Sundance Square

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Sundance Square is a mixed-use commercial, residential, entertainment, and retail district occupying approximately 35 to 37 blocks of downtown Fort Worth, Texas, located roughly 30 miles west of Dallas within the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. The district officially began in 1979, when Bass Brothers Enterprises launched a massive urban renewal project in downtown Fort Worth, renovating old buildings and constructing new ones — naming the district in homage to the area's frontier past, after Butch Cassidy's infamous partner. Today Sundance Square is considered the heart of downtown Fort Worth, drawing visitors from across the Metroplex with its blend of historic architecture, dining, nightlife, cultural institutions, and public gathering spaces. Named after the Sundance Kid in western folklore, it is a popular place for nightlife and entertainment in Fort Worth and for tourists visiting the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

History and Development

Sundance Square was established in the late 1970s when downtown Fort Worth was under severe urban decay, and Bass Brothers Enterprises decided to buy buildings and land in the center city. Sid Bass, the eldest sibling, started the ball rolling in the late seventies when he made a deal with the late Charles Tandy to build the Hotel Americana — later the Worthington Hotel — while the four Bass brothers were in partnership doing business as Bass Brothers Enterprises.

The family's first pieces were the Americana Hotel — now The Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel — which opened in 1981, the twin City Center office towers in the early 1980s, and two blocks of restored historic buildings and newly built replicas. Ed Bass, the Bass brother who later funded the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona, started splitting time between New Mexico and Fort Worth in 1980. In 1981, he got a suite at the new Americana, and in 1983 opened the Caravan of Dreams in a building he bought, looking for a way to boost nightlife.

Ed Bass spearheaded the construction of the twelve-story Sundance West — a retro redbrick condominium that sold every unit before a spade had been turned — and the AMC Sundance 11 Theatres, the first major multiplex theater built in a Texas downtown. Having studied architecture at Yale, Ed believed in the concept of a healthy inner city. Sundance Square's retro-traditional architecture by David M. Schwarz of Washington, D.C., reflects the preferences of Ed Bass, a graduate of Yale University's School of Architecture.

Fort Worth's downtown benefited from the foresight and financial backing of the Bass family, who made their fortune from oil. In 1988, they commissioned Washington, D.C.-based David M. Schwarz Architectural Services to help craft the overarching design vision for the district. The genesis of the project goes back to the 1970s, when the Bass family began acquiring property in hopes of revitalizing downtown. A recent economic development study listed Sundance Square as the largest contributor of property tax in the city of Fort Worth.

The Downtown Tax Increment Finance District has contributed $21.36 million for infrastructure at Sundance Square since its inception in 1995, including most recently $11 million for Sundance Plaza. The TIF also subsidized free parking in garages around Sundance Square and the City Center.

Ownership and Scale

Sundance Square is owned by Fine Line Investments, a division of billionaire Ed Bass's investment funds. Sundance Square encompasses 1.7 million square feet, according to information compiled by real estate firm CBRE using both internal data and third-party sources, with the majority being office space at 1.1 million square feet. The biggest office users include oil and gas companies EOG Resources and Black Mountain Exploration, as well as JPMorgan Chase, and on the hospitality side, the Worthington Renaissance Hotel occupies a large amount of space.

The district owns a total of 44 buildings. Apartments make up about 345,000 square feet of Sundance Square across 118 units. The biggest retail tenants include AMC Theaters, The Cheesecake Factory, Hyena's Comedy Club, P.F. Chang's, and Del Frisco's Grille. The district also hosts major offices for energy companies and banks, making it one of the most commercially significant blocks in all of North Texas.

Sundance Square Plaza

The centerpiece of the modern district is Sundance Square Plaza, an outdoor public gathering space that opened on November 1, 2013. The two-block pedestrian plaza replaced a two-acre parking lot in the heart of downtown, celebrating the city's heritage as the "City Where the West Begins" and providing a public open space for cultural events and activities for the city's diverse population.

The buildings and the plaza concept were designed by David M. Schwarz Architectural Services, and the landscape architect for the plaza was Michael Vergason Landscape Architects. Between the stage and the old Main Street right-of-way sits a 216-jet fountain at pavement level that is fully programmable — it can spray up to 12 feet high or become a reflecting pool, with LED lighting installed beneath to illuminate the water, and when events are held on the stage, the water is turned off and the fountain can serve as a seating area.

Immediately to the south of the pavilion is a 65-foot cascading wave feature, and to the south of that are four 32-foot-tall umbrellas measuring 40 by 40 feet square. They were manufactured in Germany and were the first of their kind in the United States, illuminated at night with multi-colored LED lights. Two historic buildings on the site — the Chisholm Trail Mural Building and the Land Title Building — were preserved and incorporated into the site, and the plaza sits on two city blocks, bisecting Main Street, which is now closed to vehicular traffic.

