Will Rogers Memorial Center $15M headed to Cowtown

FORT WORTH – Plans are in the making to launch construction in early 2015 on a $15.1 million renovation at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.

The project would ease pedestrian flow between the north and south ends of the complex.

The Fort Worth Stock Show, which calls Will Rogers home for its annual one-month run, is kicking in $6.5 million — or 43 percent — of the project cost.

The project will likely take until December 2015 to complete, just ahead of the 2016 Stock Show, according to Kirk Slaughter, Fort Worth’s public events director.

The project will extend Tower Dr. from the south side of Burnett-Tandy Dr., through the section of the building connecting Cattle Barns 1 and 2 that today houses the milking parlor, and to the parking areas south of the barns.

The milking parlor will move into Cattle Barn 2.

The promenade between the cattle barns will be covered, creating a shaded pedestrian walkway that will make it easy for exhibitors to move freely between the north and south sides of the Will Rogers complex. The walkway also could be used as space for major events.