Category: 3. Business

by Bob Francis, Fort Worth Report
December 28, 2025

ONM Living has started leasing for nearly 850 cottage-style homes for rent in Fort Worth, Anna and Lavon. 

“With sticky interest rates, dynamic renter expectations and continued population growth, many North Texans are increasingly turning to new ways to enjoy the single-family lifestyle,” said Ty Robinson, president of ONM Living.

In Tarrant County, the Cottages at Deer Creek community, located less than a mile from Interstate 35 in south Fort Worth at 1127 Eloise Drive, includes 378 homes.

As of early 2025, Fort Worth led the North Texas region with more than 1,800 build-to-rent units in the pipeline, accounting for nearly one-eighth of the state’s approximately 22,000 build-to-rent units on tap and more than one-fifth of those planned for Dallas-Fort Worth.

All three ONM Living communities feature a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes ranging from approximately 350 square feet to nearly 1,400 square feet with rents averaging roughly $1,700 per month. 

Amenities at each development include community-wide Wi-Fi, a fitness center, a resort-style swimming pool, pickleball courts, an outdoor gaming area and grilling station, game room, a dog park and walking trails.

ONM Living developed the three projects in partnership with its sister company, Jabez Development. The company plans to deliver almost 700 new rental homes across all three communities before the end of the year, and an additional 760 rental homes in 2026 across four other North Texas ONM Living communities.

Since its founding in 2019, ONM Living’s portfolio has grown to include nearly 2,000 homes representing more than $450 million in capital across 13 communities in North Texas and Houston.

Build-to-rent homes share of all single-family construction has slightly  decreased recently, according to a September report from Arbor Realty Trust.

Over the year ending in the second quarter of 2025, build-to-rent homes accounted for 7.2% of all single-family construction starts — down from 8.4% during the prior quarter and 9% in the third quarter of 2024. 

The report says trends continue to support the growth of build-to-rent homes. The median U.S. household needs to devote 43% of its income to housing payments to buy a home, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. With demand up, the occupancy rate for build-to-rent homes edged higher in the second quarter, according to the report. 

Systems integrator partnership 

Fort Worth-based Advanced Intralogistics, a technology solution provider and systems integrator, and AlphaOne Robotics, an advanced robotics and automation company, have announced a strategic business relationship to modernize inbound receiving and trailer unloading across North America.

The partnership is focused on the deployment of AlphaOne Robotics Sigma Unloader. Advanced Intralogistics will serve as a preferred integrator for the Sigma Unloader with engineered layouts, conveyor and palletizer integration, and Advanced Intralogistics’s full aftermarket service suite.

Trademark in Celina 

Old Celina and G-Man Development are pleased to announce they have partnered with Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. and Terry Montesi to lead the development of their 150-acre, master-planned Shawnee Trail project in Celina.

Vari sells one VariSpace location 

Vari has sold its VariSpace Las Colinas location so it can further invest in its existing locations in Southlake and Coppell and accelerate future investments in its workplace products and service business. VariSpace provides fully furnished, flexible, and customizable office campuses with amenities for enterprise tenants. 

“This sale unlocks new opportunities to innovate faster, scale our VariSpace footprint, and continue leading the future of work from right here in North Texas,” Jason McCann, co-founder and CEO of Vari, said in a news release.   

Cushman and Wakefield served as Vari’s broker partners in completing thistransaction.

Do you have something for the Bob on Business column? Email Bob Francis, business editor for the Fort Worth Report, at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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NEW YORK — When the MetroCard replaced the New York City subway token in 1994, the swipeable plastic card infused much-needed modernity into one of the world’s oldest and largest transit systems.

Now, more than three decades later, the gold-hued fare card and its notoriously finicky magnetic strip are following the token into retirement.

The last day to buy or refill a MetroCard is Dec. 31, 2025, as the transit system fully transitions to OMNY, a contactless payment system that allows riders to tap their credit card, phone or other smart device to pay fares, much like they do for other everyday purchases.

Transit officials say more than 90% of subway and bus trips are now paid using the tap-and-go system, introduced in 2019.