According to Sundance Square CEO Johnny Campbell, the plaza was an excellent investment "in terms of driving vibrancy, creating foot traffic and making sales happen." The number of people attending events increased on average by more than ten times, and retail sales in the vicinity jumped over 20 percent after the plaza opened, while the per square foot sales price of downtown residential units also jumped 5 percent in the six months after opening. The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) named Sundance Square Plaza in their top ten list of the best public spaces at the heart of cities in America, describing it as a "crowning achievement of the revitalization of walkable urbanism in downtown Fort Worth."

Architecture and Historic Landmarks

Most of the structures at Sundance Square were created during the early part of the 20th century and have been carefully restored over the years, with the restoration including the construction of new buildings designed to complement the architectural style of the square. The developers of Sundance Square made sure to preserve the historical integrity of downtown Fort Worth by installing vintage bricks on Main Street and restoring early 20th-century structures, while also making the area pedestrian-friendly by building generous sidewalks with storefronts facing the street.

The former downtown Woolworth's Building, as well as the Burk Burnett Building, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Burk Burnett Building was Fort Worth's first true skyscraper — the 12-story building is on the National Historic Register. It was built in 1914 for banker Earl Baldridge to house the State National Bank, and one year later in 1915 was sold to legendary cattleman Samuel Burk Burnett, whose 6666 Ranches are famous in Texas history for cattle, oil, and thoroughbred horses.

One of the most celebrated visual landmarks within the district is the Chisholm Trail Mural. The most notable feature of the Chisholm Trail Mural Building is the mural painted by Richard Haas on its south side in 1985. This three-story trompe l'oeil mural spans the 1908 Jett Building's southern facade in Sundance Square and commemorates the Fort Worth segment of the Chisholm Trail cattle drives of 1867–1875. When Sundance Square Plaza opened in 2013, the building was renamed the Chisholm Trail Mural Building, and at that time the building and the Land Title Block were designated as City of Fort Worth Historic & Cultural Landmarks.

Cultural Venues and Entertainment

Sundance Square anchors a rich cultural ecosystem in downtown Fort Worth. Its crown jewel for the performing arts is the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall. The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall is a renowned performing arts venue in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, serving as a central hub for orchestral, operatic, and ballet performances since its opening on May 1, 1998. Built entirely with private funds, Bass Performance Hall is the permanent home of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Texas Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Opera, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and Cliburn Concerts.

An 80-foot diameter Great Dome, artfully painted by Fort Worth artists Scott and Stuart Gentling, tops the Founders Concert Theater, and two 48-foot tall angels, sculpted from Texas limestone by Marton Varo, grace the Grand Facade — the angels have now become preeminent cultural icons in the North Texas area. The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall was the Schwarz firm's very first performing arts commission; since then, the company has gone on to design many other notable concert halls, including Severance Hall, home of the renowned Cleveland Orchestra.

Today, the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall and Maddox-Muse Center host more than 300 performances annually, often with multiple performances in a single day, and the facilities are also preferred venues for dozens of corporate meetings, wedding receptions, and parties each year. In addition, more than 70,000 area school children see a performance each year as part of Performing Arts Fort Worth's Children's Education Program at Bass Performance Hall.

Beyond Bass Hall, Sundance Square is home to three other live theaters — the Jubilee Theater, Circle Theater, and the Four Day Weekend — as well as the AMC Palace 9 movie theater and Hyena's Comedy Club. The Sid Richardson Museum, also located in the district, has one of the finest and most focused collections of Western art in America, featuring paintings of the Old West by Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and other artists; since opening in 1982, it has been one of Sundance Square's top attractions, drawing more than 50,000 visitors a year from around the world.

The district is also a significant events destination throughout the calendar year. North Texas rings in the New Year with a massive street party in Fort Worth's Sundance Square, featuring live music, dancing, and food that keeps the celebration going until 2 a.m. In a recent year, more than 40,000 people attended the New Year's festivities. During the holiday season, a towering, glittering Christmas tree stands taller than the one in New York City's Rockefeller Center.

Naming and Western Folklore Connection

In homage to the area's past, the Bass Brothers named the district after Butch Cassidy's infamous partner, the Sundance Kid. The duo was reported to have visited downtown Fort Worth when seeking recreation in the late 1880s. Fort Worth's identity as a cattle trading post and a stop on the old Chisholm Trail gave the name particular resonance. In 1873, when the banks, railroad, and other companies went into bankruptcy, it was commented that Fort Worth had become so quiet that "a panther was asleep on Main Street, undisturbed by the rush of men or the hum of trade." The comments were seen as a challenge, and the nickname "panther city" stuck, turning the intended insult into an enduring symbol of the city's strength. A bronze sculpture of the Sleeping Panther, referencing this story, stands today within the Sundance Square district.

Fort Worth was one of the final stops for cattle drivers on the Texas portion of the Chisholm Trail, and the district's Chisholm Trail Mural once again allows that heritage to provide something of value to the city as it revitalized this area of its downtown. The area's combination of frontier history, cattle-drive lore, and outlaw legend continues to inform the identity and branding of Sundance Square to the present day.

See Also

• Downtown Fort Worth
• Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex
• Bass Performance Hall
• Chisholm Trail
• Fort Worth, Texas