Hey Westoplexians,

This week didn't just bring news - it brought a whole stack of endings with something else already moving in behind them. Fort Worth ISD opened its first school year under new state leadership, the Stockyards lost a billion-dollar expansion the same week it gained a new one, Weatherford got a new grocery anchor on a corner that didn't exist two years ago, and one Aledo homeowner found out the hard way that Texas doesn't let a crawlspace sit empty for long. Nothing here just quietly disappears - it gets replaced by something bigger, weirder, or both.

Here's what caught my eye this week.

-josh

Nearly 70,000 Fort Worth ISD students headed back to class this week for the district's first full school year under state-appointed leadership, following the Texas Education Agency's takeover in March. About 1,000 staff members left in the transition, which makes the next number land harder: the district says it opened the year fully staffed, with zero teacher vacancies - a district that has historically started the year with more than 200 open positions. New Superintendent Dr. Peter Licata and the state-appointed board say the goal is simple: raise achievement fast enough to hand the district back to local control.

Here’s my take: While this is good news - it feels it’s covering up a larger story here… “Fort Worth ISD is employing around 308 uncertified teachers for the 2026–2027 academic year. This marks a 569% increase compared to the 2025–2026 school year, when the district had 46 uncertified teachers, following high turnover after the state takeover. [1, 2]”

Quality public education is VERY important to me. It was very important to America’s founding fathers, too - especially Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. I feel the Texas GOP - who has been in charge of our state and our education for 30 years - has absolutely failed our children.

📚 Source: CBS News Texas

Stockyards Heritage Development Co. - the Majestic Realty and Hickman Companies partnership behind Phase I of the Stockyards revival - has shelved its planned $1 billion Phase II expansion. The plan called for new hotels, underground parking, commercial space, and residential units, and would have nearly doubled the size of the entertainment district. The developer points to market conditions and a desire not to oversaturate the area, and says it won't slow future development in the district - though that's easier to say than to prove.

I guess we’ll see what happens…

🐴 Source: Fort Worth Report

Here's the twist: the same day the billion-dollar Phase II got shelved, Craig Cavileer - the man who led the original Hotel Drover redevelopment - announced a new $160 million luxury resort just across Marine Creek from Hotel Drover itself. The project will bring hotels, dining, and retail to the entrance of the Stockyards, with construction targeted to start in fall 2027 and a spring 2030 opening. Maybe that's just how this district works now - something always seems to be moving in before the dust settles on what just left.

🏗️ Source: Fort Worth Report

An Aledo homeowner got a surprise most of us hope to never have: nearly two dozen rattlesnakes living in a den underneath their house. NBC 5's cameras caught the removal, and it's the kind of story that makes you rethink that gap under the porch you've been meaning to seal up.

A casual, “watch out for snakes, be back before sundown” was the defining catchphrase of my childhood from my momma. Growing up running around family land, snakes are just part of it. They actually are a very important part of our native Texas ecosystem. I’ll say this though - there is one snake that does freak me out, and that’s water moccasins (cottonmouths)… I’ve had too many close encounters with them lol and depending on their breeding season, they may not be too scared of you - and that scares me lol

🐍 Source: Westoplex Weekly

August is peak stress-test season for North Texas clay soil, and a dry, cracking yard doesn't just mean a brown lawn - it means your foundation is losing moisture it needs to stay stable. A soaker hose running 2–3 times a week along the foundation line (not right against the slab, about 12–18 inches out) can help prevent the kind of shrink-swell cracking that turns into a much more expensive repair come fall.

Fort Worth Is Tearing Down the Convention Center Arena. Here's Your Last Chance to Say Goodbye. The 1968 arena gets a free farewell block party on Sept. 20 before demolition starts in early 2027, making way for a $606 million convention center expansion. Josh weighs in on what the city gains - and what it loses - in the full post. Read it here

Sprouts Opens Tomorrow in Weatherford. Here's the Full Story Behind the Corner It's Anchoring. There's an eight-month city negotiation and a $20 million capital commitment behind that new grocery store at I-20 and Center Point Road - and it's not the last tenant coming to that corner. Read it here

Fun fact for the week: The story: during an 1873 economic depression, a Dallas lawyer named Robert Cowart mocked Fort Worth in the Dallas Herald, writing that things were so quiet "I saw a panther asleep on Main Street." Instead of getting mad, Fort Worth leaned all the way in - newspaper editor B.B. Paddock put a sleeping panther on his paper's masthead with the motto "Where the Panther Laid Down," and the city has worn Panther City as a badge of pride ever since. It's on police badges, on Paschal High School's mascot, and there's a Sleeping Panther statue on Main Street today.

That's the week in Fort Worth. As always, if you have questions about the market, want a free home value estimate, or just want to know what's happening in your neighborhood - I'm one reply away.

See you next week,

Josh Harville
Real Estate Professional | Fathom Realty, LLC | SA-0682306 Westoplex Region: Fort Worth · Aledo · Weatherford · Benbrook & surrounding communities
📞 817-917-8923
✉️ [email protected]
🌐 http://joshuaharville.fathomrealty.com/
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