Bruce Willis Was Here

Vintage building in Dallas' West End makes magnificent comeback

The building formerly known as West End Marketplace has been revived.

Photo courtesy of 42 Floors

A century-old warehouse in downtown Dallas' West End has been remodeled into a creative workspace that still retains many of its original historical features. Called Factory Six03, it's opening in the iconic 114-year-old warehouse formerly known as the West End Marketplace, at 603 Munger St.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and stood empty for almost a decade. Granite Properties bought the building in 2015, when the West End began growing as an innovation and knowledge district, with the plan to redevelop it into a modern workspace with a historic look and feel designed to appeal to younger generations and creative users.

Granite Properties CEO Michael Dardick says that Factory Six03 exemplifies what his company is all about.

"We saw many reasons why redeveloping Munger 603 would make the West End valuable again, ranging from its proximity to Victory Park and Uptown to its aesthetic value," he says in a release.

The original structure was built in phases, starting in 1903, when it was home to the Brown Cracker & Candy Co. It became the Sunshine Biscuit Company in 1926, and a furniture distributor in the 1960s.

It was most recently known as the West End Marketplace, which was established in 1985, when it was home to a 10-screen movie theater. Planet Hollywood moved in on the first floor with great fanfare and a celebrity-studded party in 1991. Bruce Willis attended.

The movie theater closed in 2000, Planet Hollywood left in 2001, and the building had been vacant since 2006.

Admirably, Granite kept and restored many of the building's historic features inside the structure including: the original exposed brick; a two-story biscuit brick oven from its days as a cookie maker; a one-ton scale; and the original hardwood floors.

They restored the historic metal-framed windows, and repurposed old doors found in the building into doors or beams. They also refurbished the three rooftop cylindrical water tanks which make the building identifiable from Woodall Rodgers Freeway; those are still on the roof.

They removed the interior escalators and revamped the famous Atrium that was built in the 1980s. Meanwhile, they added two floors with views of the Dallas skyline, and an eighth floor with a tenant lounge, outdoor patio, and conference center.

Other new additions include contemporary furniture, underground parking, a modern glass vestibule, an outdoor plaza, a community lobby with a coffee lounge, and ground floor restaurant space. The first tenant, C1 Innovation Lab by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, moved into the building over the summer.

The building has new plumbing, new elevators and new, exposed HVAC. It also showcases many pieces of art including a multi-color installation designed by Dallas-based End Design, a sculpture of a mockingbird designed by Texas artists Sergio Garcia and Micah Smith, and a restored Buddy Holly statue from Planet Hollywood.

All of this is great, except for the "Six03" part. Is "603" too pedestrian?

Granite Properties is a real estate investment, development, and management company founded in 1991, with offices in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Denver and Southern California.

"Factory Six03 is perfect for companies that want amenity-rich workspaces that offer a mix of experience and lifestyle to attract and retain workers," says Granite president and COO Greg Fuller. "We’re honored to have played a role in reviving the West End and plan to redevelop and restore more historic buildings in Dallas and other cities, as well."

openings downtown

A little Italy

2 new Prosper mega-developments will include Venetian village with canals

Rendering courtesy of BlackStone Communities

A canal-and-lagoon system will lend a Venetian feel to the $300 million Marco development in Prosper.

Fast-growing Prosper, an affluent town in Collin County north of Dallas, is poised to grow even more.

Two mixed-use projects — with a collective price tag exceeding $500 million — are bringing more than 4,400 homes along with stores, restaurants, and hotels to Prosper, whose population soared more than 50 percent from 2020 to 2025.

Bella Prosper, a $240 million development at First Street and Legacy Drive, will feature 83 townhomes, stores, restaurants, offices, a child care center, and a 139-room waterfront hotel. The Prosper Town Council endorsed the project in June.

The 63-acre Bella Prosper project will be developed in four stages set for completion from 2028 to 2035. Prosper Tollway Palazzos and PTP Retail Holdings, both based in Plano, are the developers.

Features of the $240 million Bella Prosper development include a 139-room hotel along the property’s waterfront.Rendering courtesy of Daake Law

Plans for another project, the 143-acre, Italian-inspired Marco development at the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. Highway 380, call for 4,400 homes — apartments, condos, villas, townhomes, bungalows, live-work spaces, and an age-restricted “enclave.” In addition, the project would include street-level stores, offices, a performing arts center, and a hotel.

In keeping with the Italian theme, Venetian-style canals large enough to accommodate boats would flow from a lagoon. The canal-and-lagoon system would cover more than 15 acres. Among other planned Italian touches are a traditional passeggiata walkway, a public square, and courtyards.

The $300 million Marco project, which has no completion date yet, awaits approval from the Prosper Town Council. Dallas-based BlackStone Communities is the developer.

From sleepy to sought-after
The Marco and Bella Prosper will add thousands more homes to a town already bursting with new neighborhoods. A ranking released in May by RentCafe put Prosper’s 75078 ZIP code at No. 9 among the 50 fastest-growing “new neighborhoods” in the U.S. “that barely existed a decade ago.”

Projects like The Marco and Bella Prosper continue the town’s evolution, as described by Dallas-based TBC Development, from “a quiet small-town suburb” to “a hub of economic activity.”

In January, Mayor David Bristol said development along the Dallas North Tollway represents the future “economic generator” for Prosper.

Prosper’s wealth continues to rise along with its growth prospects.

In 2025, personal finance website GOBankingRates ranked Prosper as the No. 3 fastest-growing wealthy suburb in the country, with median household income at $187,603 in 2023. A year later, the income figure climbed to $195,281, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

development prosper