The Cheesecake Factory Headed to Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth
May 30,2014
BY SANDRA BAKER
sabaker@star-telegram.com
Photo: Star-Telegram/Max Faulkner
FORT WORTH — The Cheesecake Factory will soon have its first Fort Worth location as it plans to convert the vacant Barnes & Noble Booksellers café space as well as the neighboring Ferré Ristorante e Bar in Sundance Square downtown into its latest North Texas location.
The remaining Barnes & Noble space, totaling about 18,000 square feet, is not yet leased, Sundance Square said.
The café is at the northeast corner of Fourth and Commerce streets and Ferré adjoins it to the east, on Fourth Street. The Cheesecake Factory will have 8,700 square feet of dining and 900 square feet of patio space. It will face the north side of the Bass Performance Hall.
Sundance Square has not released when Ferré will close or when construction will start of the new restaurant.
Bill Booker with Sundance Square represented the landlord.
“The Cheesecake Factory is a well-known brand with a loyal fan base that local residents and visitors alike will enjoy,” Johnny Campbell, president and CEO of Sundance Square, said in a news release Friday. “This space is truly unique and very high profile.”
The restaurant entrance will be at the corner of 4th and Commerce with patio seating along 4th Street across from the Bass Performance Hall.
The Cheesecake Factory, a $1.8 billion company based in Calabasas Hills, Calif., grew out of a small cheesecake shop in Detroit that in 1972 moved to Los Angeles. In 1978, the founders’ son, David Overton, started the restaurant in Beverly Hills. Today, the chain has about 200 locations, including one at the Parks Mall in Arlington and at Southlake Town Square. It also has locations in Frisco, Dallas and Allen.
Cheesecake Factory menu has about 250 items and 50 varieties of cheesecake and other baked goods. In January, Fortune named it No. 92 on the list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For.
The company said it plans to open 10 new locations this year. It is also parent to Grand Lux Cafe, with a location in the Dallas Galleria, and Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen.
Ferré, an Italian grill and wine bar, opened in December 2006.
In the past year, Sundance Square has opened a few new restaurants, including Del Frisco’s Grill, Bird Café and Taco Diner, located in the Westbrook and Commerce buildings that bookend the new Sundance Square Plaza.
Barnes & Noble was in Sundance Square 17 years. Late in 2013, a company executive said it wasn’t economical for the book retailer to keep the store open and shuttered the store by the end of last year.
Barnes & Noble also closed a store at the same time at University Park Village shopping center, on University Drive just south of Interstate 30, where it opened in 1995. That space has since been divided for other retailers.
The closing of the Barnes & Noble stores drew huge letter writing campaigns, but the latest public effort had little influence in changing the retailer’s decision.
In late 2010, Barnes & Noble threatened to close its University Park Village store after reaching an impasse in lease negotiations with a former owner of the shopping center. The two sides reached an agreement, in part because neighborhood residents staged a letter-writing campaign.
Sandra Baker, 817-390-7727 Twitter: @SandraBakerFWST
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