The newest tenants on West 7th open their doors in daylight. A brunch house took over a Crockett Street storefront. A mini golf course moved into a former nightclub and opens at 11 a.m. A sugar cookie bakery came back to Fort Worth a few blocks from where it started. Behind them, the cranes on West Seventh Street are putting up the office space and apartments that will bring in a weekday crowd. Taken together, the 2026 openings around Artisan Circle are a bet on that crowd, made by the operators and the landlord before the towers are finished.
The district isn't giving up its nights to do it. The Dirdie Birdie still stays open until 2 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. What's new is how much more of the clock West 7th now uses.
The Morning Shift Starts on Crockett Street
The first of this year's arrivals were breakfast and a pub. Top of the Morning Brunch House opened at 2948 Crockett St. in the space that used to be Mash'D. It serves breakfast with cocktails, and the Star-Telegram put most plates at $13 to $18. The owner, Nick Roditis, is a former Yolk executive. The menu runs from lemon ricotta to chicken and waffles to churro-topped pancakes.
The Star-Telegram's review included a detail that anyone who has circled Crockett Street on a Saturday night will appreciate: in the morning, street parking in the West 7th neighborhood is easy. The same review pointed out that Top of the Morning joined a neighborhood brunch lineup that already included Cafe Modern, Little Tavern, Vickery Cafe and Snooze. A new breakfast spot opening on top of that lineup suggests the morning demand was already there.
A few doors down, Henry McCarty Irish Pub opened at 2869 Crockett St. ahead of St. Patrick's Day. It's named for the outlaw better known as Billy the Kid. The Star-Telegram reviewer called it "just as much a restaurant as it is a bar." The menu goes past wings and pretzels to corned beef and cabbage rolls and shepherd's pie, and a wraparound front patio faces the street.
Neither opening happened by chance. The Star-Telegram reported that Tandy Leather moved its flagship store to Artisan Circle in December 2025, and that Top of the Morning and Henry McCarty's opened about a month later. A leather goods flagship, a breakfast house and a pub with a full kitchen all depend on customers who arrive before dark.
The Old Dance Club Now Opens at 11 A.M.
The clearest sign of the shift came in July at 2821 Morton St. The Dirdie Birdie, an Austin-based restaurant and bar with a 12-hole mini golf course, opened July 8 in the former Bottled Blonde space. It was the concept's first location outside Austin, and Fort Worth Magazine reported that several holes nod to local landmarks, including TCU and the Stockyards.
The opening plans show who the owners expected to come. Doors opened at 11 a.m. on opening day, weekend brunch was set to start in August, and private events and group bookings were planned for August as well. The menu includes yellowfin tuna tostadas, steak frites, a 24-hour coffee-braised short rib and a 7th Street Smash Burger. Fort Worth hospitality veterans Travis Tober and Daniel Warrilow of Nickel City built the cocktail program.
The 2 a.m. weekend close keeps the building part of West 7th's late-night scene. During the day, it's a place to take a team after work or bring out-of-town family on a Sunday. That's one address serving both crowds.
The baked goods arrived the same month. J. Rae's reopened in Fort Worth on July 16 at 3330 W. Seventh St., 13 years after the original bakery, which opened on Foch Street in 2008, changed hands and was rebranded. Owner Audrey Dixon is the niece of founder Jana Howell, and she brought the original hand-iced sugar cookie recipes back with her. The new shop is a few blocks down from the first one. A cookie counter is about as daytime as a storefront gets.
