water District, Tarrant County, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County College and several property owners.
Friday’s news caught Fort Worth preservationists and others by surprise. The nonprofit Historic Fort Worth put the property on its annual Most Endangered Places List six straight times between 2007 and 2012.
“The only reason we haven’t put it on (the list more recently) is because we haven’t heard anything more from Tarrant County College,” said John Roberts, a Fort Worth architect and longtime Historic Fort Worth board member who has played a key role in production of the Endangered Places List for years.
“We were really waiting to see,” he said, adding he’s worried about the lack of historic protection for the building.
Bid submissions to buy the property must be received before 2 p.m. Nov. 20, according to the documents.
Tarrant County College’s move marks the second major announcement in days from Panther Island property owners. The Tarrant Regional Water District on Thursday sought requests for qualifications from development groups interested in a 20-acre first phase along North Main Street or, more broadly, the entire project.
TRWD’s decision, in particular, attempts to build developers’ interest and momentum on Panther Island as it moves through what it projects will take at least 10 years to dig out a bypass channel to reroute the Trinity River from south of downtown to north of downtown, creating “Panther Island.”
The flood control channel — and removal of levees — will create significantly more developable land than exists now; TRWD estimates it owns 36 acres of land that’s currently developable.
Tarrant County College acquired the North Main site when it bought land for its Trinity River Campus East Center for Health Care Professionals at 245 E. Belknap St. downtown.
The college spent years exploring potential uses, in 2014 issuing a request for interest and qualifications from prospective buyers. After TCC confirmed it would list the property for sale, the Report posed a number of questions to the college but as of press time had not received responses.
Roberts said he believes the North Main plant can still be saved and repositioned, pointing to similar projects, such as the circa-1950s Seaholm Power Plant in Austin that was converted into condos, office space, retail shops and more. Historic Fort Worth has hosted that developer as part of a lecture series.
Roberts said he sees potential for a performing arts center in the North Main building. “I wouldn’t even be against putting apartments in it, in some sort or fashion. I don’t know how you’d pull it off. Maybe you put multiple levels inside.”
He even sees an atrium-style development built around the plant, with apartments on the outside.
Over the years, he said, Historic Fort Worth has asked Tarrant County College to pursue historic protection. He declined to say what the officials’ responses were.
Jerre Tracy, Historic Fort Worth’s executive director, said she’s been able to walk through the building and thinks “the sky’s the limit” with it.
“It’s almost cathedralesque with its windows,” she said. “It’s got lots of possibilities. It needs to be someone the city has great confidence in.”
Andy Taft, president of economic development nonprofit Downtown Fort Worth Inc., said the property presents a big opportunity for Panther Island.
He attributes that to its location on the banks of the expanded Town Lake — the piece of the river that borders downtown and will be expanded in the Panther Island plan — and below Heritage Park, which a public-private partnership is revitalizing with planned river access.
“It represents a real opportunity if the historic building is kept” and revitalized, he said.
Downtown Fort Worth Inc. has entertained conversations about future uses for the power plant through the years, Taft said.
“It’s a great building,” he said. “It’s got great mass and human scale and could convert nicely into a dining or entertainment or mixed-use waterfront development.”
Challenges include access to the site from North Main and parking, he said.
Kenneth Barr, a former Fort Worth mayor and former Tarrant County College board member who didn’t seek reelection this spring after several years as a trustee, said in an interview he’s not aware of any environmental problems on the property.
“It is the premiere piece of property on Panther Island,” he said. “It’ll front the lake. The building has lots of problems, but there’s enough carry to it that, with skillful renovation, it could be a great asset.”
Before Barr became a TCC board member, he did consulting work for a client that was interested in putting a public market in the building.
Barr said he views “the biggest challenge right now (as) the uncertainty about when the total project will move ahead. The second (one) that concerns me is how to maximize the quality of the development, because I think the whole Panther Island, if developed in an orderly fashion, will be a tremendous asset to Fort Worth and Tarrant County.”
Barr said he hopes the Tarrant Regional Water District and Tarrant County College will jointly market the power plant.
“The greatest potential comes from marketing the land together, in my opinion,” he said.
Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for the Documenters program at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.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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