Major cities around the world, including London and Singapore, have long used similar contactless systems. In the U.S., San Francisco launched a pay-go system earlier this year, joining Chicago and others.

MetroCards upended how New Yorkers commute

The humble MetroCard may have outlasted its useful life, but in its day it was revolutionary, says Jodi Shapiro, curator at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, which opened an exhibit earlier this month reflecting on the MetroCard’s legacy.

Before MetroCards, bus and subway riders relied on tokens, the brass-colored coins introduced in 1953 that were purchased from station booths. When the subway opened in 1904, paper tickets cost just a nickel, or about $1.82 in today’s dollars.

“There was a resistance to change from tokens to something else because tokens work,” Shapiro said on a recent visit to the museum, housed underground in a decommissioned subway station. “MetroCards introduced a whole other level of thinking for New Yorkers.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched public campaigns to teach commuters how to swipe the originally blue-colored cards correctly, hoping to avoid the dreaded error message or lost fares. Officials even briefly toyed with the idea of an quirky mascot, the Cardvaark, before coming to their senses.

The cards quickly became collectors items as the transit system rolled out special commemorative editions marking major events, such as the “Subway Series” between baseball’s New York Mets and the New York Yankees in the 2000 World Series. At the time, a fare cost $1.50.

Artists from David Bowie and Olivia Rodrigo to seminal New York hip hop acts, such as the Wu-Tang Clan, the Notorious B.I.G. and LL Cool J, have also graced the plastic card over the years, as have iconic New York shows like Seinfeld and Law & Order.

“For me, the most special cards are cards which present New York City to the world,” said Lev Radin, a collector in the Bronx. “Not only photos of landmarks, skylines, but also about people who live and make New York special.”

Perfecting the correct angle and velocity of the MetroCard swipe also became something of a point of pride separating real New Yorkers from those just visiting.

During her failed 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Senator from New York, took an excruciating five swipes at a Bronx turnstile. In fairness, her chief Democratic opponent at the time, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a native Brooklynite, didn’t even appear to realize tokens had been discontinued.

Cost savings and lingering concerns

Unlike the MetroCard rollout, OMNY has required little adjustment.

Riders reluctant to use a credit card or smart device can purchase an OMNY card they can reload, similar to a MetroCard. Existing MetroCards will also continue to work into 2026, allowing riders to use remaining balances.

MTA spokespersons declined to comment, pointing instead to their many public statements as the deadline approaches.

The agency has said the changeover saves at least $20 million annually in MetroCard-related costs.

The new system also allows unlimited free rides within a seven-day period because the fare is capped after 12 rides. It’ll max out at $35 a week once the fare rises to $3 in January.

Still, new changes come with tradeoffs, with some critics raising concerns about data collection and surveillance.

Near Times Square on a recent morning, Ronald Minor was among the dwindling group of “straphangers” still swiping MetroCards.

The 70-year-old Manhattan resident said he’s sad to see them go. He has an OMNY card but found the vending machines to reload it more cumbersome.

“It’s hard for the elders,” Minor said as he caught a train to Brooklyn. “Don’t push us aside and make it like we don’t count. You push these machines away, you push us away.”

John Sacchetti, another MetroCard user at the Port Authority stop, said he likes being able to see his balance as he swipes through a turnstile so he knows how much he’s been spending on rides.

“It’s just like everything else, just something to get used to,” he said as he headed uptown. “Once I get used to it, I think it’ll be okay.”

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Christmas lunch is over, all the presents are unwrapped. Now comes the hard part: paying for it all.

If you’re in that position, you’re not alone. Personal credit and charge-card balances racking up interest hit a four-year high of A$18.4 billion in September this year – even before the Black Friday and Christmas sales.

Last year, a survey for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) found almost half of Australian adults with debt had struggled to make repayments in the past 12 months.

That same survey for ASIC found Millennials aged in their late 20s to early 40s were the generation most likely to experience financial hardship. Yet most were unaware of their right to apply for hardship help through their lender.

