Originally published March 4, 2015 on GlobeSt.com
By: Anna Caplan
FORT WORTH—Pardon Trademark Property Co. if it hardly has a chance to stop and take a breath.
The Fort Worth-based retail and mixed-use developer has a big stake in a number of high-profile projects: Waterside and WestBend in Fort Worth, The Shops at Highland Village and the redesign of Victory Park near downtown Dallas.
“This is the busiest, most active, we’ve ever been,” Terry Montesi, Trademark’s CEO, told GlobeSt.com.
Since the early ‘90s, the niche firm has made a name for itself developing notable retail havens. In 1992, it redesigned the Preston Oaks shopping center in Dallas. Later that year, it bought (and then sold in 1995) Fort Worth’s popular shopping mecca University Village. Other notable work hasn’t limited the company to DFW. Past projects are far-flung, from Jackson, Miss. to Traverse City, Mich.
Lately, however, the firm has a good problem—juggling and lining up an exciting mix of tenants at the Dallas/Fort Worth developments.
“We’re curating a diverse group of tenants,” Montesi says about Victory Park.
The massive redevelopment is certain to change the face of the American Airlines Center-adjacent neighborhood, bringing a 24-hour restaurant (it just signed BuzzBrews), a CrossFit studio, a stationery boutique, a floral design studio and a sandwich shop to the area.
Montesi says 60,000 square feet of space is currently under negotiations; all said, Victory Park will have 220,000 square feet of street-level retail. A grocery component could be in the offing but Montesi would not confirm any other possible tenants at this time.
In Highland Village, Trademark announced this week a multi-million dollar renovation of the 352,000-square-foot Shops at Highland Village center that will include enhanced common area improvements, upgraded landscaping, new amenities for adults and children, updated facades and new signage throughout the property.
And over in Fort Worth, Waterside, the $75-million Whole Foods Market-anchored mixed-use development has announced Birmingham, Ala.-based Zoe’s Kitchen as its first restaurant tenant. And WestBend, situated between TCU and Interstate 30 along University Drive, will welcome the city’s first Fresh Market, Grimaldi’s pizza and a host of other tenants.
Montesi also confirmed that he is working with the city of Fort Worth to create an “enhanced crosswalk” or some other type of right-of-way for pedestrians to cross University Drive and get to and from WestBend and University Village.