Possible Stockyards development discussed

Scott Nishimura and Bob Francis snishimura@bizpress.net rfrancis@bizpress.net

The North Side business community is buzzing over word of more potential redevelopment coming to the Stockyards.

David Berzina, executive vice president of economic development at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, raised the possibility Wednesday and Thursday at two meetings – the Society for Marketing Professional Services and the 2014 Tarrant County Commercial Real Estate Forecast.

Berzina said a potential 30-acre development could be announced this year, but he didn’t elaborate in his talks or in an interview.

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“We’re real excited about a new development that seems to be taking shape there,” he said at the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council’s forecast at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Several business people contacted by The Business Press put Fort Worth’s Hickman family – businessman Holt Hickman began buying property in the historic Stockyards in the late 1980s and redeveloped his holdings along East Exchange Avenue in the 1990s to include Stockyards Station – at the center of the potential development.

The Hickmans still own property they’ve yet to redevelop in the Stockyards. Other parcels contiguous to Hickman holdings are for sale.

Brad Hickman, Holt Hickman’s son and a principal in the family firm, could not be reached Thursday and did not return a message left at his office.