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Jan 814 min read

Growth and Development, Index

Updated: 2 days ago


Summary: Willow Park Civics provides an index of blogs and other articles on growth and development in and around Willow Park. Major developments include hundreds of new residential houses on both sides of I20, development of six large ranches, growth in Fort Worth, the new Port-to-plains interstate highway, and [too] much more.

Latest Update: updated 20 December 2024; repost 09 January 2024; posted July 23, 2023

Select #Tags for additional articles: #AreaGrowth, #DevelopmentNorth, #DevelopmentSouth





 

Growth and Development


Willow Park Civics provides an index of Willow Park Civics blogs and other articles on the growth and development in and around Willow Park.


Willow Park Blogs 2024


As part of Google’s plans to invest in Texas data centers and cloud computing infrastructure, Google has leased a 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse, 15 miles from Willow Park, in Majestic Realty’s Silver Creek Business Park in Fort Worth, directly on the west side of Loop 820 at Silver Creek Road. Details in linked blog.


The city of Fort Worth added more than 110 acres via an annexation of an area contiguous to the Walsh development in Parker County. The area is north of Interstate 20 and south of Old Weatherford Road. The proposed development spans two phases, with construction of several commercial buildings estimated for phase one.


• Willow Park Planning and Development Dept. Quarterly Report, Q4 September 2024, Willow Park Civics Blog, posted 30 October 2024


 Willow Park is now part of the "upscale housing boom" sweeping west of DFW, at least that's the opinion of Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty, with "their signature white-glove care" and their new The Sally Watkins Group office in south Willow Park. The new office, called Fort Worth West, is at 601 Willow Crossing E in Willow Park.


• New Shopping Center in Walsh, I20 and FM 3325, five miles from Willow Park., Willow Park Civics Blog, posted 23 September, 2024

Walsh Ranch Development is activating its long-term plan for a new shopping center at the corner of FM 3325 and I-20 "with a grocer expected to be announced within the next 90 days". Although officially in the City of Fort Worth, the Shopping Center will be only five (5) miles from Willow Park. Details in linked blog.


At the corner of I30 and Walsh Ranch Parkway, just seven miles from Willow Park, the Worthington Bank is planning an eight-story office development. Ready in three years, the building will be decorated in a Western motif with art celebrating the area, a tradition of Worthington Bank.


  If you moved to Parker County for the rural life, prepare for the stampede of urban growth from the east. Just two weeks ago UT Arlington announced its new location in Parker County's Walsh Ranch [1] This week, reality is setting in. "The area is becoming overcrowded with housing developments."


 In June 2024, the City approved a project by the "Brothers in Christ" to start the annexation of 232 acres of land on FM 1187, for 1+ businesses, and 100+ residential. In August, the City rescinded the annexation. What happened? There were no specific, public details from the developer. However, the City indicated they chose to rescind and invite resubmission at a later date.


 The City of Willow Park has granted up to $200,000 in sales tax rebates as City financial incentives to a company already establish in the City. In July, the City Council approved a Chapter 380 agreement with Second Empire Brewery, LLC aka Parker County Brewing Company, who has been a popular restaurant since 2018. 


UTA West is planning to open their new 51 acre campus in Walsh Ranch "as early as fall 2028. At its completion the campus will serve more than 10,000 students." And current demographics indicate there will be a large and increasing source of new students. Details in linked blog.



• The Lumen Room is coming to The District in Willow Park, Willow Park civics Blog, posted 17 July 2024


• Pure Barre has a location planned for 243 Willow Bend Drive. Willow Park Civics, posted 16 July 2024


Willow Park is in the process of annexing approximately 232 acres along FM 1187 and Bankhead Highway East. In order to complete the annexation, the city will also annex approximately 11 acres of East Bankhead Highway and approximately 1.034 acres of FM 1187. Details in linked blog.


• Watch a 3D-printed home being built, just 23 miles east of Willow Park., Willow Park Civics Blog, posted 04 June 2024

OK, this has nothing to do with the current Willow Park, but what happens in Fort Worth does not stay in Fort Worth. Watch a 3D-printed home being built, just 23 miles east of Willow Park, at 100 W. Bolt St. Fort Worth. The property is said to be the first International Code Council Evaluation Service-approved residence to use load-bearing 3D-printed walls.  Details in linked blog.


Tarrant County is already as ethnically diverse as the U.S. is expected to be in 2050. "As Tarrant County’s population has grown in the past decade, so, too, has its racial and ethnic diversity. But that diversity is greater in suburban areas rather than urban ones, experts observed from the latest census data." However, not for Willow Park... yet. Details in linked blog.


The most recent US Census reports The United States has a population of 13.7% foreign-born people in a total population of 334,914,895, while only 3.9% of the population in Willow Park are foreign-born people in a total population of 5,650. "California, Florida, New Jersey and Texas had the largest increases, with Florida and Texas each gaining more than 850,000 foreign-born people.


"The Dallas-Fort Worth market is ranked second with the most pent-up housing demand... In the next 10 years (Dallas-Fort Worth) is going to be at nine million people... We’ve got to increase our supply of homes."


