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Central Arlington Heights Property Acquisition & Drainage Improvements

Project typeDrainage Improvements
Project value$7,168,000

August 16, 2024 Update

See below for an update on the voluntary Broker Request for Qualifications and the demolition of the structures on 2213 Western.

Voluntary Broker Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

The voluntary Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify a Real Estate Brokerage firm to provide Real Estate Brokerage services to market and sell eight of the City owned properties on Western and Carleton Avenue closed on Friday, August 9.

While several firms expressed an interest in the RFQ, the City did not receive any formal submittals. Thus, we will be reaching back out to the firms that expressed an interest to understand why they didn’t submit and clarify questions they may have regarding what the City expects from the broker on this project. We will also be sending the RFQ out to a few additional firms to see if they have an interest in submitting.

We will follow up with another update by early September regarding broker selection.

2213 Western Avenue

The demolition of the structures on city-owned 2213 Western Avenue and work to restore the site to greenspace is complete. The newly contiguous greenspace is made up by 2213 Western Avenue and the two properties on either side of it (2209/2211 & 2217/2219 Western) that were acquired using FEMA grant funding. The City plans to regularly mow and water this greenspace.

July 10, 2024

The City has issued a Request for Qualifications to identify a Real Estate Brokerage firm to provide Real Estate Brokerage services to market and sell eight City owned properties on Western and Carleton Avenue. The City requests responses detailing the firm's experience with similar projects, with a strong preference given to firms with experience selling residential homes with redevelopment opportunities in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The selected firm must list the properties for at least ninety (90) days with a multiple-listing service to provide ample time for interested buyers to perform due diligence on the properties. The deadline for response to the broker qualification questions is August 9, 2024. See the attached document for more information.

Broker Request for Qualifications(PDF, 928KB)

June 20, 2024

A virtual public meeting was held to discuss the City’s next steps and timeframe for the City owned properties on Western and Carleton Avenue. The PowerPoint presentation and meeting recording can be found at the bottom of this webpage under the “Project Meetings” blue bar.

May 31, 2024

Thursday, June 20, 2024 | 06:00 PM to 07:00 PM

A virtual public meeting will be held at the date and time below to discuss the City’s next steps and timeframe for the City owned properties on Western and Carleton Avenue. If you are unable to attend, the meeting will be recorded and posted on the City’s webpage. See below for the virtual meeting information.

Thursday, June 20, 2024
6-7 p.m.

Join from the meeting link (also posted on webpage above)
https://fortworthtexas.webex.com/fortworthtexas/j.php?MTID=mbcec86bd44932d02bbe81967664ecca7

Meeting number (access code): 2557 616 0922

Meeting password: Next-Steps-2024

Join by Phone: 1-469-210-7159

Join from a video system or application
Dial 25576160922@fortworthtexas.webex.com
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.

May 14, 2024 Update

On May 14, 2024, City Council approved the rejection of the single bid received for the Central Arlington Heights Sealed Bid Sale, which sought to collectively sell nine (9) parcels of City-owned property in Central Arlington Heights for redevelopment above flood risk.

After evaluation of the bid response, and feedback from many interested parties, staff recommended rejection of the bid and a new path to provide a more effective redevelopment plan for both the City and community. The City will now endeavor to sell the properties individually through a broker in accordance with Section 253.014 of the Texas Local Government Code. Each parcel will be sold to the buyer who submits the highest offer for the specific parcel. Each separate property sale will be brought to City Council for approval.

April 9, 2024

After receiving a single bid for the 9 properties up for sale for redevelopment, and after much consideration and deliberation, City leadership has arrived at a compromise for moving forward, which entails both greenspace and redevelopment combined. That compromise is as follows:

The current bid received for all 9 properties to be sold for redevelopment will be taken to City Council for rejection. When the City put the properties up for sale through a competitive bid process, the City anticipated that multiple offers would be received and thus included a bid review process that would provide for scoring and input from stakeholders. However, only 1 bid was received. Since closure of the bidding deadline, the City received feedback from many interested parties regarding the bid process and the redevelopment plan. City leadership carefully considered all of the feedback as well as the financial investment toward a flood mitigation solution. It was determined that the receipt of only 1 bid was not competitive and that a new path for disposition is warranted to allow for a more effective redevelopment plan for both the city and community.

