Laura's MSRE Blog: Guest Speaker

December 22, 2012

Allen Smith is the Director of Southeast Fort Worth Inc. He started out working in construction for many years and decided to join the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce because he wanted to give back to his community. While still with the Chamber, he began working with Southeast Fort Worth Inc. in 2012. From their website: "Our Vision is that southeast Fort Worth will be a great place to live, learn, work, play, invest, do business and shop." Since his time there, he has seen great community involvement and support, which is really the backbone for the work he does.

The area the Southeast Fort Worth Inc. covers is from Lancaster Avenue to I-20, and from Lake Arlington to I-35W. Allen, as well as other city and community leaders, see great opportunities for business, employment, and retail development. Southeast has the components to achieve their vision, such as cost-effective land, room to grow, established neighborhoods, well-known institutions of higher learning, and available development incentives; however, Allen stated that it has been a challenge to get developers interested. It has been evaluated that an estimated $70 million a year has been going out of the community due to the fact that the area lacks the retailers and other commercial developments that residents need. Southeast FW Inc. takes a very proactive approach by working with a lot with HOAs and other neighborhood groups to find out what is needed and what residents want, then they go out and seek the developers.

They found that a major step toward attracting businesses and developers would be to improve the neighborhoods they already have and work to infill any empty residential lots. Southeast FW Inc. has been continually working with the city to create a pedestrian-friendly streetscape environment, which in turn is a catalyst for redevelopment. As well, they have been working on the Neighborhood Homes Revitalization Project, the Terrell Homes Residential Project (building new affordable single family homes in empty lots), and promoting Southeast Fort Worth Area Community Gardens.

And the organization's revitalization and redevelopment efforts have not gone unnoticed (see video below).

Today, Southeast Fort Worth Inc. is underway on Renaissance Square, a 180 acre mixed use development to include shopping, dining, entertainment, all residential property types, and light office. The residential area of the development also includes the Uplift Mighty Prep School, which provides college preparatory education and also boasts a 100% graduation and college enrollment rate. The school opened in August 2012.