Dallas Ponies Up for Land Deal
City spends $500K on option to purchase land for headquarters hotel
The Dallas City Council's Economic Development Committee recently approved a plan to purchase 8.4 acres of land that could be crucial to the future of the city's convention business. The plot is located directly in front of the city's convention center. The entire council will vote on the project soon, and Phillip Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas Convention and Visitors bureau, expects it to approve the sale. The city already paid $500,000 for an option agreement on the land-a deposit that the city will lose should the sale not go through.
"It is prudent to tie up the property," said Dallas mayor Tom Leppert. "This is going to determine the future of downtown. It's a first stepa relatively small step in the processbut we need to move forward."
The entire project includes building a convention center hotel, expanding the Dallas Convention Center, and creating an entertainment area. Current plans call for a 200,000-sf expansion of the convention center and a 1,000-room, four-star hotel with a restaurant and health club. The project is expected to cost between $400 and $500 million. It is still uncertain how much funding would come from public coffers, Jones said.
Right now, Dallas is the only top-20 convention market in the United States without a convention center hotel announced, under construction, or completed. According to the CVB, loss of meetings business without this hotel costs the city as much as $2.6 billion annually in revenues.
"We have documented more than 80 groups that have indicated an interest, that have been looking at Dallas, and will no longer consider us because we don't have an attached convention center hotel," Jones said. "It is $800 million in annual (direct) business we can't go after."
City staff members are expected to recommend a final plan for the council to vote on in June. Jones said he is optimistic that this convention center expansion and hotel will come to fruition, and if all goes well, it will be completed by 2012. He said the project has been in the works for 20 years, but the city is closer now than ever.
"Dozens, if not hundreds of letters are on file from planners saying, 'Please make this happen and we would love to have our meeting in Dallas when you do so,'" Jones said. "We're doing OK, but there's a lot more potential for Dallas as a meetings destination if we can get this project up and running as quickly as possible."
Omni Fort Worth Now On Way To Become Legend in the Fall
Despite some delays, Fort Worth this fall will see the opening of a much-needed hotel property for to its convention center. The Omni Fort Worth Hotel will open in late 2008 and will be located within walking distance of the downtown area's restaurants, cultural attractions, and nightlife. The 607-room hotel will include 48,000 sf of meeting space, two restaurants, a ballroom, and other first-class amenities. The $115-million building is sculpted from native stone and rich hardwoods. The exterior is dramatically encased in glass.
The new property will serve as a long-awaited complement to the $75-million renovation and expansion at the Fort Worth Convention Center, which opened in May 2003. Sleeping rooms will feature high-speed and wireless Internet access, spacious desks, and plush bedding with natural fiber linens and a few whimsical Texas-inspired accents, such as saddle blankets and Western-style top-stitching on throw pillows. But luxurynot themingis the goal of this property, shoring up a market that has lacked a truly upscale property of its size.
Hotel amenities will also include Bob's Steak and Chop House, Wine Thief, boutique shopping, and Mokara Salon and Spa-the first iteration of the resort's new luxury spa concept. Also included in the project are 97 luxury condominiums on top of the hotel.
Dallas Arts District Looks to Perform One Last Trick
Center for Performing Arts will be home to city's top dance troupes
Starting in late 2009,meeting groups can enjoy the Dallas Arts District's last installment: the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. The $338-million project includes the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, designed with modern, horseshoe-configuration seating for 2,200; the 600-seat Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre; the outdoor Annette Strauss Artist Square for audiences of up to 5,000; the smaller City Performance Hall; the 10-acre Performance Park that will unify the other venues; and two underground parking structures that will accommodate 900 vehicles.
The center will serve as the host to the Dallas Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Texas Ballet Theater, Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, and other Dallas-area performing arts organizations. The center is being completed mostly with funds from a unique fundraising effort. It is the first capital campaign in America to raise money for an arts or cultural organization with more than 100 donors of $1 million. Donors from the community have made smaller contributions.
"The success of the campaign is a testament to the importance of the project to the people of Dallas and the remarkable generosity of Dallas families and organizations," said Bill Lively, president and CEO of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. "From the inception of the campaign, we believed that if we made a compelling case defining the impact the center would have on Dallas and the region when it opens in 2009, Dallas families and organizations would step forward with donations of historic significance to help create the center."
The center will join the Dallas Arts District, a 19-block, 68-acre neighborhood established in 1983 in the heart of the city's commercial center. The opening of the center will be the finishing touch on a self-contained, pedestrian-friendly "village of the arts."
Not Dead Yet
Dallas Museum of Art preserves King Tut exhibit just a little longer
Meeting groups can enjoy a widely popular traveling exhibit on the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun at the Dallas Museum of Art beginning in October. The exhibit, called "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," drew about 4 million visitors during its 2005-to-2007 tour in the United States. It is currently in London, but will return to the country in Dallas, followed by two additional stops.
"We are honored to be the first institution to host the encore tour," said John Lane, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art. "The Dallas Museum of Art is extremely pleased to be able to share these exceptional works of ancient Egyptian art with the community."
The exhibit will include more than 130 artifacts from King Tut's tomb never before seen in the American Southwest. Proceeds from the exhibit will help fund a new museum in Cairo and the general protection of ancient Egyptian artifacts. The Dallas Museum of Art contains 23,000 works of American, African, European, and Asian art spanning 5,000 years. The museum is in the city's arts district, which is undergoing its own revival, thanks to a major civic investment.
Starwood to Debut in Fort Worth
Starwood Hotels & Resorts is seeing the final touches put on its first property in Fort Worth, scheduled to debut in May. Presidio Hotel Fort Worth LP acquired the former Plaza Fort Worth Hotel last year and immediately set to work on a $46-million project to completely redesign the property's two guest room towers as well as public areas. Starwood is set to manage the property, being reflagged as the Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel and Spa.
The 430-room hotel is located within walking distance of the Fort Worth Convention Center and cultural landmarks, including Bass Hall and Sundance Square, with its restaurants and shopping. Rooms feature Sheraton Sweet Sleeper beds, 32-inch flat HDTVs, Starbucks single-serve coffeemakers, and "shine by bliss" bath amenities. A club level features private access and upgraded services. Groups will have access to 22,000 sf of meeting and conference facilities, a private dining room within the 255-seat Shula's 347 Grill, retail boutiques, and the 8,000-sf Beaubelle Spa.
Dallas' Joule Has Dining Jewel
The five-star boutique Joule Hotel has yet to open in the circa-1920 Dallas National Bank building in the city's Power & Light district, but Charlie Palmer has already put down his stakes-make that steaksat Charlie Palmer at the Joule. The Manhattan-based chef, who also has chic dining rooms and celebrated kitchens in Las Vegas, Reno, and DC, is receiving rave reviews for his new 85-seat restaurant that opened in Dallas in December. The dining room is designed by Adam Tihany, the Manhattan-based interior designer who will also design the balance of the hotel property. Here, he will use a subtle theme of energy and flight, with large, propeller-like fans recessed into the ceiling.
Sommelier Drew Hendricks heads up the restaurant's wine list, as well as the adjacent wine shop, Next Vintage, the first venture of its kind for Palmer. Timothy Headington, the oil tycoon who ranked 317 on Forbes list of 400 wealthiest people in the United States in 2007, is the money behind the Joule Hotel.Despite development delays, the property is generating lots of buzz and has an anticipated spring opening. Besides the restaurant, the property's other defining feature is a rooftop swimming pool that extends over the edge of the 10-story building and is enclosed by a wall of glass so guests can, literally, swim over the edge.
Originally published March 10, 2008