A few years ago, when visiting the headquarters of the Dallas CVB, there were some mighty fanciful plans laid out—some $14 billion in urban core and Arts District improvements, including a massive project that would transform a Trinity River Corridor flood plain into an urban green belt design anchored by a showpiece Santiago Calatrava bridge.
And while Dallas proper is solidifying itself as a world-class arts destination and leader in cutting-edge urban design, Arlington, located about 15 minutes west and just about equidistant to Fort Worth on the other side, lays claim to the crown jewel of the Metroplex, the phenomenal, $1.15 billion Cowboys Stadium. Combine that with a sports complex that’s also home to the MLB Texas Rangers, and that’s swagger.
Dallas
Completing what is described as a "25-year dream" of the Dallas Arts District, The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts is scheduled for an October opening.
According to its developers, the complex will rival Lincoln Center in New York and will encompass over 10 acres. During the next five years, Dallas is ushering in a world-class Arts District offering, highlighted by the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, a multivenue facility for music, opera, theater and dance, which is scheduled to open this month. The center will comprise five venues, including the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, the Annette Strauss Artist Square and Sammons Park.
Other notable developments this year include the aloft Dallas Downtown Hotel, which is scheduled to open this fall with 193 guest rooms and suites near the convention center; and Park Lane, a 33-acre, 750 million mixed-use development with 700,00 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, along with the 250-room Valencia Hotel.
The Trinity River Corridor Project-Calatrava Bridge, along with the 750-seat City Performance Hall and 5.2-acre Woodall Rodgers Park, is scheduled for a 2011 opening.
The Omni Dallas Convention Center Hotel will fit right into its surroundings by offering a "sleek, urban and modern" design that will blend into the downtown Dallas community, according to Tom Faust, vice president of sales for Omni Hotels & Resorts, who says the 1,016-room property will offer 80,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 31,770-square-fooot ballroom and a 15,418-square-foot second ballroom.
Other projects moving down the pike include the Museum of Nature & Science which in 2013 will offer a 150,000-square-foot, eco-friendly facility. The Trinity River Corridor Project is scheduled for completion in 2014, and is expected to offer more than 8,000 acres of parks, forests and lakes, and hiking and biking trails.
Standout special event facilities already in operation in the downtown Arts District include the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center (with a sculpture garden that provides a ready-made meeting experience) and Union Station, a historic railroad depot that features a kitchen catered by Wolfgang Puck, and which is attached to Reunion Tower and its Puck-run Five Sixty restaurant.
Arlington
While Dallas is taking its place on the world arts stage, Arlington scored a coup that admittedly left its Metroplex cousin a bit red-faced—as site of the most-impressive sports facility on planet Earth.
While the Arlington CVB has previously operated under the "Fun Central" banner, its new tagline launched in May, "And the Crowd Goes Wild," capitalizes on what could be the pride of the Lone Star State, Cowboys Stadium.
Nothing epitomizes more the pride of North Texas as the new home of the Cowboys. The big-screen alone cost more than $40 million, and the whole stadium is engineered both to offer the best NFL experience going as well as functionality for large events.
Sports events and excitement in general are what Arlington’s all about, as it’s also the home of the Texas Rangers and both the Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor theme parks, which themselves offer adrenaline-inspired event space.
Major meetings hotels in Arlington include the 311-room Sheraton Arlington Hotel, which is fresh off a $15 million renovation and is within walking distance of the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and close to the new Cowboys Stadium; the 308-room Hilton Arlington, the beneficiary of a $12 million renovation; the Hilton Garden Inn, which opened in June and offers 132 guest rooms; the 200-suite Crowne Plaza Arlington Suites; and a prototype Holiday Inn that looks more like a stylish, big-city boutique hotel than a traditional Holiday Inn.
Tying it all together is the Arlington Convention Center, which currently offers a 30,000-square-foot ballroom (an expansion is on the drawing boards) and a kitchen that prides itself on restaurant-quality food and beverage service.
