Urban Villages in North Richland Hills

Located northeast of Fort Worth and 10 miles from DFW airport, North Richlands Hills is a city of just over 70,000 people that is 95% built out. While this city may seem like a typical suburb at first glance, upon closer inspection you can see that NRH is dedicated to embracing changes that will help promote sustainable development and the wellbeing of residents.

In the Vision 2030 Comprehensive Land Use Plan, North Richland Hills defines an urban village as an area that "promotes sustainable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use development that provides the opportunity for many uses to coexist within a more compact area."

The urban villages within North Richland Hills are regulated by form-based codes, which have subzones that are organized based on physical forms instead of use types. This focus on the built environment helps to create a sense of place and emphasizes the relationships between all of the features in an environment.

North Richland Hills is currently home to four distinct Urban Village districts. These are: HomeTown, City Point, Smithfield Transit Oriented Development District, and the Iron Horse Transit Oriented Development District.

The Iron Horse and Smithfield Transit Oriented Development Districts are both located along the TexRail line, which connects Downtown Fort Worth to DFW Airport. These districts both have their own rail stations and all developments in these areas are intended to promote the use of this line.

North Hills Mall opened on Boulevard 26 in September of 1979. After two successful decades, the mall began to see a decline at the turn of the new millennium. Despite a plan to redevelop the mall into an entertainment space being created in 1999, the store was unable to regain traction and closed it's doors in 2004. The building was demolished in 2007 and the property sat vacant for a number of years.

In 2013, the City of North Richland Hills selected this location for the new City Hall and City Point development. This development would completely redevelop the abandoned mall site into a 52-acre mixed-use, walkable community. City Hall was completed in 2016 and construction on the infrastructure for the development began in 2020. There are now residents living in multi-family and townhome units within the development.

There is only one tract left undeveloped in HomeTown, and the design for it has already been conceptualized. Located between Hawk Avenue and Parker Boulevard, this tract is permitted to have multi-family units (referred to as flats) along Grand Avenue with Courtyard Cottage style townhomes throughout the rest of the property. This style of townhome is designed to be surrounding a central courtyard, which is not currently available in HomeTown.

In June of 2023, City Council approved the Special Development Plan for Presidium, a multi-use development in the Smithfield TOD. This development will feature 296 multi-family units and three commercial buildings along Main Street. In addition to pedestrian-oriented features, this development has also been designed to incorporate the look of a historic Main Street to fit in with the standards of the Historic TOD character zone.

Wheelhouse is a multi-use development with 15 townhome units, 280 multi-family units, and 10,000 square feet of dedicated commercial space. Located across Smithfield Road from the Smithfield TexRail station, this development features two large open spaces areas that also offer connection to the Cotton Belt Trail. The Special Development Plan for this project was approved by City Council in August of 2023.

Fountains at Iron Horse is a multi-use development planned for the corner of Iron Horse Boulevard and Browning Boulevard. The concept plan includes 270 multi-family units, 13,000 square feet of dedicated commercial space, and a commercial-ready ground floor. The development would also extend the Cotton Belt Trail from Browning Boulevard to the Iron Horse TexRail Station. While the zoning for this project was approved in May of 2021, it has not yet moved past the design phase.

Commercial space is planned for both sides of City Point Drive that will include restaurants and retail stores. The site plan for this development was approved in March of 2023 and the groundbreaking occurred on May 5, 2023.