Saturday, October 22, 2016

Elsie Hotpepper Takes Me To A TRV Boondoggle Encore

A couple days ago Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link to some fresh propaganda from The Boondoggle on the TRVA's (Trinity River Vision Authority) website, with the propaganda titled New 300-Unit Riverwalk Apartment Community Announced for Panther Island.

I read the article and thought to myself, "When will this madness ever end?" and then proceeded to forget about it til now

Three paragraphs from the Riverwalk Apartment article, apartments which you can see via the above artist's rendering, which were named  Encore Panther Island, at the time the artist did his rendering, with that name likely to change several times before ground is broken, if ground is ever broken, which is The Boondoggle's naming modus operandi.

The three paragraphs....

LLC, a subsidiary of the Dallas-based Encore Enterprises, Inc., is officially under contract to break ground on the first private development on Panther Island. The thoughtfully designed 233,198 square-foot multi-family community will feature creative solutions to connect the streetscape to the Riverwalk environment planned for the district. Residents will be able to enjoy exceptional amenities including waterfront balconies, an infinity pool with cascading waterfalls, a state-of-the-art fitness facility and a top floor lounge that will feature the most dynamic views of downtown. Located at the intersection of 4th Street and North Main Street, residents at the 300-unit community will be walking distance to Panther Island Brewing, Coyote Drive-In and Panther Island Pavilion. 

This community will be the first development to break ground within the Panther Island District – a vibrant waterfront mixed-use development located in the heart of Fort Worth. The more than 10,000 residences planned and 12 miles of active urban waterfront - including flowing canals and corridors that create uniquely-walkable spaces – will give rise to new businesses, trendy restaurants and a booming nightlife.

Construction for Encore Panther Island is slated to begin Summer 2017. Encore Multi-Family anticipates a grand opening date of Summer 2018.
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Sounds good, doesn't it. Operative word. "Sounds".

A couple weeks ago there was another choice piece of propaganda from The Boondoggle. I blogged about that propaganda in Rerouting Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Propaganda To The Truth.

A paragraph from that propaganda piece which is germane to this latest propaganda from The Boondoggle....

“Frankly, looking back, I don’t think it could have been done any other way,” J.D. Granger says. “We could have done it faster and cheaper, but the project would not be as good as it is today.” The majority of the infrastructure work should be completed by 2023, if all goes according to plan. “We couldn’t speed up the process, even if we wanted,” he says.
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I love that line from  J.D. saying they couldn't speed up the process, even if they wanted to. Why couldn't they? I think the answer to that question is The Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, is one of the most ineptly engineered public works projects in the history of American civil engineering. Currently The Boondoggle has been stuck for over half a year with the construction of the only one of The Boondoggle's bridges under construction, being built over dry land to connect Fort Worth's mainland to an imaginary island.

J.D.'s slow motion process is not the item I am focused on it relation to this Encore Riverfront Panther Island Apartment deal. What I am focused on is J.D. saying the majority of infrastructure work should be completed by 2023.

2023.

Five years after the Encore Riverfront Panther Island Apartments are supposedly scheduled to be completed, the majority of the infrastructure should be completed, according to Granger.

The second paragraph in this article about the first private development, which "may" break ground on the imaginary Panther Island, touts 12 miles of active urban waterfront with flowing canals.

So, people moving into these Encore Panther Island Riverfront apartments in 2018 get to wait at least five years before they get to enjoy those flowing canals? That is if those flowing canals are part of the majority of the infrastructure which J.D. Granger says should be completed by 2023.

The Boondoggle's propaganda about its "developments" reminds me of an old Rockford Files episode. Rockford came upon a real estate development scheme somewhere near California's Salton Sea. At one point one of the potential buyers is being shown the property with the salesman touting the lake, the large lots, the beautiful clubhouse. All we see is bleak desert landscape.

Later Rockford's co-hort, Angel, is marveling at the audacity, convincing buyers to pay a premium price for a lot near the imaginary clubhouse with a premium view of the imaginary lake.

No mention was made in the episode of imaginary bridges connecting to an imaginary island in the imaginary lake....

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