Especially at this time of year, it’s easy to rack up big bills on credit cards or buy now, pay later payments. Here’s what you need to know about starting to repay those common debts, especially if you have more than one loan.

Watch the interest on your credit card

Over recent years, credit has overtaken cash to be the second most popular way to buy things in Australia, behind only debit cards, which tend to have lower checkout fees.

If you’re able to repay the full balance each month, buying on credit is not necessarily a problem.

But more than one in three (36%) of Australians have unpaid credit card bills accruing interest, according to a Roy Morgan survey of more than 22,000 credit card holders published in November. That survey found the median amount owed with interest was $1,037. People paying off mortgages tended to owe more: $1,342.

According to Reserve Bank of Australia, average interest rates on credit cards at the end of October were up to 20.99% a year. In contrast, low-rate cards charge 13.49% per year. That’s a big difference. So choosing the right card can save you a lot in interest repayments.

One of the ways people often get into trouble is by not reading and understanding the product disclosure statement, which sets out the credit terms, then finding their credit use is stretching their budget too far.

The rise of buy now, pay later

Buy now, pay later lets you buy a product immediately, while delaying the repayments – sometimes over just a few weeks, but potentially over longer periods.

Almost a third of Australians were already using it by mid-2023.

But overseas research suggests people who use buy-now, pay-later services – especially, younger shoppers and those with lower incomes – end up spending more online than those who don’t.

Read more:
Research suggests those who use buy-now-pay-later services end up spending more

How to start reining in your debts

Don’t beat yourself up over your holiday spending. Anxiety, shame and feelings of failure can stop people getting help. So forgive yourself – then start taking control of your money.

Contact your bank or lender’s financial hardship team to get out of high interest loans as soon as possible. Under the law, lenders have to respond to your request for help.

Switch to a zero or low-rate card, or refinance with a lower cost personal bank loan. Then look at negotiating a suitable payment plan with the loan provider based on your income and what you have available after necessary expenses.

While paying off your debt, actively visit comparison websites and compare credit card interest rates and offers. Sometimes credit card companies offer interest-free periods if you refinance your existing credit card balance with them.

The 2024 ASIC survey found many Australians are so reluctant to apply for financial hardship assistance that they would rather sell belongings (42%) or get a second job (40%) first. Don’t avoid seeking assistance – but both of those ideas may help too.

To lighten your debt burden, sell or return any unwanted gifts or unused items.

Read more:
Can you return gifts without a receipt or packaging? A legal expert explains

If you feel comfortable, you can also ask your employer for extra paid hours, or to sell back some of your annual leave.

If it’s not a conflict with your main job, consider taking on a second job outside work, such as weekend, night or public holiday shifts to take advantage of penalty or overtime rates.

Talk to family and friends. Whether you ask for money or not – and that can be tricky for everyone – don’t keep your debts a secret.

Where to get more help

Free, confidential financial or personal support is available from:

Disclaimer: This article provides general information only and is not intended as financial advice.

In a virtual launch on December 16, UC Santa Barbara’s 2035 Initiative unveiled a detailed roadmap for a seemingly obvious target of climate action: cleaning up the industrial sector.

Titled The Clean Heat Climate Opportunity, the new report maps out a pathway for electrifying low- and medium-temperature industrial heat — the kind used in making everything from paper and plastics to beer and frozen pizza. And the findings are clear: This shift could slash U.S. climate pollution by as much as 26 percent in key sectors while unlocking nearly half a trillion dollars in public health benefits by 2050.

“To hit our climate goals, it’s not just cars and buildings that need to go electric — it’s also big factories,” said Leah C. Stokes, one of the report’s principal investigators and an Associate Professor at UCSB. “Most of what we eat, drink, and use every day gets made with heat from burning fossil fuels. Fortunately, we can swap out dirty technologies with clean alternatives like electric heat pumps that can cut pollution, improve air quality, and modernize U.S. manufacturing.”

As stated early on in the presentation, industrial operations account for roughly a quarter of America’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the U.S. is second only to China as the world’s largest emitter. 