1,000 multifamily units, 1,000 townhomes and 650 single-family homes - Fort Worth Zoning Commission approved a plan to develop the Beggs Ranch property on the western edge of the city. Developers of the 240-acre site at the intersection of Old Weatherford Road and FM 3325 are looking to build a mixed-use development of 1,000 multifamily units, 1,000 townhomes and 650 single-family homes. 


• More homes coming to Walsh Development, ten miles east of Willow Park. Willow Park Civics Blog, posted 20 March 2024

More homes coming to Walsh Development; 339 homes will be added on the west side of the Walsh, along Walsh Avenue. Pricing is expected to start in the $400,000s for townhomes and can exceed $1 million for custom homes on larger lots.


• Weatherford Housing Market Analysis and why it matters to Willow Park. Willow Park Civics Blog, posted 22 February, 2024

The stampede is coming through Willow Park. The winners will be those Parker County cites, who plan now. Here is what Weatherford, County Seat and largest city in Parker County, is planning and why it matters to Willow Park. Details in the blog linked below.



• Veale Ranch development is moving fast forward... towards Willow Park, Willow Park Civics Blog, posted04 January 2024

Veale Ranch, located 13 miles south east of Willow Park, is moving forward with plans to "attract the next big manufacturing mega-site, and is investing $88 million to make [Veale Ranch] shovel ready, with water and sewer lines by early 2024 and interchanges and roads by 2025 or 2026.

Willow Park Blogs 2023




Kelly Ranch is bringing luxury development, 10 miles south of Willow Park. "The 2500-acre Kelly Ranch development... is reshaping West Fort Worth and South Aledo," with luxery residential homes, private golf course, retail, restaurants, commercial, and medical development.


Willow Park now has a resolution declaring the population of Willow Park to be greater than 5,000 (about 8.5K). This population resolution allows the City to expand its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, ETJ, one (1) mile beyond the current City limits, preparing the City for commercial and residential growth.



Approximately 82% of people born in Texas still lived here in 2021. By a significant margin, Texas natives are more likely to stick around their home state than people born in any other place in the U.S., according to a new analysis of Census data. Economic growth, low taxes and big cities all can keep residents in their home states.


Starting in September 2023, the DFW high speed rail project will start moving more quickly. The 31-mile line, along I30, will allow travel between Fort Worth and Dallas in about 20 minutes. Stops on the line include downtown Fort Worth -- twenty miles from Willow Park -- Arlington’s entertainment district and downtown Dallas.


Our Parker County Commissioners have started their information program to explain the necessity, benefits, projects, partnerships, and costs of a new Parker County Transportation bond of about $130M.


Quick on the heels of several "top" growth statistics, Fort Worth is now primed for a real estate boom. And what happens in Fort Worth - just twenty (20) miles east of Willow Park -- does not stay in Forth Worth. “We’re in the early stages of what’s happened in Austin.” Get ready to grow or go.


No wonder Willow Park is developing the air quality of a larger city. In fact, Parker County, adjacent to Tarrant County, is one of seventeen (17) of the 254 Texas counties that still require vehicle emissions inspections -- no surprise Parker County has to continue emission testing when 90% of Texas counties no longer requires a vehicle safety inspection.


The District in Willow Park North is a promenade of restaurants and retail stores along the Clear Fork Trinity River, part of The Shops at Willow Park North -- designed for restaurants, retail entertainment, and an amphitheater for live music, outdoor activity areas, outdoor patio space with elevated 2nd story patio views.


The major moan in Parker County, and especially east Parker County, is the loss of rural lifestyle. Get used to it. Population growth in Parker County is being driven by in-immigration* and predicted to continue; our growth is contributed to growth in Fort Worth*, Tarrant County and DFW and to the access to water, from wells and from Fort Worth Water System. Get the stats from an OpEd, Rural Texas by Economist Dr. M. Ray Perryman.


Correction: There seems to be confusion: Is this large property in Willow Park or just outside Willow Park?

With all the news of the development of large acres of land and ranches AROUND Willow Park*, this 200+ acres of land for sale is IN Willow Park city limits. Willow Park is just 6.3 square miles or 3,968 acres. (6.2 square miles of it is land and 0.1 square miles of it is water.) So this sale of 200 acres or .3125 sq miles, represents 5% of Willow Park.


Growth is coming from the West via Port-to-Plains Highway I27. And growth is coming from the East via the Historic Veale Ranch, with 1500 acres being readied for a business mega-site. The Community News article.


"Texas is the headquarters of headquarters," said Governor Abbott. The greater Houston metro area is No. 2 in the nation with 25 Fortune 500 headquarters, and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area is No. 3 with 24. Fort Worth has one F500, American Airlines, just 40 miles east of Willow Park.


Since the new Port-to-Plains I27 will intersect with I20 about 240 miles west of Willow Park, this will have a major impact, during the next several decades, on Willow Park and on the region of Parker County that surrounds I20. Growth will come to Willow Park from the east and from the west.

