A major hotel player has staked ground in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
Indiana-based White Lodging Services bought 3.5 acres in the Fort Worth Stockyards, a district that draws roughly 9 million visitors annually and has become a proving ground for high-profile hospitality projects, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
The family-owned developer closed on the land at 400 East Exchange Avenue, next to the historic Armour & Company building, which has been redeveloped as U.S. Energy Development’s headquarters.
The seller, an entity tied to San Antonio’s Kairoi Residential, offloaded the parcel for an undisclosed sum, according to Tarrant County records. The land is adjacent to apartments operated by Kairoi dubbed The Union at Stockyards, at 601 Stockyards Boulevard, that started construction last year and opened to its first residents in May.
White Lodging hasn’t settled on what it will build, but the company is weighing a hotel and restaurant or a larger mixed-use destination. Conner White, vice chair and chief investment officer, framed the Stockyards as “a unique intersection of history and opportunity,” and said the company wants to add to the area’s fabric while delivering new experiences for locals and visitors.
The move marks White Lodging’s first project in Dallas-Fort Worth in more than two decades. The company, which operates about 60 hotels and more than 50 restaurants nationwide, has a heavy Texas footprint, particularly in Austin, where it developed the JW Marriott and Austin Marriott Downtown. It also controls 16 premium-brand hotels and 20 independent food-and-beverage venues across the state.
Competition for dirt in the Stockyards is fierce, as redevelopment has reshaped the once-sleepy historic district into one of Fort Worth’s busiest destinations.
The Hickman family and California-based Majestic Realty pumped $200 million into an initial phase of a $1 billion expansion that delivered the Mule Alley corridor that includes the 200-key Hotel Drover, an Autograph Collection property. That partnership has floated plans for another 300,000 square feet of retail and hospitality but is now mired in litigation between Majestic’s top executive and the former head of its Stockyards operations. The shakeup led to the exit of two Majestic executives.
White Lodging hasn’t revealed a timeline, but whatever it builds will join a lineup of projects designed to keep the historic district firmly in Fort Worth’s tourism spotlight.
— Eric Weilbacher
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