Enter the 2035 Initiative, UCSB’s own “think-and-do tank,” which blends engineering models, public policy research, and on-the-ground engagement to accelerate climate solutions. This particular project was co-led as principal investigators by Stokes and Professor Eric Masanet, who holds the Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies.

“The industrial sector is complex, which often makes smart policy hard to design,” Masanet said. “Our engineering models cut through that complexity to pinpoint opportunities that are both realistic and actionable in real-world plants.”

According to the report, electrifying heat processes in three energy-intensive sectors — chemicals, pulp and paper, and food and beverage — could cut cumulative emissions by 930 to 1,320 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent through 2050. That’s up to 26 percent of the climate pollution from major facilities in these sectors.

And there is financial incentive. The analysis estimates $288 billion to $475 billion in avoided public health costs from reduced air pollutants like nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter. These emissions are linked to respiratory illness, heart disease, and cancer.

“These programs are the future of our country,” said Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), who spoke during the launch event alongside Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). “People want hot showers and cold beer — same approach to the industrial sector.” Heinrich expanded that to mean that we can get the same output with a cleaner, and more cost-effective, setup. 

Whitehouse didn’t mince words about the stakes. “Don’t buy the lie that clean energy is expensive,” he said. “The Trump administration lies about the cost.”

The report lands at a time when federal climate policy is being sharply reversed. Since returning to office, President Trump has cut billions from key clean energy programs, including the $7 billion “Solar for All” initiative aimed at low-income households, and canceled hundreds of Department of Energy awards that had supported battery production, hydrogen hubs, and EV manufacturing. The administration has also paused new approvals for wind energy — including offshore — while ramping up fossil fuel development on federal lands. Lawsuits challenging these moves are now playing out in courts across the country.

“States can unlock progress on industrial electrification today,” said Stokes. “Making electric heat technologies more affordable lets more facilities swap out dirty fossil fuel boilers for clean electric options.”

Energy efficiency upgrades, meanwhile, are a no-brainer according to the duo. Measures like steam system optimization and process controls can shrink electricity demand while boosting savings for businesses.

This work is part of a growing portfolio at the 2035 Initiative, which is also developing global climate opinion maps, working on grid resilience for vulnerable communities, and tracking climate concern in small island nations.

Though headquartered on UCSB’s campus, the Initiative’s work aims to reach Washington, D.C. “This roadmap is meant to show policymakers where the low-hanging fruit is,” Stokes said. “There are facilities across the country that should start looking at swapping out their fossil fuels ASAP because it might save them money.”

For more information, visit this link. 

What are the prospects for the nation’s equity capital markets in 2026? The Australian Financial Review spoke to investment bankers and a fund manager to gauge their views on the pipeline for floats and the structural challenges facing public markets.

Participating in the discussion were JPMorgan’s head of equity capital markets Justin Grimmond, UBS’s head of ECM origination Charlie Daish, WAM Capital portfolio manager Oscar Oberg, Morgan Stanley’s head of ECM Luke Boeg and Citi’s asset managers and ECM chief John McLean.

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Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) remains a lethal disease despite major therapeutic advances over the past decade. Although androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPIs), taxane chemotherapy, PARP inhibitors in selected populations, and PSMA-targeted radioligand therapies have extended survival, most patients eventually progress, and durable disease control after multiple lines of therapy remains uncommon. Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors has shown limited benefit in unselected mCRPC populations, underscoring the need for alternative immune-based strategies that can overcome prostate cancer’s immunologically “cold” tumor microenvironment (Stein et al., 2025; Antonarakis et al., 2020).

Pasritamig (JNJ-78278343) represents a novel attempt to address this unmet need through T-cell redirection, a strategy that has transformed outcomes in hematologic malignancies but has historically faced substantial safety and efficacy barriers in solid tumors. By targeting human kallikrein-2 (KLK2), a prostate-lineage–restricted antigen, Pasritamig is designed to activate cytotoxic T cells selectively at the tumor site, potentially widening the therapeutic window compared with earlier T-cell engager approaches (National Cancer Institute, 2024).

