Out in Irving
The Irving City Council and Mortenson Development are building a
350-room hotel connected by skybridge to the Irving Convention Center.
The $90 million property will have 20,000 square feet of meeting space.
Groundbreaking will take place this year, and the hotel will open in
late 2015.
The 146-room Courtyard Dallas DFW Airport South/Irving Hotel now
features full-service amenities; guests can order room service from the
on-site restaurant. The hotel offers 1,700 square feet of meeting space.
The Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas (above) has achieved LEED Silver certification.
Dallas
Ground has been broken on a new 30,000-square-foot meeting facility at the 514-room Renaissance Dallas Hotel. When work is finished in late 2014, the property will have a total of 50,000 square feet of event space, including a new 16,000-square-foot grand ballroom and the combined 10,900-square-foot City View Ballroom and City View Rooftop Terrace. The meeting center will be constructed to meet LEED Silver criteria.
The Dallas Convention Center has obtained the Digital Event Center designation from the Virtual Edge Institute. The program provides venues and operators with a readiness review of the facility, along with its employees and technology partners, for planning and executing digital or hybrid events. By gaining the designation, the center demonstrates it is able to provide a single-source hybrid event package through the VEI.
In February, the city council committed $5 million to the redevelopment of the 103-year-old Butler Brothers Building, which is scheduled to be converted into a 200-room Hilton hotel with retail and residential space. Construction on the $73 million project will start in July, aiming for a 2015 opening.
A $50 million renovation is finishing up at the 1,120-room Hyatt Regency Dallas. Work on all the guest rooms was completed at the end of 2012. The property has 160,000 square feet of function space, including 60 meeting rooms and three ballrooms. One on-site dining option is Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck, the revolving restaurant at the top of the Reunion Tower.
The Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau has been awarded accreditation from the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program, developed by the Washington, D.C.-based Destination Marketing Association International. The DMAP endorsement is a measure of excellence for DMOs around the world.
The Hotel Lumen, managed by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, has expanded to 88 rooms and introduced a new restaurant, The Front Room: A Park Cities Diner. The property, across from Southern Methodist University, also has a new rooftop terrace and offers 1,500 square feet of meeting space.
Now open a few blocks from the convention center is the 76-room NYLO Dallas South Side, which features the 4,500-square-foot rooftop Soda Bar, the Loft Bar and Restaurant, and a 950-square-foot meeting room.
Finishing up this spring is a $78 million expansion and renovation of the Joule Hotel. All 129 guest rooms are being upgraded and 31 are being added, including three penthouse suites. A new rooftop event space also is under construction.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport offers flights to 200 nonstop destinations, now that American Eagle has added service to Hermosillo and Zacatecas, Mexico. Those 200 destinations include 52 international and 148 U.S. domestic cities.
Meeting Hotels
About 30,000 hotel rooms can be found within Dallas proper, and a total of 75,544 rooms are in the greater metro area. For a comprehensive listing of properties, visit mcvenues.com.
Convention Center
Dallas Convention Center; exhibit space, 1,018,942 square feet; number of meeting rooms, 88; (877) 684-7322; dallasconventioncenter.com
Airport Transit
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, 20 miles from downtown. Transfer cost by taxi, $40; by shuttle, $19
Love Field, six miles from downtown. Transfer by taxi, $18; by shuttle, $19
Taxes
Room tax, 15%; sales tax, 8.25%; total tax on hotel rooms, 15%
Group Venue
Adrenalin seekers will have a screaming good time on the Bungee, Skycoaster, Nothin' But Net, Skyscraper and Blastoff attractions. The five extreme rides make up the Zero Gravity amusement park. Groups of all sizes are welcomed to enjoy the heart-stopping drops. (972) 484-8359; gojump.com
Contact
Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, (214) 571-1000; visitdallas.com
Cows Come Home
Longhorns are driven through the Fort Worth Stockyards at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day.
bit.ly/ZfOEWx Fort Worth
The Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau has launched a new meetings website, MeetinFortWorth.com. The site features full-service hotel properties, unique venues and group dining options, plus 3-D tours, floor plans of the Fort Worth Convention Center and the Will Rogers Memorial Center, sample itineraries and testimonials.
Bob Jameson became the Fort Worth CVB's new president and CEO on Jan. 19. He was formerly general manager of the city's Worthington Renaissance Hotel and twice served as chairman of the board for the bureau.
Just opened last month is Waters, Bonnell's Coastal Cuisine, featuring sustainable and eco-friendly seafood from around the world. The restaurant is the latest addition to West 7th, the city's new entertainment, dining, and shopping region between downtown and the cultural district.
Meeting Hotels
The largest meeting properties in town include the 614-room Omni Fort Worth Hotel, 504-room Renaissance Worthington Hotel, 431-room Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel and Spa, 294-room Hilton Fort Worth, 203-room Courtyard by Marriott-Blackstone and 156-suite Embassy Suites Fort Worth-Downtown. For a more complete listing of hotels, visit mcvenues.com.
Convention Center
Fort Worth Convention Center; exhibit space, approximately 253,226 square feet; number of meeting rooms, 41; (817) 392-6338; meetinfortworth.com/fort-worth-convention-center
Airport Transit
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, about 17 miles from downtown. Transfer cost by taxi, $52; by shuttle, $15-$25; by Trinity Railway Express, $2.50
Taxes
Room tax, 15%; sales tax, 8.25%; total tax on hotel rooms, 15%
Group Venue
Blonde Lager, Texas Red, Ugly Pug, Stormcloud and Buffalo Butt are the year-round brews available at the Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. The Rahr's beer-making history began back in 1847, when William and Natalie emigrated from Germany and began brewing in Wisconsin. The family recipes now are safely in the hands of great-great-grandson Frederick William "Fritz" Rahr Jr., who opened the current facility in 2004 with his wife, Erin. The brewery features a 20,000-square-foot open-air Tap Room, wonderful raw space that seats more than 100 people hofbrau-style. (817) 810-9266; rahrbrewing.com
Contact
Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau, (817) 336-8791 or (800) 433-5747; fortworth.com