Fort Worth appears to have an unofficial bird of sorts — the tower crane.
At least 16 construction cranes are in operation around Fort Worth — marking the most visible building equipment in use in more than a decade as Cowtown has grown to be the nation’s 10th-largest city.
The urban development platform Now.Town said five tower cranes are operating in the TCU area as a massive $500 million building boom is underway to transform the campus. That plan includes construction of new dining and residential facilities, a mixed-use project on West Berry Street and the renovation of the historic Ed Landreth Hall and Auditorium.
Another five tower cranes are being used at hospital campuses across the city’s Medical District/Near Southside area. Two are in place at the Moncrief Cancer Institute for an expansion project while another pair is visible at Cook Children’s Health Care System’s $1 billion 760,000-square-foot West Tower project. One tower crane at JPS Health Network is for a new outpatient medical building.
Mixed-use developments round out the final six projects involving tower cranes. Two are located at the site of the $1.7 billion residential-retail Westside Village project. The first phase of the 37-acre development will include a 100,000-square-foot Class AA office building and 308-unit luxury residences.
The other four projects — the Van Zandt, Merrimac, Westbend Residences and Crescent Office Tower West — each have one tower crane in place.
Now.Town said the number of cranes in operation in Fort Worth “marks the most tower cranes in our 10 years of tracking,” surpassing the 15 used in summer 2016. The number of tower cranes now in use is “possibly the most in Fort Worth’s history,” the organization said.
Residents said the construction activity is the sign of a top 10 city.
“We have one of the weakest downtown skylines of any major city in this country,” replied Jeremy Zvitt, a Fort Worth designer and sculptural fabricator, to a June 29 Now.Town Facebook post on the number of tower cranes. “By the looks of our downtown area, it looks like we’re still a city of 500,000. Time to build some real skyscrapers, the city is depressingly weak.”
Corey Keller, a railroad dispatcher, said the construction activity is a sure sign that Fort Worth has matured.
“Fort Worth needs to stop growing out and grow up instead,” he said. “This is a good thing.”
Last summer, just one project — the Texas A&M Fort Worth Law and Education Building — had a tower crane, Now.Town said. That crane has been removed as the building’s August opening nears.
Fort Worth’s fowl
By the way, Fort Worth does have an official bird — the eastern bluebird was so named by city officials in 2024 after a contest.
More tower cranes are expected as big projects begin construction. Those include JPS’s $1.5 billion new hospital, Fort Worth Convention Center’s $701 million expansion, future Westside Village phases of construction, and the Texas A&M Fort Worth Research and Innovation Building.
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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