$120 million expansion planned for Gaylord Texan in Grapevine

The Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine will add 300 guest rooms and 86,000 square feet of meeting space in a $120 million expansion to begin this year.

The project, announced Wednesday by Gaylord’s owner, Nashville-based Ryman Hospitality Properties, is smaller than an expansion that was proposed in 2007 and scuttled after the global economy fell apart during the Great Recession.

In addition to the new rooms, the expansion will include a new 30,000-square-foot ballroom and 30,000 square feet of breakout space, as well as a $5 million expansion of the resort’s pool complex. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of this year and be completed during the second quarter of 2018.

The Grapevine City Council approved an incentive package for the project Tuesday night by a vote of 7-0, with little discussion. City Manager Bruno Rumbelow said the expansion represents another step forward in the city’s relationship with Gaylord. “This investment gives the hotel the ability to meet the projected demand for the future,” he said.

According to Ryman, the city of Grapevine has agreed to rebate $1 million of the hotel’s rooms tax annually for 10 years upon completion of the expansion, for a total of $10 million.

The Gaylord Texan has 1,511 rooms and 490,000 square feet of meeting space. With the additions, it will become the second-largest nongaming convention center hotel in the United States, behind the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Ryman said.

“This investment at Gaylord Texan is also a continued investment in Grapevine and its citizens,” Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate said in a statement. “We look forward to its completion and the additional visitors we will welcome to our great city.”

Ryman Chairman and CEO Colin Reed said the expansion is well timed as Gaylord has been experiencing growth in bookings. The company said its gross room nights booked increased by 12.3 percent in the fourth quarter.

“The Texan has witnessed strong growth over the past several years,” Reed said. “This expansion will allow us to meet significant existing customer demand for additional high-quality meeting space while also enabling us to market the Texan to a new group of prospects that have not been able to come to Grapevine due to their space requirements.”

The Gaylord Texan, which opened in 2004, quickly became a mainstay of Grapevine’s tourism industry, known for its Glass Cactus nightclub and in recent years as the meeting place for the College Football Playoff committee.

In 2007, the company proposed adding a 12-story tower with 500 rooms, expanding the convention center to 600,000 square feet and adding two floors to the four-story parking garage.

Staff writer Marty Sabota contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 10:44 AM with the headline "$120 million expansion planned for Gaylord Texan in Grapevine."