Ed Kraus Will Helm Sundance Square After Sasha Bass Steps Down

Former Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus will be the next president and CEO of Sundance Square, after Sasha Bass steps down.

She was the first woman to hold that role for the real estate empire, and only the company’s third CEO. She was appointed in 2019. Kraus joined the company the same year as Bass, and was appointed vice president in 2020. Kraus will take the helm of the company on September 1, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Under Bass, the company expanded from a traditional real estate management company to a vertically integrated operations company, and from 20 employees to over 200, according to the Fort Worth Report. Her laser-focus on live events broadened the foot traffic in the 37-block downtown district, including a recent success with World Cup watch parties in the area.

Bass will now focus on leading the Sasha and Edward P. Bass Family Foundation. One of the last major acts Sundance Square took on under her leadership was hiring JLL to shore up leasing, pivoting away from a previous strategy that handled leasing affairs in-house. JLL announced the move in May, stating that it will now be handling the upwards of 105,000 square feet of retail space. LanCarte Commercial was brought on in July 2025 to fill the area’s office properties.

During her tenure, Bass was criticized for lackluster efforts at rebuilding the once-vibrant downtown area’s retail and restaurant areas after the pandemic wiped out retail across the world. In 2024, 25 percent of the storefronts in the 35-acre downtown district were vacant, and the Basses were taking heat due to their high rents.

In 2024, nine anonymous current and former tenants claimed their rents included marketing costs, but they never saw any real evidence of a marketing strategy. When popular Sundance Square fixtures like the ranch-themed Reata restaurant and improv comedy troupe Four Day Weekend left the district, they cited issues with management’s communication.

— Hunter Cooke