The plan for the future disposition of the Central Arlington Heights properties owned by the City is as follows:

2213 Western – This single lot is situated between two FEMA grant-funded vacant lots (2209/2211 and 2217/2219). The two FEMA lots are serving as greenspace in perpetuity. Thus, 2213 Western will best serve the neighborhood as a contiguous greenspace together with the FEMA lots. Therefore, the City will keep the property at 2213 Western and demolish the existing structure allowing for the contiguous greenspace to be more effectively maintained and used by the community.

All Other Properties – The remaining 8 properties will be sold for redevelopment. However, the properties will be placed for sale individually through a real estate broker. The City will initiate a Request for Proposal process to seek a qualified Real Estate Broker. Once the properties are listed, offers will be accepted for a period of 90 days. The broker will establish the value of each property and the highest bid offered for each property will be considered by the City.

Future buyers will still be required to elevate the existing structures at least 2 feet above the 100-year non-FEMA flood risk elevation. Alternatively, the buyer will have the option to demolish the existing structure and either build new at least 2 feet above the flood risk elevation or maintain a lot as privately-owned greenspace. Lastly, the requirement for structures to preserve the architectural style of the area will be maintained.

There will be a few additional changes from the initial bid notice offering. First, to meet the City’s needs to protect and maintain the existing drainage system, a redevelopment requirement for the properties at 2216 and 2220 Carleton will stipulate that the separate garage structures (which were built over the existing storm drainage system) must be demolished. Second, 2300 Carleton will include a requirement to also raise the larger garage accessory dwelling unit above the flood risk elevation or demolish the structure.

City leadership understands that this project is of high interest to the neighborhood and that it has taken considerable time to arrive at this decision. In order to allow for clear communication on this decision and the next steps and timeline, we will hold a public meeting in June. We will work with the Neighborhood Association to select an available date and format and will notify the community as soon as that meeting date has been set.

March 6, 2024

City Staff is continuing to gather information to share with Councilwoman Hill and our City management team to inform the City’s next steps regarding the sale of the nine City-owned homes on Western and Carleton. We have not yet reached a decision but hope to do so in the coming weeks as we understand that the community wants to know what will happen next.

Previous Updates

December 15, 2023-The City plans to move forward with the sale and redevelopment of the 9 Central Arlington Heights properties and will bring the request to City Council for approval of the sale in early 2024. More information available in the project news dropdown menu.

October 7, 2022-Update on the demolition of the property at 2209/2211 Western Ave.

There has been a slight delay getting the electric service removed from the structure, so the demo will begin on Wednesday or Thursday of next week rather than Monday and will last 1-2 days. Fence improvements cannot be started until the demo is complete, so the fence construction has been rescheduled to start Monday, October 17 and should last 1-2 days.

The City’s Stormwater Program has been working for years with the Arlington Heights neighborhood, to identify a feasible, affordable and acceptable solution to the flooding issues in this flood-prone urban neighborhood. After years of studies and capital projects designed to provide some measure of flood relief to the overall neighborhood, a public meeting was held in October of 2018, to discuss the concept of voluntary acquisition of homes in the most flood-prone area in the neighborhood, in order to provide direct relief to homeowners living in the area of mapped non-FEMA flood risk with the most reported and repetitive flooding incidents. The City then moved forward with voluntary acquisition of eleven properties on Western and Carleton, as the most effective and affordable way to reduce flood risk in this area with the plan to construct stormwater detention if enough contiguous properties could be acquired.

To date, nine of the properties have been voluntarily acquired with Stormwater funding only. Acquisition of the remaining two properties, using funding from a FEMA grant, is currently in progress and expected to be completed in the late Summer/early Fall of 2022. The two properties being acquired with FEMA grant funding will have the houses demolished and will need to remain greenspace in perpetuity per FEMA grant requirements. Due to the concerns of some residents about the proposed stormwater detention concept, the City decided to offer the nine properties acquired with City only funding for redevelopment above flood risk levels with the detention and greenspace option still on the table if no acceptable offer is received. Feedback on the redevelopment concept and the type of development the community would like to see constructed in the neighborhood was determined by working closely with leadership from the Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association.

A virtual public meeting for the homeowners on Western and Carleton Avenues between Bryce and El Campo was held on May 19, 2022, to communicate and get feedback on the redevelopment concept. More information about this can be found under the drop-down tabs below.

