🎟️Six Flags closes rides after tragedy; YMCA hires female CEO; All Arkansas: Jones donates $10M to Clinton.

Indoor pickleball facility franchisor The Picklr, with franchises in Fort Worth and Hurst, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A group led by investor and franchisee Tom Neale has committed $4.8M in financing to sponsor The Picklr’s reorganization. The Picklr was founded in 2021 by CEO Jorge Barragan, who told Sports Business Journal that it has become burdened by agreements to guarantee facility lease payments for some early franchisees. 

Arlington-based Six Flags Entertainment Corp shares plunged 14.43% to $10.20 Tuesday following a tragic accident at Six Flags Over Georgia, where a man fell from the Goliath roller coaster, resulting in his death and injuries to several others. Six Flags closed 10 roller coasters globally.

Veronica Wong-Rizo has been hired as Chief Executive Officer and is the first woman to lead the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth. She previously was at the YMCA of Greater San Antonio, where she served as Chief Experience Officer, the latest in a decades-long series of executive leadership roles.

Fort Worth-based Distribution Solutions Group has a definitive agreement to acquire GradeEight Holdings, parent of Winzer Corp. and FastServ Supply. GradeEight generates about $110 million in annual sales, has roughly 190 employees, and operates a network of more than 270 Winzer Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) franchisees. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones grew up in Arkansas and played football at the University of Arkansas. Now, he is making a $10-million donation to the Clinton Foundation to support a modernization and renovation of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. 

Suresh Narayanan, who started this month as chief commercial officer for Fort Worth-based Coltala's Mansfield aviation division, discusses with Corporate Jet Investor what he sees as opportunities.

NetJets, the high-end, private aviation firm, announced the arrival of private terminals at Dallas' Love Field, Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport and Colorado’s Rifle Garfield County Airport. 

UTA Athletics, 44 Farms, and McClaren Farms announced a partnership in which McClaren Farms will become the inaugural jersey patch sponsor for men's and women's basketball uniforms beginning this season. The partnership also establishes 44 Farms as the Official Beef and McClaren Farms as the Official Smokehouse of UTA Athletics.

A Tarrant County judge denied a request for a temporary injunction to re-open polling sites after the county announced plans to eliminate dozens of Election Day poll locations for the upcoming mid-term elections.

Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth has filed construction plans for its West Tower at 801 7th Ave. for $652 million, according to The Real Deal. The 10-level building with three below-grade levels is approximately 750,000 square feet. Construction is scheduled to begin in January and finish in 2030.

The new showroom and service center for Toyota of Fort Worth has been completed, according to PRIM Construction. It is the sixth Fort Worth area auto dealership project for PRIM. Toyota of Fort Worth is located off Loop 820 in White Settlement. It is an 82,000-square-foot building comprised of a 29,500-square-foot showroom and a 52,500-square-foot-service center, the largest dealership PRIM has built to date. 

Commodore Tavern & Terrace has leased approximately 3,300 square feet with patio space at 1101 W. Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth's Near Southside, the former home of The Magnolia Wine Bar. Sarah LanCarte and Brittany Doyle of LanCarte Commercial worked the transaction. Commodore is a restaurant concept from chefs Graham Elliot and Charlie Rushton. It is expected to open by year-end.

A MESSAGE FROM BURT LADNER REAL ESTATE:

Three fireplaces = one hot property: 2401 Stadium Drive is in the Colonial Country Club neighborhood and minutes from TCU. The 5,480 sq ft home has 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths upstairs. The primary suite features a sitting area, spacious bathroom and dual walk-in closets. The gourmet kitchen contains top-of-the-line appliances and finishes. Two living areas and two dining spaces are perfect for entertaining. The lower level has access to a workout area, laundry facilities, and a 4th bedroom with bath. Offered at $2,995,000 by Laura Ladner.

Ground has broken at 600 S. Oak St. in Roanoke for the Cade Hotel, a part of the Curio Collection by Hilton. Developer Garfield Public/Private is leasing the land next to the convention center and will manage both entities. Why Cade? The water source between U.S. 377 and the railroad tracks is called the Cade Branch.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, introduced the Nomad 100 fast pack, a containerized vertical takeoff and landing uncrewed aerial system designed to help customers rapidly deploy autonomous air capability from austere and infrastructure-limited locations. The fast pack delivers a single 20‑foot ISO container that houses four Nomad 100 aircraft, mission‑command software, power, communications and sustainment equipment. 