Photo: Depositphotos

Molecular Design and Mechanism of Action

Pasritamig is a humanized IgG1 bispecific antibody that simultaneously binds CD3ε on T lymphocytes and KLK2 expressed on prostate cancer cells. This dual engagement brings T cells into close proximity with tumor cells, triggering immune synapse formation, T-cell activation, and perforin/granzyme-mediated tumor cell lysis independent of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) presentation (NCI Drug Dictionary, 2024).

KLK2 is a serine protease closely regulated by androgen receptor signaling and is predominantly expressed in prostate tissue. Its restricted expression profile provides the biological rationale for using KLK2 as a target to limit off-tumor toxicity, a key challenge that has constrained the development of T-cell engagers in solid tumors (Stein et al., 2025). Preclinical studies demonstrated that KLK2-directed T-cell redirection induces potent cytotoxicity in KLK2-expressing prostate cancer models while sparing non-prostatic tissues, supporting clinical translation (Baldini et al., 2025).

Early Clinical Development and Phase I Study Design

The first-in-human clinical evaluation of Pasritamig was conducted in a multicenter Phase I trial (NCT04898634) enrolling patients with heavily pretreated mCRPC. The primary objectives were to assess safety, dose-limiting toxicities, and pharmacokinetics, while secondary and exploratory objectives included antitumor activity and immune pharmacodynamics (Stein et al., 2025).

Patients enrolled in the trial had received a median of approximately four prior systemic therapies, including universal exposure to androgen receptor pathway inhibitors and high rates of prior taxane chemotherapy. Both intravenous and subcutaneous formulations were explored early in development, with multiple step-up dosing schedules tested to mitigate cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a known class effect of T-cell–redirecting therapies (Baldini et al., 2025).

Photo: Depositphotos

Dose Optimization and Outpatient-Friendly Administration

A key achievement of the Phase I program was the identification of a recommended Phase II dose (RP2D) that balances immune activation with tolerability. The selected regimen incorporated step-up dosing (3.5 mg on Day 1 and 18 mg on Day 8), followed by a target dose of 300 mg intravenously on Day 15 and subsequent every-6-week (Q6W) maintenance dosing (Johnson & Johnson, 2025).

This extended dosing interval is particularly notable in the context of T-cell engagers, which often require weekly or biweekly administration. A Q6W schedule has important implications for patient convenience, healthcare resource utilization, and feasibility in outpatient oncology settings, especially for older mCRPC populations with multiple comorbidities (Stein et al., 2025).

Safety Profile and Cytokine Release Syndrome

Safety has historically been the major limiting factor for T-cell–redirecting therapies in solid tumors. In the Pasritamig Phase I trial, treatment-related adverse events were common but largely manageable. Importantly, at the RP2D, cytokine release syndrome occurred in fewer than 10% of patients and was exclusively Grade 1, with no reported Grade ≥3 CRS events (Baldini et al., 2025).

Other immune-related toxicities, including neurotoxicity, were infrequent and generally low grade. These findings suggest that careful dose engineering and step-up administration can substantially reduce acute immune toxicity without abrogating antitumor activity, a critical requirement for broader clinical adoption (Stein et al., 2025).

Early Signals of Antitumor Activity

Although the Phase I study was not designed to assess efficacy definitively, encouraging signals of clinical activity were observed. Among patients treated at the RP2D on the Q6W schedule, approximately 42% achieved a ≥50% decline in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, a commonly used biomarker of response in mCRPC (Johnson & Johnson, 2025).

Radiographic outcomes further supported biological activity, with a reported median radiographic progression-free survival of 7.9 months in this heavily pretreated population. At the time of data cutoff, roughly one-fifth of patients remained on therapy, suggesting the potential for durable disease control in selected individuals (Baldini et al., 2025).

While cross-trial comparisons should be interpreted cautiously, these outcomes are notable given the advanced disease state and extensive prior treatment exposure of the enrolled population (Stein et al., 2025).