Based on the feedback received at and after the meeting, the City updated the language in the redevelopment concept to remove some of the design to simplify the design criteria for prospective offerors, while still reflecting the input of community representatives. The City is continuing to refine these redevelopment documents so they will be ready for the sale of the property.

Additionally, the City is also listening to feedback received after the meeting that many property owners on Western and Carleton between Bryce and El Campo may prefer the greenspace and detention concept over the redevelopment concept.

More conversations will be held in the future to gain more feedback to inform the City’s next steps.

To learn more:

Project meetings

June 20, 2024 Community Meeting

May 25, 2023 Community Meeting

May 19, 2022 Community Meeting

Project news

March 6, 2024

City Staff is continuing to gather information to share with Councilwoman Hill and our City management team to inform the City’s next steps regarding the sale of the nine City-owned homes on Western and Carleton. We have not yet reached a decision, but hope to do so in the coming weeks as we understand that the community wants to know what will happen next.

As soon as we have information on next steps, we will be reaching out to communicate.

December 15, 2023

The City plans to move forward with the sale and redevelopment of the 9 Central Arlington Heights properties and will bring the request to City Council for approval of the sale in early 2024.

The addresses of the properties are:

• 2201/2203 Western Avenue, 2205 Western Avenue, 2213 Western Avenue, and 2221 Western Avenue

• 2212 Carleton Avenue, 2216 Carleton Avenue, 2220 Carleton Avenue, 2224 Carleton Avenue, and 2300 Carleton Avenue

These 9 properties were listed for sale on August 18, 2023, with a sealed bid deadline of November 30, 2023. Due to the number of questions received from interested bidders, the bid deadline was extended one week and closed on December 7, 2023. Ultimately, only one bid was received. It was for $100,000.00 from Groove Improvement, LLC. The bidder proposes to elevate 8 of the 9 structures if technically or structurally feasible and in accordance with Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The 9th structure, the newer slab-on-grade home at 2205 Western Avenue, is proposed to be demolished and rebuilt two feet above flood level.

The bid complies with the requirements outlined in the sealed bid purchase agreement and is higher than the appraised value of the property of -$819,031, which took into account the cost to redevelop the sites in accordance with the redevelopment requirements.

The bidder plans to preserve as many of the existing trees as possible, as well as provide flood mitigation benefits through low impact development techniques, such as permeable paving, gutters connected to rain barrel/rain harvesting systems, rain gardens or bioswales, and French drains. The developer is also committed to salvaging to the extent practicable.

As a reminder, the redevelopment guidelines were informed from discussions with neighborhood residents and focused on:

• Redeveloping the properties above flood risk (either by elevating the existing 9 structures, or demolishing and constructing new structures, at least 2 feet above the 100-year flood level, or a combination of the two),

• Demonstrating how redevelopment will not increase flood risk to surrounding properties and how nearby properties will be protected during redevelopment,

• Requiring new construction to have a similar look and feel to the existing homes in the area, and

• Completing redevelopment within 48 months of closing

As you may recall, the bids were to be scored and evaluated by both the City and a community stakeholder group. Since only one bid was received and it fulfills the requirements of the bid package, review and evaluation by community stakeholders is not necessary. Before moving forward with redevelopment, the bidder will hold a community meeting to discuss their redevelopment plans with Western and Carleton Avenue property owners and any interested parties.

As we get closer to bringing forward the formal request to sell the properties for redevelopment to City Council, we will provide the community with an update and the date of the planned Council action.

This sale does not include 2209/2211 Western Avenue or 2217/2219 Western Avenue. These properties were purchased with FEMA grant funding and have already been cleared of structures. They will never be permitted to have permanent structures on them per FEMA regulations. It is possible these two properties could be used as extensions of the yards of the adjacent properties in the future through an agreement with the City. At this time, the City regularly maintains these properties.

Design Standards and Guidelines

Broker Request for Qualifications(PDF, 928KB)

Open Space Use Plan

Open Space Use Plan Final(PDF, 15MB)

For additional information regarding this project, contact Project Manager Jennifer Dyke with the City of Fort Worth at 817-392-2714 or Jennifer.Dyke@fortworthtexas.gov.