Commercial real estate and technology dominated our coverage this past week, with much of the news resonating with many of our readers.
AT&T Inc. and Crescent Real Estate both generated multiple stories for the DBJ, and the death of an American Airlines pilot in-flight drew many readers to our website.
Let's look back at the past seven days of business news in DFW.
Technology
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced this past week that it would offer Wi-Fi calling services without additional charges after getting a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission. Danielle Abril’s report on the announcement was the most-read story of last week. You can read her story here.
Commercial Real Estate
Fort Worth-based Crescent Property Services LLC held a topping-out ceremony for the $225 million McKinney and Olive tower in Uptown Dallas. The company invited the media, and Candace Carlisle and photographer Jake Dean gave us an inside look at the building that developer John Goff calls “sexy.” You can see their report here.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute have ranked Dallas-Fort Worth as the No. 1-ranked commercial real estate market to watch, based on investment, development and homebuilding prospects. You can read Candace Carlisle’s full story here.
Austin engineering firm JQ is moving its headquarters to the Design District in Dallas, and it recently bought a building there to house the new corporate offices and accommodate the firm’s growth. Managing Partner Stephen Lucy explained the move to Candace Carlisle.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced last week that will build a second massive distribution center in the Alliance corridor of Fort Worth. This center will help the retailer expand its growing e-commerce business. Candace Carlisle reported that Wal-Mart has been working on the $32 million in expansion plans with the city of Fort Worth.
Fort Worth billionaire John Goff, the chairman and CEO of Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate Equities, talked with Candace Carlisle last week about what’s next for him and his company. He’s taking a long-term approach to projects. What else did he say? Read here.
We got another inside look last week at another major real estate development project. Granite Properties took Candace Carlisle and Jake Dean inside the 102-year-old building in the West End that once housed a candy and cracker company, but soon will be a Class A office building. Read here to see what it looks like now.
Airlines
A pilot for American Airlines Group (Nasdaq: AAL) died in flight early Monday as he was flying passengers and crew from Phoenix to Boston. The 57-year-old pilot apparently died of natural causes. You can read more here.
For the first time, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) finished first in the on-time arrival performance rankings among all four major domestic airlines. How well did they do? Read here.
Layoffs
Irving-based BFN Operations, which operates Berry Family Nurseries, told the State of North Carolina that it was cutting 250 jobs because a contract with Home Depot had been canceled. It turns out that most of the jobs are at headquarters and not in North Carolina, according to the Triangle Business Journal. You can read the full story here.
