EXCLUSIVE: M2G Ventures Nabs 4621 Ross Ave. Property For Mixed-Use Office, Retail Development

Fort Worth developer M2G Ventures nabbed a former Can Academy campus at 4621 Ross Ave. in Old East Dallas to redevelop the property into a mixed-use center known as Bogart on Ross, complete with modern offices, public art and a ground-floor café. 

Once the 50K SF education building undergoes transformation, the development will offer future office tenants an outdoor grove, community spaces, an on-site sculpture garden, offices with an accompanying employee lounge, an energy room with Pelotons and showers, and a Zen library for those seeking solitude and quiet. 

Ground-level storefronts attached to the building also will incorporate a café to attract traffic from the local neighborhood and the building itself. The Can Academy will be reformed.

Dallas-based architect Modus Architecture is working alongside M2G to completely revamp the building’s exterior, windows, lighting, ivy and greenery and main entrance to create the type of artistic setting that drives M2G Ventures' projects. 

The property is in East Dallas, where its planned sidewalk art and modern finishes should fit right in, particularly with nearby Deep Ellum already developing around an artsy, bohemian vibe. The East Dallas building also sits close to Uptown and Lower Greenville. 

"The Dallas market is competitive, and we were fortunate to acquire an asset with good bones and in a great location with this recent acquisition," M2G Ventures co-President Susan Gruppi said. "We are excited to bring Bogart to the Old East Dallas submarket as we feel confident with the plans we have developed for repurposing, branding and storytelling. It will be a project that is set apart from what is available in Old East Dallas and urban Dallas overall."

Bogart on Ross is one of M2G Ventures' first major forays into Downtown Dallas, although the development team, run by identical twins and co-presidents Susan Gruppi and Jessica Miller, already made a name for itself by transforming an old industrial part of Fort Worth into today’s The Foundry District.

The Foundry is now home to a beer distillery, modern and eclectic offices, a coffee shop featuring a contemporary mid-20th century vibe, and other retail and hospitality venues. 

The women, who are in their early 30s, said they devote a large portion of their time to scoping out everything from a building’s location to its physical potential to transform the bones of the asset into a modern piece of art. 

At Bogart on Ross, Gruppi and Miller expect to include high ceilings, a dramatic first-floor lobby and new treatments for existing stairways. 

“The property will be a stunner,” Miller said. “We are most excited about the museum-quality art that will be found throughout the building, the unique amenities and shared spaces we plan to offer, and the potential for an artist residency program. We named the building Bogart, as the art and vibe will be of Humphrey Bogart’s era.”

Essl & Associates is overseeing management of the project, with JLL selected to handle leasing of the building. 

Tenants will eventually get to choose from spaces ranging from 3K to 9K SF, with construction expected to wrap up in the first quarter of 2020.