Joanne Massey

Sundance Square

By Leah Etling on May 3, 2012 in People

Joanne Massey is the controller for Sundance Square, the renowned Fort Worth property management firm owned by the Bass family that controls 35 city blocks of the city’s downtown core, including numerous historic buildings, and is considered one of America’s most successful urban revitalization efforts.  But her interest in cool stuff from the past doesn’t end when she leaves the office.

In her free time, Joanne and her husband Robert enjoy shooting vintage lever action guns – “the kind that cowboys used to shoot” – in Cowboy Silhouette competitions. She’s reached the AAA level in many of the competition categories, which is no surprise when you learn that she’s a former national-caliber archery athlete.

She got into Cowboy Silhouette after reconnecting with her husband, a college sweetheart whom she married four years ago. He was attending competitive rifle and shotgun events, so she tagged along. The Omaha native is also an avid golfer who hits the course several times a month.

“I won’t go and just sit, that’s too boring,” she told us. While attending college at Texas Christian University, she was the top female collegiate archer in the state of Texas, and ranked in the top 10 nationally. Though the U.S. team selection process for the 1980 Olympic Games didn’t go in her favor, she has fond memories of her archery days.

Joanne is also right on target with her career at Sundance Square, where she rose up through the Bass corporate accounting office to head up the accounting team for Sundance and oversee numerous major software transitions. Her team initially ran two high-rise office towers, then merged with another Bass-owned operation to form Sundance Square that oversees all of the downtown properties.

She loves her job.

“Being in a property management office, I’m not only talking to accountants, I’m talking to engineers, maintenance people, leasing people and marketing people. I like the variety of what we do,” she said.

Variety is the perfect way to describe the Sundance Square portfolio, which includes just under 3 million square feet of retail, office, and residential space in downtown Fort Worth. Many of the properties are turn of the century buildings, which were acquired in the late 1970s. They are linked to the early days of Fort Worth’s first urban development, and its urban revitalization began in the early 1980s.

Joanne’s personal favorite is the Knights of Pythias Building,  constructed in 1920. It’s a beautiful red brick structure with a listing in the National Register of Historic Places. She’s also partial to the Land Title Building, at Commerce and Fourth Street, one of the oldest buildings in Fort Worth. Built in 1889, the building features sandstone and stained glass windows. It recently got a facelift that made it look even more fabulous, she told us.

Sundance Square is about to break ground on a brand new development, known as The Plaza, that will be spread over two city blocks, feature a plaza for public use with a permanent stage, and three new buildings of mixed use development that includes retail, apartments, and offices, Joanne said. The official groundbreaking for the first two buildings took place on May 9.

Learn more about Joanne:

What is your favorite type of music?

Modern country and Classic Rock.  Pink Floyd and Aerosmith are two of my favorite bands.

What kinds of food do you like?

Mexican food!  And ice cream…that explains my figure!!

Where is the most interesting place you’ve ever traveled?

Paris!  Loved it!

What do you like best about your job?

After 30 years, it’s my home-away-from-home.  I’ve had a front-row seat watching the Bass family turn a lump of coal into a diamond.  I can’t help but feel I played a part in all of it.

If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or historical, who would it be?

My family; they mean everything to me.

What are the words you live by?

Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I always thought if I could do anything I wanted, I’d like to try carpentry.  Building something useful and beautiful from scratch would be cool.

What was your last Do It Yourself project?

Hung new blinds in my bedroom windows just this past weekend.

What athlete or sports figure do you most admire?

Tiger Woods: I’m not impressed with his personal life choices, but as a golfer, he’s phenomenally talented.