The Forkyard at The Morningside Project, located on 2529 Hemphill St. in south Fort Worth, has repurposed a vacant parking lot into a community co-work space and event venue.
Kamal Morgan
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A community project with a goal of helping to revitalize a section of the Hemphill Street corridor that had been halted due to code violations can now resume operations.
The Fork Yard by The Morningside Project is at 2529 Hemphill St., at the corner of West Morningside Drive, in the Jennings-May St. Louis neighborhood. The city council unanimously approved a permit Tuesday to allow use of the one-acre lot for mobile food vendors, merchandise vendors, and outdoor entertainment.
Angie Blochowicz, president of the Jennings-May St. Louis Neighborhood Association, and others from the community said they were grateful to Councilwoman Jeanette Martinez for seeing the heart, hard work, and community support behind the project. Those behind the project are not developers or a corporation, but are neighbors who have worked hard and dug deep into their pockets because they believed something exceptional could be built in the Hemphill corridor, Blochowicz said.
“This approval means we can keep building our third space where families can gather, small businesses grow and where our community finally has a place to belong,” Blochowicz told the Star-Telegram. “Something exceptional is here, and it is for all of Fort Worth to enjoy.”
Plans call for the project to open in the next few days, with an invitation to everyone from the community, mobile food vendors, and small businesses to be a part of it.
The location is where a developer in 2023 unsuccessfully tried to build townhomes, followed by an attempt to rezone it for a used-car lot.
After those efforts failed, neighborhood leaders met with the property owner to explore other community uses for the corner. They included Blochowicz and others from the Hemphill Corridor Development Collaborative, an organization dedicated to revitalizing Hemphill Street. The area is a dead spot between the commercial hubs of La Gran Plaza and West Magnolia Avenue, with few food options, Blochowicz said.
Leaders spoke with residents of the corridor and at City Council meetings to get input on how to use the property. The result was the creation of a community hub and “third space” in residents’ own backyards.
Blochowicz received a certificate of occupancy in May and began renovating a small building on the corner. The Morningside Project serves as a co-working space for meetings or an event space for small workshops. The parking lot became The Fork Yard for vendors, food trucks and outdoor events.
By August, the space hosted frequent pop-up events and community gatherings. The lights and constant community presence helped prevent people from trespassing on the property or in nearby alleyways, Blochowicz said.
But in September, the city issued a code violation and said the group had to apply for a permit for mobile food vendors, tent vendors, picnic tables and temporary lights.
Now with the city permit, The Fork Yard by The Morningside Project can continue providing a space for people the gather and services to community.
“Their trust allows us to continue to serve the Southside in a positive way,” Blochowicz said.
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Kamal Morgan covers racial equity issues for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He came to Texas from the Pensacola News Journal in Florida. Send tips to his email or Twitter.