Hey Westoplexians,
Born and raised in Cowtown, I can't let today pass without a nod - it's been 25 years since September 11, and there's a version of "we'll never forget" that shows up quietly in small towns like ours, in fire drills and phone calls that didn't go through and neighbors who checked on each other anyway. This week the Westoplex carried that same instinct forward in its own way: firefighters clawed back real ground on a wildfire that's scarred Parker County for over two weeks, a Fort Worth institution said its goodbyes, and downtown kept building toward something new anyway. Big losses and real progress, happening right alongside each other.
Here's what caught my eye this week.
-josh
🔥 The Ross Fire Is 76% Contained
As of Sept. 10, the Ross Fire burning across Palo Pinto and Jack counties is 76% contained, up from 57% just days earlier. That's real progress after more than two weeks fighting what's now the second-largest wildfire in North Texas' recorded history.
The numbers are still brutal: 90,400 acres burned, 157 structures destroyed, at least 25 of them homes. Investigators traced the cause back to roadside equipment or vehicle use along Highway 180 - not lightning, not an act of nature, just a spark that found 53 days of drought waiting for it.
If you've got family, land, or listings out toward Palo Pinto or west of Weatherford, this is the week to actually read your homeowner's policy instead of assuming it covers what you think it does. Defensible space around a house isn't just a West Coast problem anymore.
Containment climbing is the good news. The bad news is the ground it's climbing on used to be somebody's ranch.
🎬 Coyote Drive-In Played Its Last Movie, and Fort Worth Showed Up 800 Cars Deep
After 14 years under the Fort Worth skyline, the Coyote Drive-In closed for good on Labor Day. Its lease with the Tarrant Regional Water District ran out to make way for the next phase of the Panther Island project - new canals and a park where the screens used to stand.
800 cars showed up for the final weekend. One regular started a petition to keep a drive-in somewhere in DFW and picked up 2,000 signatures before the credits even rolled.
Many Fort Worthians have sat in that gravel lot more times than we can count - kids in the truck bed, popcorn everywhere, skyline doing its thing in the background. You can't zone for that kind of memory, and nobody's really tried.
Panther Island keeps trading nostalgia for infrastructure. So far it's undefeated. That doesn't mean it doesn't sting.
🌳 Downtown's Multi-Million Dollar Bet on a Walk to the River
Downtown Fort Worth Inc. is pushing ahead on the Heritage and Paddock Park overhaul - anchored by the "Canopy Walk," a winding accessible trail that will finally connect downtown to the Trinity River, plus a waterfall, shaded decks, and river stairs down to the water's edge.
Fundraising has already topped $40 million toward a $50 million-plus goal, backed by names like the Amon G. Carter Foundation and BNSF - not just city budget.
This is the boring-sounding infrastructure that actually changes how a downtown feels to live near. It's the difference between "there's a river somewhere over there" and "I walked to the river this morning."
Maybe the real measure of a growing city isn't the skyline. Maybe it's how easy the walk to the water gets.
🎓 Texas A&M's Downtown Campus Just Got Real - and It's Bringing Hollywood With It
Texas A&M opened its first academic building downtown last month, the $185 million Law & Education Building, and immediately broke ground on an 11-story Research & Innovation building next door - part of the growing Switchyard Innovation District.
Among the programs headed for that district: a virtual production studio with LED walls, landing a few blocks from where Taylor Sheridan already built the state's largest film production campus.
A law school and a movie studio setting up shop three blocks apart from each other is a very Fort Worth combination, and I mean that as a compliment.
The economic projection floating around downtown is north of 25,000 jobs once the whole campus is built out. That's not a rounding error. That's a neighborhood's worth of new paychecks.
🌮 Stop 6 Finally Got Its Food Truck Yard
A new food truck yard opened this week off East Berry Street in Stop 6, giving the neighborhood seven dining options - Caribbean, Mexican, barbecue, even vegan - in a part of town that's gone without a dedicated dining spot for a while.
The zoning approval wasn't a given. City staff initially recommended denying it over how close the site sits to single-family homes, before council signed off with waivers for fencing and parking.
So maybe the lesson is that a good site plan beats a "no" more often than people think.
Either way, Stop 6 has a Friday night option it didn't have a month ago, and that's worth the drive.
🎨 Mark Your Calendar: Art Worth Returns to Clearfork Oct. 23–25
The fifth annual Art Worth Festival lands at the Shops at Clearfork Oct. 23–25 - free admission, 80 to 100 juried artists, live glassblowing and pottery demos, and Fort Worth Opera performing every day of the show.
Friday and Saturday run 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 11 to 4. Parking's free too.
Anyway - if you've been meaning to buy actual art instead of another canvas print from a big box store, this is the weekend.
Put it on the calendar now. This one's worth building a Saturday around.
🎟️ Details →
🏡 Homeowner Tip: Keep Watering That Foundation
Texas clay soil doesn't play nice with a dry summer - when the ground around your foundation dries out and shrinks, that's when you start seeing cracks. A soaker hose running 15-20 minutes a few times a week around the perimeter (not right up against the slab) helps keep soil moisture consistent through August's heat. It's a lot cheaper than a foundation repair bill, and easier than most home maintenance you'll do all year.
Twenty-five years ago today, this country learned that ordinary Tuesdays can turn into the days we build memorials around. Twenty-five years later, the small stuff we did this week - checking on a neighbor, driving out for one last movie, showing up for a downtown park nobody's forced to care about - is still the stuff that makes a place worth calling home.
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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