Another central figure in the team behind the $1 billion Fort Worth Stockyards redevelopment has exited.
Kayla Wilkie, formerly California-based Majestic Realty Company’s director of design and development for lifestyle and hospitality, left the firm last week, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The reason for her exit wasn’t reported.
It is the second high-profile exit from the project in less than a month as Majestic presses ahead with its planned expansion of the historic stockyards district. The project is slated for 300,000 square feet of commercial development, 295 residential units and three hotels.
Wilkie played a core role in the creative direction of Hotel Drover, the 200-key Autograph Collection property that anchors the Mule Alley redevelopment, and was involved in hospitality and design planning for the second phase. Majestic appointed former Castle & Cooke and Cerberus Capital Management executive Rick Kline II to lead strategy and operations for the Stockyards project going forward.
Wilkie’s exit follows Craig Cavileer’s exit late last month. He had served as the face of Majestic’s Texas operations and was managing partner of Fort Worth Heritage Development Company, the joint venture between Majestic and the Hickman family.
Cavileer left amid a legal dispute with Majestic, which is seeking nearly $76 million in alleged unpaid loans and contract breaches. His former ownership stakes in Stockyards assets, including Hotel Drover and the historic Stockyards Hotel, were auctioned off earlier this month.
Under a $71.6 million economic development agreement with the city, the developers are required to spend at least $630 million, with a projected $845 million in net value to Fort Worth upon full buildout. The project is slated for delivery by 2032.
In addition to her work in Fort Worth, Wilkie also led a $35 million redesign of Majestic’s 300-room Silverton Casino in Las Vegas.
— Judah Duke
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