A “Bigger, Louder” Version of M2G Ventures is Inbound

By Spencer Brewer, Dallas Business Journal, December 30, 2021

M2G Ventures is one of the most highly lauded names in Fort Worth real estate, but its co-founder said the firm is just getting started. 

“We’re just now getting into the time period, I think, where we’re really able to show people our unique point of view on real estate.” 

Jessica Miller Essl, M2G Ventures co-founder and co-president

The firm specializes in adaptive reuse of mixed-use districts as well as ground-up and urban industrial development. M2G Ventures is behind a swath of iconic projects in North Texas, including North Quarter 35 in north Fort Worth and PROTO Park in Dallas. M2G Ventures has developed about 3.5 million square feet to date, but Miller Essl said that’s only the beginning. 

“What we find is that we are innately good at looking at something as it currently is and thinking about how it could be in its next iteration.”

Jessica Miller Essl

Miller Essl started M2G Ventures with her twin sister in 2014. She said they always knew they wanted to be in business together and it was just a matter of time. 

After graduating from TCU, the twins began working at Trademark Property Company, a firm with quite a few notable projects under its belt. Miller Essl left first to work for another firm, and eventually, her sister left as well so they could start the company together, she said. 

Miller Essl said in the beginning it was her, her sister and an intern in a 10- by 8-square-foot office. One of the first transactions the fledgling firm made had a great return, she said, which allowed the sisters to lean into what they were doing. 

That deal was the moment Miller Essl said she knew M2G Ventures had a shot. Today, the firm has about 20 employees and is looking to expand into new markets, Miller Essl said. Its projects are spread between Dallas and Fort Worth, and she said in the future the firm is looking to expand to other growth markets in Texas such as Austin, San Antonio and Houston. 

“Our opportunities have also changed, the opportunities that we have gone after, they’ve obviously gotten bigger. They probably are about the same complexity, because even the small deals are just as hard as the bigger deals.” 

Jessica Miller Essl

She said going forward, the firm will continue to focus on adaptive reuse and industrial, but on a grander scale than before. The firm may do a little bit of multifamily, she said. 

Miller Essl spoke with the Dallas Business Journal about the trends she’s paying attention to in the Fort Worth market: