House Hunters Head to Fort Worth For Lower Crime, Lower Property Taxes, Thriving Downtown

The Metroplex Business and Civic Association released a graphic last week showing that crime for the month of September was vastly lower in downtown Fort Worth than in downtown Dallas. 

But we know from Mark Twain that there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” 

CandysDirt.com contacted Downtown Dallas Inc. Chief of External Affairs and Government Relations Scott Goldstein. He asked some good questions: What are the geographic boundaries used for the datasets? What’s the methodology for the “crime score” that appears to be crafted arbitrarily by another local news source? 

It also raised the question of whether downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas can even be studied in an apples-to-apples comparison. Downtown Dallas is larger and likely sees more visitors. DDI defines its boundaries by its Central Business District. 

A source from the MCBA said the downtown Dallas crime comparison data was taken directly from the city’s Crime Analytics Dashboard. The Fort Worth statistics came from the City of Fort Worth’s open data portal. 

The MCBA also provided the boundaries it used for the data. 

CandysDirt.com filed an open records request with the Dallas Police Department for crime data within the Central Business District as defined by Downtown Dallas Inc. Such requests typically take at least two weeks to fill, but we’ll revisit that and see if the numbers match up. 

Booming Downtown 

Downtown Fort Worth Inc. president Andy Taft said downtown Fort Worth Downtown is a highly managed, clean, safe, and well-designed mixed-use district.

“Our historic building inventory blends with contemporary office, residential, hotel high-rises, unique restaurants, and retail shops to create an exciting pedestrian environment,” he told CandysDirt.com. “Maintaining downtown’s high standards for cleanliness, safety, and access, development of quality market data, targeted incentives, and ‘market proving’ investments have set the stage for developer and corporate investment.”

Downtown Fort Worth appears to be thriving in a time when downtowns across America are empty and dying, according to a report last week in the Wall Street Journal. 

“For decades, downtown office districts across the U.S. powered local economies, generating commerce, tax revenue and an aggregation of ambition, talent, and disposable income,” according to the WSJ. “Many cities riddled with half-empty office buildings hope to survive the new remote-work era without bulldozing swaths of downtown and starting from scratch.”

There’s also the matter of homelessness. Tarrant County recorded about 2,700 homeless residents in a recent Point in Time Count. About 4,200 homeless individuals were counted in the same study for Dallas and Collin counties. 

Downtown Fort Worth has a coordinated network of public and private security providers that mitigate late-night noise and misbehavior, Taft said.

“The Fort Worth Police Department, Sheriff’s Office, and private security resources are well coordinated and our Ambassador service has a great relationship with these groups,” he said.

In a 2021-22 “State of Downtown” publication, Downtown Fort Worth representatives said primary downtown Fort Worth economic indicators reflect “an extraordinary post-COVID recovery.” 

“As of Q4 2022, more than $2 billion of multifamily, education, institutional, and hospitality developments are either planned or under construction,” the report states. ”This is striking evidence that Downtown is emerging from the pandemic with great strength. Office occupancy rebounded, but the return of office workers was slower than expected. Hotel occupancy reflects weekend and leisure travelers and conventioneers filling much of the void left by the temporarily absent business traveler.” 

Fort Worth’s Luxury Listings Near Downtown

Some potential home buyers may be choosing Fort Worth for its big city amenities and lower-than-Dallas property tax rate. Popular neighborhoods near downtown include the Near Southside, West 7th, Linwood, River East, Near Eastside, and Fairmount.

Dallas residents pay 73.57 cents per $100 assessed valuation in property taxes; Fort Worth homeowners spend 67.25 cents per $100 assessed valuation. 

Downtown Fort Worth real estate is a young professional’s dream. Maybe the price tags are all about location, but the amenities abound. 

An $861,000 condo in the Omni Residences offers two bedrooms, two bathrooms, high-end kitchen appliances, and a walk-in closet. Homeowners at the high rise at 1301 Throckmorton St. can access a fitness center, rooftop pool, outdoor grilling area, and concierge service. 

Realtor Paul Cleaveland with Allie Beth Allman & Associates is listing Apartment No. 3105. 

Another great spot with stunning downtown views is at 422 Mills St. 

The luxurious three-story condo features two bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a gourmet kitchen across 3,722 square feet. Guests may overstay their welcome in the large third-floor primary bedroom with its own sitting area, fireplace, built-in shelves, and wet bar. 

Realtor Theresa Wright with United Real Estate DFW Properties is listing the home for $694,000. 

Downtown Fort Worth’s apartment inventory topped 4,241 units in 2022, according to the most recent State of Downtown report. 

“Developments in the planning process indicate significant residential growth with 3,021 additional units in the pipeline,” the report states. “As of Q4 2022, there are 1,264 apartment units currently under construction.”

The downtown apartment occupancy rate is about 90 percent, according to city documents. 

Taft said development projects totaling about $2.5 billion are in the downtown pipeline.

“Chief among those are what we call catalytic developments,” he said. “The Convention Center Expansion, Omni’s expansion, a new Convention Headquarters Hotel, Texas A&M’s expansion, the Butler Place redevelopment, Deco 969, and the Panther Island development will create even more development demand in downtown.”