Ft Worth Times

Stop Six residents, government leaders, developers and community partners celebrated the grand opening of Cowan Place Senior Living on Monday. The mixed-income community launches a new phase of residential housing as part of the Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative.

Cowan Place is at 5400 E. Rosedale St.

What the opening means: Cowan Place signals a transformation of one of the city’s treasured African American communities. Cowan Place is named for Alonzo and Sarah Cowan, two of the first landowners in the southeast Fort Worth community and for whom the neighborhood was once named.

Former Cavile Place residents who relocated as part of the redevelopment process have the right to return to the community as new Fort Worth Housing Solutions properties – such as Cowan Place and Hughes House, which broke ground earlier this year – come online.

“Cowan Place Senior Living would not have been possible without true community collaboration from Stop Six and our committed partners,” said Mary-Margaret Lemons, Fort Worth Housing Solutions president. “We’re excited to welcome new and former Cavile residents to a development they can call home.”

The multiyear Choice Neighborhood effort is seeded by a $35 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant. The HUD grant will be spread across six phases of development and is expected to leverage approximately $500 million in investment for the neighborhood. In all, Fort Worth Housing Solutions will develop approximately 1,000 new units across the community.

What’s next? The City of Fort Worth plans additional infrastructure improvements, including a new community hub and aquatics center. Fort Worth Housing Solutions also received an additional $4 million from the federal government to assist with public infrastructure improvements.

“Cowan Place is the gateway welcoming all to Stop Six, Texas,” said City Councilmember Gyna Bivens, whose District 5 includes Stop Six. “It is a beacon of light for senior citizens who want to return to Stop Six and those who were yearning for residential amenities that would make the community more attractive for them. This community is blessed.

“When Cavile Place was demolished, Housing Solutions leaders knew they had to deliver replacement housing, and they are delivering on that need in a very impressive manner as we look forward to residents who will soon call Hughes House Home,” Bivens said.

About the Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative

• The Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative is a multiyear effort developed by residents, community leaders and stakeholders.
• The initiative will transform a historic community in southeast Fort Worth into a vibrant, safe and sustainable community with access to quality education, healthcare, services and amenities – a “neighborhood of choice.”
• The effort is guided by a 2019 Transformation Plan that calls for six phases of new, mixed-income housing, commercial space, neighborhood improvements and multipurpose community hub and aquatics center.
• The U.S. Housing and Urban Development seeded the transformation with a $35 million Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant awarded to Fort Worth Housing Solutions and the City of Fort Worth in 2020.

Original source can be found here.