Developers get community feedback on Hispanic street names for Floyd Casey redevelopment

WACO, Texas — Developers behind the Floyd Casey Stadium redevelopment project got community feedback for street names in its $100 million development on Tuesday night.

Waco-based Turner Brothers Development group hosted a town hall at the South Waco Recreation Center to get input on Hispanic names for seven streets in its neighborhood, as well as a name for the subdivision as a whole. 

The neighborhood is part of a 73.8 acre redevelopment project on the land that once held the former stadium of Baylor University. Turner Brothers decided to purchase the land after noticing a shortage in affordable housing in the area.

"There's not a lot of development in that area, so we wanted to find somewhere where we weren't going to be tearing anything down," said Turner Brothers real estate agent, Daniela Rodriguez. 

"The old stadium was there and the site is not currently being utilized. So we were thinking where can we build something that's not going to take anything away from the neighborhood but give to it instead," Rodriguez added. 

The Floyd Casey project will have 259 single-family lots with a variety of lot types for housing. Zero lot line, cottages, urban residential and several other variations will be on 54.2 acres devoted to residential. 19.6 acres will also be mixed use. The neighborhood has seven streets that the Turner Brothers development is leaving up to the community.

"We want to hear from everybody about any kind of name that they think would be exciting for their own community as well as for Waco as a whole," Rodriguez, a member of the Hispanic Leaders' Network said. "I think this is more of the beginning of a conversation. We think that the community really wants to be a part of decisions like this and we want to include them in this. So we want to make sure that it reflects the beautiful, vibrant community that it's going to be in."

University Neighborhood Association and member Armando Arvizu and are working to make sure that its Latin heritage is kept alive through the process of redevelopment and spoke at the meeting.

"It's 31 percent in the City of Waco that are Latino and our voices haven't been heard for a long time," said Arvizu. "That's why I am trying to bring people together and give them hope because we are a part of this community. It's important because it will give name recognition and let people know that their community is a part of it. Gentrification is going to happen but we have to let our voices be heard to the builders."

Turner Brothers plans to take the ideas they hear from the community and incorporate it into the development. Construction is set to begin in the Fall and should be completed in early 2025.