DALLAS, TX – July 20, 2005 – Hillwood has announced an agreement with Dallas-Fort Worth ABC affiliate WFAA-TV (Channel 8) to incorporate a state-of-the-art television studio and offices into the city’s Victory Park urban core development. The street front broadcast facility will be located on the south end of Victory Plaza’s east building, facing the W Dallas Victory Hotel & Residences and will feature key interactive television and online components for consumers.
Encompassing approximately 5,000 square feet, the studio will be home to a number of WFAA news anchors, producers, reporters and support personnel and will accommodate the needs of reporters from The Dallas Morning News, al dia, Quick and other Belo Corp. companies working on assignments.
Scheduled for completion in 2006, Victory Plaza will encompass two, high energy buildings that will support a landmark outdoor media installation featuring the most sophisticated high definition video technology currently available in the world, plus a collection of premium nightclubs, restaurants, stores and boutique offices that will become the entry forecourt to the adjacent American Airlines Center and act as a gateway to the rest of Victory Park. Specializing in “creating experiences that are authentic, unpredictable and memorable, Orne + Associates is lending aptitude in high-concept design, architecture and urban blueprints to Victory Plaza.
According to Jonas Woods, president of Hillwood Capital, “The addition of WFAA’s studio, which will bring live television shows and guest celebrities to Victory Park, not only complements the exciting best-of-breed entertainment components such as American Airlines Center, the W Hotel, restaurants and lounges, but also makes this district unique throughout the nation.”
The Victory Park presence provides WFAA a distinctive opportunity to extend the reach and the impact of the area’s most successful local news.
“For more than 50 years, WFAA has been directly connected to downtown Dallas, which is why this new studio is absolutely a natural,” said WFAA president and general manager, Kathy Clements. “Other local stations do not share the intimate association with the area that WFAA has over the years. The Victory Plaza location melds our unique historical connection to downtown Dallas with the latest in broadcast and online technology in this exciting, high profile studio.”
Clements said, “WFAA is the first station in our region to build anything on this scale,” and added that the facility will offer tremendous views through large windows of the inner workings of live, WFAA broadcasts and other local programs in a format similar to ABC’s “Good Morning America” in New York City. She noted that local television stations in other markets such as Chicago and Raleigh-Durham have recently constructed downtown studios.
“Combined with the WFAA’s existing Dallas studios, plus newsrooms in Collin and Tarrant County, the Victory Park facility will provide additional coverage opportunities,” said Clements.
About Belo Corp.
WFAA-TV is part of Belo Corp., one of the nation’s largest media companies with a diversified group of market-leading television, newspaper, cable and interactive media assets. A Fortune 1000 company with 7,600 employees and $1.5 billion in annual revenues, Belo operates in some of America’s most dynamic markets in Texas, the Northwest, the Southwest, Rhode Island, and the Mid-Atlantic. Belo owns 19 television stations, six of which are in the 15 largest U.S. broadcast markets. The Company also owns or operates seven cable news channels and manages one television station through a local marketing agreement. Belo’s daily newspapers are The Dallas Morning News, The Providence Journal, The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) and the Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, TX). The Company also publishes specialty publications targeting young adults, affluent populations and the fast-growing Hispanic market, including Quick and al dia in Dallas/Fort Worth, and the d, El D and La Prensa in Riverside. Belo operates more than 30 Web sites associated with its operating companies. Additional information is available at http://www.belo.com/ or by contacting Carey Hendrickson, vice president/Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, at 214-977-6626.
About Victory Park
Located in the heart of Dallas, Victory Park, which is being developed by Hillwood, is one of the country’s most significant and innovative master-planned urban developments. Victory Park is creating a new urban environment with a carefully crafted collection of emerging and reputation retail, distinctive dining, modern office space, dramatic residential units, hotels and signature entertainment venues including the American Airlines Center. Hillwood, a Ross Perot, Jr. company, and Hicks Holdings, LLC, owned by Tom Hicks, own Victory Park. For more information on Victory, log on to http://www.victorypark.com/.