Suburbia? Not anymore. How Arlington’s $1B in projects will reshape the heart of DFW
To many people in Arlington, the idea seemed like a far-fetched gamble at best.
At worst, it was irresponsibly ludicrous.
The city, which was grappling in 2004 with budget shortfalls, stagnant business and the threat of falling behind its fast-growing suburban neighbors, had a chance to land the Dallas Cowboys. The catch: Voters had to agree to levy taxes on themselves to help pay for Jerry Jones’ $650 million new stadium.
The voters came through in what was described at the time as a pivotal moment in the city’s history.
“Decades from now,” a Star-Telegram editorial read the day after the referendum, “Tuesday’s ‘yes’ vote authorizing construction of a new, state-of-the-art Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington may well be recognized as the moment the city’s destiny changed.”
Fast forward two decades, and the city of Arlington appears to once again be having one of those pivotal moments, thanks in large part to how that stadium did indeed prove to be a powerful economic catalyst.
Nearly $1 billion in new development is under construction in Arlington’s entertainment district, anchored by the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field and the Six Flags theme parks. Those projects include a hotel and convention center, a national museum and a luxury apartment high-rise.
And there’s talk of more residential towers in the district, as well as converting an aging shopping center into a ritzier mixed-use development similar to Fort Worth’s Clearfork.
“It is really transformational what’s happened,” says Maggie Campbell, who is president and CEO of the Downtown Arlington business organization.
The once tiny farming town that sprouted after the Civil War was considered for decades as just a suburb to its larger neighbors — one without even a real downtown. Now Arlington has reached that tipping point where it is seeing significant outside investment, Campbell said.
What’s happening in Arlington is undoubtedly part of the overall growth frenzy across North Texas. The Dallas-Fort Worth metro is the fastest growing in the U.S., adding nearly 100,000 people a year. Other smaller cities in the Metroplex are also seeing explosive development, including Frisco, which recently announced a first-of-its-kind Universal Parks & Resorts theme park as part of its $10 billion future Fields development.
But while much of the growth on the outer reaches of the Metroplex is new construction on empty land, Arlington’s projects in the city center are more about redevelopment of what was built in the early years of suburbia.
City leaders say their vision is for Arlington to be a model live-work-play community that’s walkable and easy for long-term residents and first-time visitors to enjoy. Arlington’s entertainment district is about a mile from the city’s traditional business district, which is largely low density. The city wants to see a denser downtown with more of a connection to the entertainment district.
Mayor Jim Ross says there’s room for both districts to grow.
“We certainly want to bridge a gap between downtown and the entertainment district,” Ross said. “They’re not that far apart and literally within walking distance. We’re getting there. As the entertainment grows and downtown grows, there’s going to be some overlap and, consequently, some cross pollination that happens with the people that visit each of those. We’re excited about that.”
Ross said he thinks this will happen if both districts keep adding office space, multi-family housing, retail and restaurants — and marrying the different uses with a balance.
“I don’t believe this is the beginning of the transformation,” Ross said. “We’ve been into this for a while now, for a number of years, long before I became mayor. Our goal is to continue that significant momentum now.”
A vision for Choctaw Stadium
In mid-February, a co-working space called Spark Arlington held a grand opening in Choctaw Stadium, the former home of the Texas Rangers that is now used for soccer, football and repurposed offices in the entertainment district.
Spark’s concept of collaborative workspace aims at local entrepreneurs and innovators. Nearly 25 companies are already signed on.
Not far away, the luxury apartment building One Rangers Way is under construction. Some of the future tenants may decide to live here because they can work at Spark — and walk to bars and restaurants at Texas Live! after hours.
Additionally, mayor and other city leaders say there has been vision discussion of one day adding a high-rise office tower to one corner of Choctaw Stadium.
“It’s a vision that has legs,” Ross said. “We’re not at the planning stage yet. Nothing has been permitted, but there is a lot of talk about some of the extraordinary things we can do.”
Ross is also about to open his second restaurant on the top floor of the stadium where a TGI Fridays restaurant used to be. Hearsay Arlington will be a fine dining restaurant with Southern cuisine, a live blues and jazz lounge and a rooftop cigar bar.
The city owns Choctaw Stadium and still leases it to the Rangers. Ray Davis, who is the Rangers’ managing partner and majority owner, spoke at the Spark grand opening and said the 30,000-square-foot space is another example of how Choctaw is being repurposed as a vital part of development.
The stadium also is used for the Arlington Renegades of the XFL, the North Texas Soccer Club and the Dallas Jackals of Major League Rugby.
The One Rangers Way apartments are expected to open in 2024, with leases starting at $1,350. If the project does well, more multi-family development would be a logical progression, said Rob Matwick, the Texas Rangers executive vice president of business operations.
“Once we are in a position to begin leasing the residential units, assuming that goes as well as I believe it will, it’s logical that you would begin to look at next phases,” Matwick said. “We’ve talked about next phases potentially, and we’ve looked at where they could potentially go. When we’re a little further along and start our leasing process, I think that will begin to snowball and build upon the first building.”
The upcoming apartment complex is a partnership between the Texas Rangers and development partner The Cordish Companies.
“We are intentionally developing a wide array of unit types and sizes from two-bedroom penthouses to studio apartment homes to ensure we are appealing to all types of residents from young professionals to sports fans to families,” said Marnie Sauls, executive director of residential management for The Cordish Companies. “This space marries a luxury living experience with the excitement and energy of the Entertainment District, giving our residents the unique opportunity to be able to walk to Rangers and Cowboys games.”
Nearly $1 billion in development
Investment in Arlington doesn’t stop with the redevelopment of Choctaw. Nearly $1 billion of new development is under construction in the Entertainment District, including Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center.
The $550 million hotel is expected to open in early 2024 with two resort-style swimming pools, a beach, an upscale pan-Asian restaurant, a water slide and more. The hotel will have more than 880 rooms and connect via a skybridge to Live! by Loews Arlington, an existing hotel across the street.
The Arlington Convention Center will have 150,000 square feet of meeting space and 66,000 square feet of outdoor space. The entire project will create 500 to 600 additional jobs.
“Bringing this convention center with this hotel here puts us on a level that we’ve never been before,” said Ross in July at the hotel’s topping off ceremony. “It gives us an opportunity to compete with every single metropolitan area in the country.”
Near the hotel and convention center will be the National Medal of Honor Museum, opening in late 2024. The museum will feature a Bell Textron helicopter, 30 medals of honor and biographies and stories of recipients. It is expected to attract 650,000 to 800,000 visitors a year.
The current $1 billion expansion in the Entertainment District is only the next phase of a greater $4 billion vision by the city of Arlington, the Texas Rangers, The Cordish Companies and Loews Hotels & Co.
To the north of the entertainment district, at Interstate 30 and Collins Street, the Lincoln Square shopping center will likely see a major redevelopment.
The property was recently acquired by a Fort Worth-based mixed-use investor, Trademark Property Co. Early plans indicate the traditional retail and restaurant center could shift toward apartments.
Arlington’s mayor described it as similar to The Shops at Clearfork in Fort Worth, which has mid-rise apartment and office buildings with street-level retail.
“There’s going to be some nice multi-family in there, but there’s also going to be a lot of mixed use — office space, restaurants, retail and there may be another hotel in there,” Ross said. “It’s going to be a good utilization of the space.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