Larkspur Capital, already involved with Keystone Group in the $1.7-billion Westside Village project, has purchased a 2.5-acre vacant site in downtown Fort Worth near Texas A&M and the Fort Worth Convention Center, according to the Fort Worth Business Journal. The site once was home to the Frank Kent Cadillac dealership that was destroyed in a gas line explosion in 1986. 

A study by RightWay Parking ranked D-FW International Airport as the most stressful in the nation after analyzing 2025 data that showed nearly 28% of flights delayed and just under 3% canceled.

United Way of Tarrant County and host Tarleton State University-Fort Worth present United in Service, a free resource event for veterans, active-duty military and their families, Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 10850 Texan Rider Drive. The event provides education, workforce and community resources in one place. 

3-D printed helicopters? Maybe not 100%, but Australian aerospace engineering company Plane Support secured approval to manufacture cabin air-conditioning ducting for the Bell 214B helicopter using 3-D printing, a project initiated by aerial fire-fighting and disaster response operator McDermott Aviation. 

Texas is appealing a federal judge’s order to air condition all state prisons before 2030, asking for a pause while it appeals. The state also says the $1.5-billion project would disrupt other operations. About 90,000 prisoners lack air conditioning.

Governor Greg Abbott announced $20 million in Jobs and Education for Texas grants to Texas public junior, state and technical colleges; school districts; and open-enrollment charter schools to train 7,400 new students. Tarrant County College District will receive $55,673 to train 140 students as welders. ȚCC also received $300,000 in Perkins Leadership Grants to post-secondary institutions for the development of Career and Technical Education programs.

Atlanta-based Wood Partners has completed Alta River Park, a 365-unit apartment community along the Clear Fork of the Trinity River in west Fort Worth. The development is leasing studio through three-bedroom units. Amenities include a pool, pickleball court, sky lounge and fitness center. 

Snippets:

• Sprouts Farmers Market will open Friday at 221 N. Industrial Blvd. near SH 183 in Bedford. Doors open at 7 a.m. 

• Texas residents can apply to any public college or university as an undergraduate without paying application fees through Sunday at ApplyTexas. More than 260,000 applications were received during last year's free week.

• Some Granbury city leaders who are subject to a recall petition are behind a lawsuit filed against the city, one that has halted plans to schedule the recall election. FOX 4 News has the story. 

Believe it or not: Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994.

Today in history: 1987 = Eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure fell into an abandoned well in Midland, Texas, setting off a dramatic rescue effort that captivated television audiences nationwide. Rescuers freed her about 58 hours later, on Oct. 16.

Significant stat: MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year.

Daily digit: 50% = Share of likely Texas voters who say the state is headed in the wrong direction, versus 39% who say it's on the right track, in a ReconMR poll conducted Oct. 5-8.

Announcements:

• Bank of America: Names Kashif "Kash" Qamruddin as Senior Vice President and Business Banking Market Executive for Fort Worth.

• PNC: Promotes Brian Rudd to Texas Regional Executive. 

• Trinity Metro: Hires Theresa Davis as Director of Communications.

• Texas Monthly: William Broyles Jr., the founding Editor, is returning as an Editor-at large.

• Forester Group: Hires Carrie Cappel as Region President - North Texas.

• Colonial Country Club: Promotes Javier Carrillo to Director, Finance & Strategic Planning.

• Arlington: Names John Yovanovitch as Division Fire Chief/Paramedic — "C" Shift Commander. 

• Union Gospel Mission-Tarrant County: Hires Melondy Doddy-Muñoz as Vice President of Strategic and Economic Development.

• Kelly Hart: Adds Kamryn Ransome as Litigation Legal Assistant.

• Forvis Mazars: Promotes Wyatt Beene to Tax Manager. 

• City of Justin: Hires Megan Doughty as Economic Development Manager.

• Parkland Health: Hires Travis Smith as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. 

• Hill College: Hires Demesia Razo as Dean of Educational Partnerships.

• Texas Arts Advocacy Awards: Fort Worth has received the Community Impact Through Arts Advocacy Legacy Award.

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