What Changed on West 7th in 2026
| Address | Now | Previously | Status as of early October |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2948 Crockett St. | Top of the Morning Brunch House | Mash'D | Open since early 2026 |
| 2869 Crockett St. | Henry McCarty Irish Pub | Not reported | Open since February |
| 2821 Morton St. | The Dirdie Birdie | Bottled Blonde | Opened July 8 |
| 3330 W. Seventh St. | J. Rae's | Not reported | Opened July 16 |
| Montgomery St. | La Pistola Kitchen + Saloon | Taco Heads | Scheduled for late October |
| 2949 Crockett St. | Partenope | Si Tapas | Announced, no timeline |
| 3028 Crockett St. | Silver Leaf Cigar Lounge | STIRR and Dirty Bones | Announced Sept. 3, no timeline |
Who the Daytime Is Being Built For
The cranes above West Seventh Street explain the timing. Goldenrod's Van Zandt, an eight-story building at 2816 W. Seventh St., is planned with 102,000 square feet of office space, 226 apartments and 11,000 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants. According to the Star-Telegram's July look at the district, the city incentive requires the building to be finished by June 30, 2027, after the deadline was extended in 2024. In mid-July the building appeared to still be in framing.
Goldenrod's second project, One University, sits on roughly 2.8 acres at University Drive and Morton Street, the same street as The Dirdie Birdie. It's planned with a 10-story tower holding a 176-room hotel and 259 apartments, plus a nine-story tower with a garage and four floors of office space, and is expected to be finished by June 30, 2028. A little more than half a mile north, Westside Village broke ground in 2026 on 37 acres of office, retail and residential space.
The Star-Telegram summed up the change plainly: an area once known for its bars and nightclubs "is slated to become a place where people live and work rather than just play." Office workers need lunch. Hotel guests need breakfast. New apartment residents need somewhere close to go on a Sunday morning. The tenants who signed at Artisan Circle this year opened ahead of that demand, and the property's management has been working on the setting around them.
Elizabeth Corbell, senior property manager for Younger Partners Property Services, which manages Artisan Circle, told the Star-Telegram, "We have seen a lot of leasing activity at Artisan Circle and the Cultural District." Younger Partners has also been upgrading the landscaping and the illuminated ring at Crockett and Currie streets. Its second Saturday street markets, which usually run in the evening, were scheduled as daytime markets from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in September and October. A landlord moving its own market into daylight hours is betting on the same crowd as the brunch house.
Still to Come This Fall
The next wave keeps the mix going. La Pistola Kitchen + Saloon, first targeted for September, is now scheduled to open in late October in the former Taco Heads space on Montgomery Street, according to an Oct. 8 report in Fort Worth Inc. Restaurateur Jeffrey Yarbrough, whose businesses include Hunky's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers, developed it with partner Camille McDonald. The concept takes its cues from the women of spaghetti Westerns, with photographs by Dallas artist Stuart Cohen and chef Austin Wyatt, a Peaster native, running the kitchen. Plans also include a "gossip room," where guests can step away from their tables to look at unusual artifacts meant to start conversations.
Partenope, a Neapolitan pizzeria from Naples-born chef Dino Santonicola, is headed for 2949 Crockett St. in the former Si Tapas space. It will be his third location. As of the Star-Telegram's late-July update, no opening timeline had been released, though a new Neapolitan pizza oven had been installed.
The most unusual arrival is Silver Leaf Cigar Lounge, which announced Sept. 3 that it's moving from Sundance Square, its home since 2014, to 3028 Crockett St., the former STIRR and Dirty Bones space. Cigar lounges are rare in Fort Worth because a city ordinance bans indoor smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. The ordinance makes exceptions for retail smoke shops and for cigar lounges in buildings that don't share ventilation with neighboring businesses. The Artisan Circle building has a ground-level patio and a rooftop balcony, and teaser renderings show a humidor room, indoor bar, lounge seating and a stage for live music. No opening timeline was announced.
The district's 2 a.m. weekends, its new 11 a.m. tee times and its brunch tables now sit on the same few blocks. The next big change on that calendar is the Van Zandt's 2027 completion deadline, when the office workers and residents these tenants opened for are expected to start arriving.
The Verrett Team keeps track of how places like Artisan Circle change from one season to the next, because a new brunch spot or a tower deadline can change how a part of town feels day to day. If you'd like to talk through what's happening around West 7th or anywhere else in Fort Worth, please contact us.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