"Fort Worth gained the highest sheer number of new residents of any city in the country in 2022; Texas cities again lead population growth; Texas again smashes three jobs records in April."


The Willow Park Development Department reported on fifteen (15) commercial updates, during the 25 April 2023 Council Meeting. A list and an interactive map of these commercial locations are provided by Willow Park Civics.


Canvas, the new Willow Park North Townhomes, are complete enough to be in full lease mode. Originally marketed by Wilks Development as 101Row, the 101 owner-occupant townhome project in Willow Park North has been sold to Argosy Real Estate Partners to become 101 townhomes for lease.


"Texas continues to lead the U.S. with the fastest economic expansion, according to new data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. As measured by Texas’ gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services it produces, the Texas economy expanded at an annual rate of 7% – nearly triple the national GDP rate of 2.6%"


The Willow Park Development Department reported on commercial and residential updates, during the 14 February 2023 Council Meeting. While residential development declined in 2022, there are several new developments planned for the future. Note: New commercial and residential development are grouped around I20, leaving the north half of Willow Park as large lot residential houses, farms and ranches. The best of both rural and suburban -- and just twenty (20) miles from Willow Park to Fort Worth.


Indoor, outdoor, take-out dining in a multi-restaurant concept; from light fare to rich comfort food; outdoor activities including pickle ball courts, live music, and a trailhead to Willow Park trails. An unusual concept in restaurants -- Standard Services, a brand of UNCO -- is coming to Willow Park, across I20 from The Shops at Willow Park.


Country Hollow, a new housing development south of I20 and north of the Hunter's Glen neighborhood, is ready to get started with 98 single family houses on 5K square foot lots.


With the interest and concern in east Parker County development, now is a good time to remind Willow Park residents of the development of six ranches in-between Willow Park and Fort Worth - Walsh Ranch, Morningstar Ranch, Veale Ranch, and The Seven Ranches Master Plan, which includes the division of the Dean, Boswell, and Beggs Ranches into seven development areas.


Texas is now home to 30 million people -- and according to the new Wilks development map they can all come here. "Growth in Texas last year was fueled by gains from three components; net domestic migration (230,961), net international migration (118,614), and natural increase (118,159). That's a lot of new Texans (almost 1,300 every day)!"


Willow Park Healthcare Campus is getting ready to open in 2023 and 2024 with medical clinics, surgical facilities, medical offices, and more. You see the construction as you travel west of the Texas Health Willow Park. Willow Park Civics first reported on the Willow Park Healthcare Campus in an April 2022 Blog. Here are current details on the Willow Park Healthcare Campus today.


In their most recent brochure, Wilks Development gives the present, the history, and the future of the largest, multi-use development in Willow Park. The Willow Park North Wilks Development includes the residential developments of The Reserves (single family houses), The Gates (apartments), Canvas* (leased town homes), Olympus Apartments* and the commercial developments of The Shops at Willow Park, Willow Park North Commercial, The District restaurants and entertainment.



Glamper Camper Pampers your RV, Boat, and Classic Car. Building now are 340 recreational vehicle storage units and a leasing office - "high-end RV and boat storage unlike any other."

 

Willow Park Blogs 2022

Original post 31 August 2022


• Tommy's Boats is coming to town, 19 November 2022

Tommy's Boats was recommended for a Special Use Permit by the Willow Park City Council on 15 September, signaling the beginning of the beginning of the new boat sales and service facility.


• New restaurant I20 South, 26 October 2022

An unusual concept in restaurants is coming to Willow Park, across I20 from The Shops at Willow Park. Standard Services, a brand of UNCO.


The Aledo ISD Summer Demographic Report echos the prediction of the growth, stampeding it way towards Willow Park


An estimated 1,100 people are moving to Texas every day... US 281 @ I20 is one of the "four key rural corridors for expansion to four-lane divided highways." The report found that even as Texas continues to make significant improvements in its rural transportation system, the state’s growing population, increased energy and agricultural production and additional economic activities place a greater need on expanded and improved transportation in the state's rural communities.


• Dean Ranch Sale, 09 September 2022

The recent sale of the Dean Ranch was big news not only in east Parker County, but in the county overall — the largest real estate transaction in Parker County history.


• TxDOT Plans Record Spending. 31 August 2022

The 2023 Unified Transportation Program (UTP) will include an additional $32 billion in funding for maintenance and development, for a total price tag of $117 billion. The governor’s office characterized it as an “unprecedented level of projected transportation funding.”


• "The District," 24 May 2022

The District is a promenade of restaurants and retail stores along the Clear Fork Trinity River, part of The Shops at Willow Park North -- designed for restaurants, entertainment, and retail with an amphitheater for live music, outdoor activity areas, outdoor patio space with elevated 2nd story patio views. / This blog page will be updated as more information is shared. If you discover information, share with with your neighbors.


Velocis, a private equity real estate investment management frm, announced it has acquired almost 8.5 acres off I-20 adjacent to the Texas Health Hospital in Willow Park, to build two speculative medical offces buildings (MOBs) totaling 100,000 square feet.


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