Who is Sasha Bass? What we know about her role in Fort Worth’s Sundance Square
In the two years since Sasha Bass and her husband Ed took over full control of Sundance Square, Sasha has gotten most of the attention for changes to the look and feel of downtown Fort Worth.
She has been a central figure in disagreements over landscaping, a dispute over the Main Street Arts Festival and the planned departure of Reata Restaurant from its Sundance Square location.
Here’s what we know about her involvement in Sundance Square, the 37-block downtown business and entertainment district.
The early years
Born Claudia Sazcha Camacho, Bass worked for “unofficial mayor of the Stockyards” Steve Murrin doing outreach to the Hispanic community in 2014. A February 2014 Facebook post credits her for arranging a behind the scenes tour of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo for 156 students from Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School.
She was also active in a 2016 campaign to keep Hooters out of downtown Fort Worth.
“According to google, the definition of Hooters is, a Hooter is something that makes a hoot sound or a vulgar slang term for breasts,” Camacho told the Downtown Design Review Board in 2016. “In the Fort Worth community, I don’t think that’s how we’re addressing women. That’s not how people address me.”
Hooters got the go-ahead to open downtown with restrictions on the size and location of its signage. It is outside the 37-square-block business and entertainment district that makes up Sundance Square.
The new Mrs. Bass
She married Fort Worth billionaire Ed Bass in December 2017. Bass is a member of the prominent Fort Worth family who, along with their uncle Sid Richardson, have been benefactors behind some of Fort Worth’s most cherished institutions.
Brothers Sid and Lee Bass began developing Sundance Square and the City Center Towers in the early 1980s. In 1983, Ed Bass opened the Caravan of Dreams night club, which spurred development in Sundance Square, including the Sundance West apartments.
Ed, 76, and Sasha Bass, 41, took over full ownership of Sundance Square in fall 2019.
Sundance Square management
The day-to-day management of Sundance Square has changed twice since the 2019 takeover. Initially, the Henry S. Miller company was selected for the job, but Sundance management switched to an in-house firm in November 2020.
Sasha Bass has taken an active role promoting Fort Worth’s art community. Sundance Square announced in February it would host the Fort Worth Art Fair, drawing a contrast between itself and the long running Main Street Arts Festival.
The Sundance festival is using support for local artists as its main selling point. Organizers of the Main Street Art Festival noted it features a number of Fort Worth artists in its emerging artist category.
Sasha Bass has also positioned herself as an advocate for the small business community helping to recruit stores like Urban Plantology and Cary O’Keefe jewelry.
Longer term tenants have balked at that characterization, pointing to the 27 store closings in Sundance Square since Ed and Sasha took over full ownership.
In July 2021 the Star-Telegram found about a third of Sundance Square’s storefronts were empty; however, that percentage was in line with other major metros amid the COVID pandemic, according to an analysis by Bill Fulton, director of Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research.
Reata Restaurant cited a lack of communication between itself and Sundance Square management as a factor in its decision to leave after 20 years at the corner of Houston and West Third streets.
A spokesperson for Sundance Square management said the company does not comment on landlord-tenant relations.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 5:57 PM.
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