Reata Restaurant announces plan for moving from Sundance Square
October 18,2023
See full Fort Worth Report article by Bob Francis here.
Reata Restaurant, an iconic fixture in Sundance Square, announced its new location, although that might not be its final move
The restaurant will lease space in The Tower building at 530 Throckmorton St. in July 2024. Reata’s first Fort Worth location opened in that building in 1996, but when an F1 tornado struck in 2000, the restaurant was forced to move, relocating to its current spot at 310 Houston St.
Mike Micallef, president of Reata, said the “interim location will serve as a stepping stone before a more permanent home is found.”
Micallef said that the restaurant’s leadership looked at several locations around Tarrant County, but decided the restaurant needed to remain in downtown Fort Worth.
“We’ve just got a great base here and we looked at other locations, but downtown is very important to us,” he said. “For some of our customers on the west side of downtown, we’ll be even closer in walking distance.”
Micallef also noted that there were now more hotels and residences downtown than there were even a few years ago.
“Downtown is growing,” he said.
Reata will continue to operate from its current location until June 30, 2024. The restaurant’s catering division, Reata on the Road, will continue to operate throughout the transition.
The new location is on the northeast side of The Tower, in the former location of Cantina Laredo, a contemporary Mexican restaurant that closed after the pandemic. The location is about the same size as Reata’s current main dining room. But Micallef said he is still looking to find space to replace the many meeting rooms in the current location.
Micallef said Reata has proven resilient over the years, surviving a tornado, COVID and issues with its Sundance Square landlord.
“We’ve proven we have loyal customers and continue to attract new customers,” he said.
Micallef announced in March 2022 that the restaurant was seeking a new home because it had not been able to renew its Sundance Square lease. Micallef said he had been unhappy about the high cost of parking for the restaurant’s patrons. Sundance Square officials said that there are a variety of options for parking in the area.
Micallef said he had not had any discussions with Sundance Square about the lease since the announcement of the search.
SADA Tower LLC of Texas and SADA Capital Partners LLC – an Illinois based real estate holdings group – purchased The Tower and The Tower Annex buildings in June of 2022. Since then, SADA has secured many tenants, including relocating the 74,000-square-feet corporate headquarters for the iconic workwear company, Dickies.
“With Reata Restaurant and Dickies’ corporate headquarters relocating to The Tower, SADA has had an inspiring entry into the Fort Worth community. Working together with homegrown stakeholders like Reata and Dickies will help us achieve our goal of bringing more and better opportunities into the great city of Fort Worth,” Saad Sindhu, managing partner of SADA Tower, said in a statement.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Locations Mentioned: Reata Restaurant, The Tower