![\"Liz](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0220-20World20Cup20Feature.JPG\" "\\"Liz")
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Liz Rodriguez gets tossed in the air during a FIFA Summer of Soccer event at Sundance Square. The plaza\u2019s viewing parties brought thousands of visitors to downtown Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Elvis Martinez-Cartagena<\/p>\n
FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM<\/p>\n
CORRECTION: This article has been update to correct the crowd sizes for the World Cup watch parties at the Sundance Square plaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Corrected Jul 25, 2026<\/p>\n
Downtown residents watching Sundance Square\u2019s slow reinvention have a lot to track this year. A new CEO is coming in. An outside real estate firm is now handling retail leasing on more than 105,000 square feet of empty storefronts. And the district just came off its highest-profile summer in years, with World Cup watch parties drawing 80,000 to 90,000 people to the plaza on peak nights.<\/p>\n
For anyone who\u2019s moved into Deco 969 or one of downtown\u2019s converted office towers, the question is whether all of this adds up to the neighborhood you signed a lease for.<\/p>\n
New leadership at the top<\/p>\n
Former Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus takes over as president and CEO of Sundance Square on Sept. 1, after Sasha Bass<\/a> \u2014 who has led the 37-block district since 2019 \u2014 stepped aside.<\/p>\n Kraus joined Sundance Square in 2021 to run the security division and has since expanded into strategic operations.<\/p>\n Bass is stepping back to focus on the Sasha and Edward P. Bass family foundation. Under her tenure, visitor counts doubled to 17 million in 2025, according to Sundance Square, and roughly 60 businesses now operate in the district.<\/p>\n Downtown Fort Worth Inc. President Andy Taft called Kraus \u201ca proven leader who has seen Sundance Square from multiple angles.\u201d<\/p>\n City Council member Elizabeth Beck, who represents downtown, called Kraus \u201can exceptional leader\u201d in an email to the Star-Telegram.<\/p>\n An outside firm is leasing the empty storefronts<\/p>\n In May, Sundance Square contracted with real estate services firm JLL<\/a> to handle \u201ctargeted retail leasing\u201d of more than 105,000 square feet \u2014 less than 3% Sundance Square\u2019s premium commercial leaseable space, Sundance Square says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see significant opportunity to further strengthen the tenant mix in ways that reflect both Fort Worth\u2019s identity and evolving consumer demand,\u201d Kraus said in a press release announcing the JLL deal.<\/p>\n The move is a shift for a district that brought all leasing in-house in November 2020, shortly after Ed and Sasha Bass took sole ownership.<\/p>\n A 2024 Star-Telegram survey<\/a> of 104 square blocks found roughly a quarter of ground floor retail spaces downtown were vacant, an improvement from 31.4% in 2021 but still a drag on the walkable urban experience.<\/p>\n For office space, Sundance last summer hired Fort Worth-based LanCarte Commercial<\/a> to lease the Chase building, the Cassidy, the Schwartz building and the Worthington Bank building. The Schwartz includes a co-working space called the Maven.<\/p>\n What\u2019s actually opening (and what\u2019s gone)<\/p>\n The 300 block of Houston Street, long a sore spot after Reata Restaurant left for the Tower in 2024, may soon show signs of life.<\/p>\n A new bar called Spotlight is planned for the former Reata space. Demolition crews have cleared out the old Pizzeria Uno, though no tenant has been announced.<\/p>\n