Did UT Arlington Hold Up its Tenants?

The College Park District at UT Arlington is a 20 acre mixed use development that opened two years ago. It includes It includes our new basketball arena, student apartments, parking garages and 27,000 square feet of street-level retail space. The Star-Telegram, our local newspaper, now reports that this space was leased out to six food based on projections of attendance at games and events that were 50% higher than has materialized.

“Probably, that number was driven by an overestimation on our part as far as the ability to bring in a certain number of external events. It takes more time than we had realized,” Hall said. “I think it’s important to point out that the Dallas-Fort Worth area is a very competitive market when it comes to external events.” 

Now three of the restaurants have closed and others are behind on payments. Did they invest based on inflated customer traffic promises from the university? Maybe they needed to look ahead and anticipate being potential victims of holdup.