Translational Insights and Immune Pharmacodynamics

Translational analyses presented alongside the clinical data explored T-cell activation markers, cytokine profiles, and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships. These studies demonstrated dose-dependent T-cell engagement and activation without sustained systemic cytokine elevations, supporting the biological plausibility of intermittent, high-dose administration rather than continuous exposure (van Aken et al., 2025).

Such findings are particularly relevant in solid tumors, where excessive or prolonged immune activation can lead to toxicity without improving efficacy. The Pasritamig program highlights the importance of integrating translational immunology into early-phase clinical development to optimize therapeutic index (van Aken et al., 2025).

Regulatory Progress and Ongoing Phase III Development

Based on the totality of early clinical and translational data, Pasritamig has received FDA Fast Track designation for the treatment of mCRPC, reflecting the significant unmet medical need in this population and the drug’s potential to address it (Urology Times, 2025).

Multiple Phase III trials are currently underway to further define the role of Pasritamig in mCRPC, including randomized studies evaluating Pasritamig-based regimens versus placebo or standard of care, as well as combination strategies with established agents such as docetaxel (ClinicalTrials.gov, 2025). These studies will be critical in determining whether early PSA and rPFS signals translate into meaningful overall survival benefits.

Potential Clinical Positioning and Future Directions

If ongoing Phase III trials confirm a favorable balance of efficacy and safety, Pasritamig could emerge as a novel immune-based option for patients with mCRPC who have exhausted standard therapies. Its prostate-restricted target, manageable CRS profile, and infrequent dosing schedule differentiate it from earlier T-cell engager approaches and may enable use beyond highly specialized centers (Stein et al., 2025).

Future research will need to clarify optimal patient selection, including the role of KLK2 expression levels, tumor heterogeneity, and immune contexture in predicting response. Combination strategies, particularly with chemotherapy or other immune-modulating agents, may further enhance activity while maintaining tolerability (Antonarakis et al., 2020).

Conclusion

Pasritamig (JNJ-78278343) represents a promising step forward in the application of T-cell–redirecting therapies to solid tumors, specifically metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Early-phase data demonstrate that KLK2-directed T-cell engagement can produce clinically meaningful antitumor activity with a manageable safety profile when supported by rational dose and schedule optimization. As Phase III trials mature, Pasritamig will help determine whether T-cell engagers can finally secure a durable role in the treatment landscape of advanced prostate cancer.

CHICAGO (WLS) — For the first time in its history Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest will have a countdown to midnight here in the central time zone.

And by here, we mean right here, in Chicago. While millions will watch the celebrations on TV, Chicagoans can be there. Kristen Reynolds has been President and CEO of Choose Chicago since May. She says Mayor Brandon Johnson told her right away that he wanted to put Chicago on the map on New Year’s Eve.

She says “we’re going to do just that.” The celebration will begin at 7 p.m.

“It’s going to be beautiful. There’s going to be a wonderful, custom, audio-visual production on the Merchandise Mart, Art on the Mart.” At 9pm, the entertainment starts. Reynolds says it’s really going to showcase “our vibe in Chicago.” The entertainment includes DJ Mike Dunn, DJ Mike P, poet and artist J. Ivy, Blues singer Shemekia Copeland and Grammy winner Chance the Rapper.

“If you think about the kinds of New Year’s Eve in Times Square, this is the vibe we’re going for.”

The stage will be at Wacker and Franklin. Those who want to attend will have to go through one of two entrances, one on Wells and one on Lake Street. For those who want to attend Reynolds says “you just show up”, they do not need to get tickets in advance.

“All you have to do is pack your patience, because it is going to be very tight security getting into the event, understandably. We want it to be a safe event for everyone who’s in attendance.” She recommends that people arrive early.

So, what does it mean that Chicago’s going to be in the national spotlight on New Year’s Eve, “If you think about it, there are three cities that are going to be featured on New Year’s Eve.

It starts with New York City which has established itself as this iconic New Year’s Eve. And then it’s wonderful to be in that same realm. Chicago should be exactly aligned with that.”

For more information:

https://www.choosechicago.com/articles/holidays/new-years-eve-celebrate-in-chicago/