A property that landed on Historic Fort Worth’s 2024 Most Endangered Buildings List is one step closer to redevelopment.

During a Sept. 17 meeting, Tarrant County commissioners unanimously signed off on the city of Fort Worth’s plan to sell the historic building to the Livingston Community Development Foundation.

Members of Beta Tau Lambda, a local chapter of the national Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, have been working to acquire the property through the foundation as part of a larger effort to spur economic development in the Historic Southside neighborhood.

“I’m thrilled and excited that we’ve made it to this stage,” Glen Harmon, the foundation’s executive director and former Beta Tau Lambda president, said. “We still have a couple of more steps to go before we fully acquire the building, but this was a major steppingstone.”

The now-vacant building has a dynamic history that has evolved alongside the surrounding neighborhood.

When the building first opened its doors in 1910, it served white students and continued to serve that population through 1962. The school briefly closed and then reopened in 1963, this time serving Black students. In the face of a dwindling student population, the school closed in 1985.

Part of the building eventually was repurposed as a nightclub, which operated through the early 2000s.

Since then, the vacant structure has attracted people experiencing homelessness. The Fort Worth Fire Department has responded to multiple fires in the building — including two in one week — from people seeking shelter there.

The city of Fort Worth seized the building following a tax foreclosure in 2007. The city, Tarrant County and other taxing entities are still owed back taxes on the property. 

City officials have proposed selling the building to the foundation for $1, with the stipulation that the foundation pay roughly $185,000 in total back taxes. City Council member Chris Nettles, who represents the Historic Southside, previously told the Report that the project is “reinventing District 8 and putting it on the map.”

Before the deal can move forward, all taxing entities — such as the county, Fort Worth ISD, the Tarrant County Hospital District, the Tarrant Regional Water District and the Tarrant County College District — had to sign off on the agreement. Tarrant County was the final taxing entity to approve the deal. 

The site will undergo another environmental study and the foundation will adopt any remediation measures deemed necessary, Harmon said.

Harmon estimates the cleaning and restoration of the site will cost around $5 million, but transforming the building into the community hub the foundation dreams of will cost around $15 million. Plans for the space will be finalized as the foundation continues its fundraising efforts and solidifies its community partners, he said.

Now, Harmon and his fraternity brothers await one final step: seeing the purchase head back to the Fort Worth City Council for a vote.

Marcheta Fornoff covers arts and culture for the Fort Worth Report. Reach her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.