The new plaza in Sundance Square will not have cars driving through it after all.
The city of Fort Worth is recommending that Main Street be vacated -- open for pedestrians only -- between Third and Fourth streets, said Johnny Campbell, Sundance Square's president and CEO.Plans called for removing the curbs and bringing the two blocks on either side of Main to the same grade. Initially, it was thought that Main Street would remain open on nonevent days and closed to traffic using bollards during events.Sundance Square hosts about 90 events a year in the center of the development, but Campbell said that more events are expected once the plaza is completed. A traffic study indicated that the plaza needs to be "principally pedestrian," he said."I'll say this. We want it to be an active, great place to be. We want people to walk around," Campbell said.Traffic will likely be diverted north on Commerce Street and south on Houston Street.The section of Main Street will be temporarily opened in April for the popular Main St. Arts Festival, Campbell said.Sundance Square expects the project to be completed in October. The 1-acre plaza, being built on two parking lots, will have an interactive fountain, a multipurpose stage, a pavilion and four giant umbrellas for shade.The project stretches between Third and Fourth streets and Houston and Commerce streets. The plaza will be flanked by two new office buildings that are under construction, the Westbrook, on the west, and the Commerce, to the east. Both will have ground-level space for shops and restaurants. A third new building, the Cassidy, will have six penthouse condos.A 2,000-square-foot pavilion, mostly glass, will be at Main and Third streets, next to the historic Jett Building. The pavilion will have public restrooms, and possibly retail and space for small special events, Sundance said. Movable glass doors will open to tables and chairs that will overlook a cascading water feature.Refunds for someMaybe the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or maybe these companies would have done the right thing without our intervention.Thelma Cortez, 64, a retired Target employee from El Paso, received her full refund of $1,398 from Ronni Sokol's Maximum Sports Connection for a Dec. 16 Cowboys-Steelers game ticket package, which never existed. The check arrived soon after we wrote about her last week, reporting that she had yet to receive her refund.Sokol's outfit has had a history of customer service issues, earning an F rating (the lowest) from the Better Business Bureau. We've seen emails from her staff promising refunds to a Maryland travel agent within 30 days. That was more than two years ago and still nothing.So we are pleased for Thelma. Several other customers have not been so lucky, including Ed Lopez of Eagle Pass, who drove a busload of 57 unhappy Cowboys fans home from the Steelers game. After $1,548 was applied on his friend's credit card on Dec. 24, Lopez says he's still out more than $10,000.There must be an explanation. But Sokol didn't respond to any of our calls or emails last week.We also were informed that Blast Fitness will indeed refund prepaid dues to members of its abruptly shuttered Oakland Street location near Woodhaven, according to a spokeswoman. That includes a colleague who had joined the predecessor gym, Bally's, more than 20 years ago in San Antonio. The call center handling refunds, ABC Financial, had turned her down initially because she hadn't started her membership in Fort Worth.But Massachusetts-based Blast still won't tell us why it is closing down in Cowtown.A manager, who wasn't authorized to speak to the media, said the new landlord suddenly refused to renew the lease. Turns out the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth had announced in April 2012 that it bought the land for an eventual expansion of Nolan High School; its spokesman indicated that tenants were being asked to stay for the time being.We did learn that the Woodhaven location had issues.Fort Worth code enforcement officials closed down its spa and pool in August for serious health concerns. Members said they were told the pool was reopening in late December. One said that he only used Blast for the pool and sauna, and both were out of action for months.Company expandingResidential Credit Solutions, a mortgage servicing company, is expanding in Mercantile Center in north Fort Worth.The company is in about 33,000 square feet of space, but recently leased 106,400 square feet, said Jacque Bird, vice president of contract management and facilities for the 5-year-old firm.The company's 360 employees will move less than a mile and by March will move into 72,000 square feet at 4708 Mercantile Drive, she said. The additional space will allow for further expansion in the coming months, she said.Pat McDowell and Matt Montague with Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant. Brian Randolph and Andrew Ward with Mercantile Center represented the landlord.Sandra Baker, 817-390-7727sabaker@star-telegram.comJim Fuquay, 817-390-7552jfuquay@star-telegram.comBarry Shlachter, 817-390-7718barry@star-telegram.comHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
