A rare look inside the historic Fort Worth Public Market
April 18,2019
See full WFAA news article by Lauren Zakalik here.
If you've spent any amount of time in the city of Fort Worth, chances are you've seen her.
"It’s a historical site," Julie Wilks said. "Everyone seems to have a connection to this building."
And if you've seen her, chances are you love her: the Fort Worth Public Market, at the intersection of I-30 and Henderson.
Wilks loves the Public Market, too. She's with the company, Wilks Development, that bought and hoped to develop the historic beauty years ago.
She gave WFAA a rare, exclusive look inside Thursday.
"Some of the original flooring, you can still see," she said, showing us all the details inside the building that first opened in 1930 as an indoor shopping center.
"We’re lucky to have owned it for a little while," Wilks said.
But Wilks Development recently realized they weren't the ones for the redevelopment job.
"We just haven’t really come up with a good plan for it," she said.
So the market is now on the market for $6.8 million. The company is taking offers until May 8, offers that must spell out how the developer plans to use the building. That's important to Wilks. The building has historical protections and the facade will remain the same.
"We would hope it's going to be something that’s going to really enrich the city of Fort Worth even more," Wilks said.
We won't know for a little while what this building will eventually be used for, but there are lots of people who are anxious to find out. Jerre Tracy, executive director of Historic Fort Worth Inc. is one of those people.
"Could be a restaurant with a craft brewery in there, who knows," Tracy said.
"The principle owners of Wilks Development are being very good stewards when their project didn’t work out as they had planned to put it on the market because everybody loves that building."
"I'm very hopeful for its future," she added.
Wilks acknowledges it's a fixer upper, with broken windows and graffiti.
"It needs a lot of TLC but it also has a lot to offer," she said.
And all those who love the protected historic treasure would agree.