confirm: section name proposed by the plan; the owner confirms it

Near Southside is the part of Fort Worth directly south of downtown. Locals call it the medical district: more than 30,000 people work in its hospitals, clinics and other businesses, which makes it the second-largest employment center in Tarrant County.

John Peter Smith Hospital, the county’s public hospital and a Level 1 trauma center, is at 1500 Main Street. Homes here run from historic lofts and townhomes to restored older houses, and many sit inside the Fairmount–Southside Historic District: 340 acres on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990, with more than a thousand contributing buildings. In 2008 the city made the Near Southside an Urban Design District, so new buildings have to follow its rules for walkable, mixed-use streets.

Rail is on its way. TEXRail ends today at T&P Station, on the south side of downtown, and Trinity Metro plans a 2.1-mile extension from there to the medical district, with the new station expected in 2029. Until then, downtown is about Maps: minutes by car away. Start your list here if you work at one of the hospitals, or if you would rather live in a historic district than in a new subdivision.

confirm: section name proposed by the plan; the owner confirms it

West 7th takes its name from West 7th Street, which leaves downtown, crosses the Trinity River and runs west toward the museums. The street is what ties downtown to the Cultural District, and developments such as Museum Place, West 7th, Montgomery Plaza and So7 have added homes along it, mixed with shops and restaurants.

The landmark at the river end is the old Montgomery Ward warehouse, built in 1928 just across the river from downtown. It closed in 2001, and from 2004 it was redeveloped as Montgomery Plaza, with stores around the original building and condominiums inside it. A few blocks west, the West 7th development opened in March 2010: nearly five city blocks of shops, restaurants and lofts.

Past those blocks, the street keeps going west to the museums of the Cultural District, and downtown is about Maps: minutes by car back the other way. Start your list here if you want restaurants within walking distance and the Trinity River close by.

confirm: section name proposed by the plan; the owner confirms it

The Cultural District lies west of downtown, on the far side of the Trinity River, and it is known for its museums. The Kimbell Art Museum, in a building by Louis Kahn, opened in October 1972. The Amon Carter Museum of American Art opened in January 1961, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth moved into its Tadao Ando building, with three long pavilions set in a reflecting pond, in December 2002.

There is green space too. The Fort Worth Botanic Garden, established in 1934, is the oldest major botanic garden in Texas. The Will Rogers Memorial Center, built in 1936, holds horse and livestock shows, and Dickies Arena, a 14,000-seat arena that opened next to it in 2019, has been the home of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo since 2020.

From the apartments around the district, downtown is about Maps: minutes by car to the east. On big event nights at the arena, streets nearby fill up, so tell us how close to the venues you want to be. Start your list here if a museum lawn and a garden path matter more to you than a nightlife strip.

confirm: section name proposed by the plan; the owner confirms it

Alliance is the planned district that grew around Fort Worth Alliance Airport, in the far north of the city. The airport opened on December 14, 1989, about 14 miles north of downtown, and was billed as the world’s first purely industrial airport. It handles cargo, not passenger airlines, and the BNSF Railway runs a large rail freight hub beside it.

The district does not stop at the city line. It covers parts of Denton and Tarrant counties and of several towns, among them Fort Worth, Haslet, Westlake, Northlake and Roanoke, so two addresses a mile apart can sit in different cities. Interstate 35W, State Highway 114, State Highway 170 (the Alliance Gateway Freeway), US 377 and FM 156 all run through it. Besides warehouses and offices, it has its own neighborhoods of single-family homes and, near its town center, apartment communities.

Downtown Fort Worth is about Maps: minutes by car south on I-35W, and DFW Airport about 33 min by car away. Start your list here if your job is in one of the Alliance warehouses or offices; we check which city and which school district each address belongs to before it goes on your list.