Here's a look at new Dallas/Fort Worth hotels, conference centers, restaurants, private rooms, and other spaces to open for events this summer. The new and renovated Dallas/Fort Worth venues are available for corporate parties, weddings, fund-raisers, outdoor functions, business dinners, teambuilding activities, conferences, meetings, and more.
The owners of McKinney’s Sugarbacon, Johnny Carros and chef Jon Thompson, debuted a new concept next door in May. Butcher Board offers a lineup of sandwiches made from house-roasted meats, along with craft and draft beer. The space features industrial design with exposed brick walls and overhead ducts and seating for about 70 at dining tables, a communal table, and a bar around the perimeter. The space also has a patio.
The Hilton Anatole, one of Dallas’ most iconic hotels, is finishing a $15 million upgrade to its outdoor space, adding two event lawns and a major pool complex to its seven-acre sculpture park and tennis courts. The renovation at the 1,606-room hotel in the Dallas Design District, scheduled to debut in July, includes a new outdoor restaurant with seating for 129, plus a 23-seat swim-up bar. The pool complex, called JadeWaters, features a leisure pool, beach-entry family pool, lazy river, luxury cabanas, and splash zone with two 180-foot slides. The leisure pool will run year-round while the other elements will be open seasonally from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The new event lawns each seat 200 people, and there are several new walking trails in addition to the hotel’s existing park space.
Avanti Fort Worth, the Fort Worth outpost of one of Dallas’ most long-lived Italian restaurants, opened in April in downtown’s City Place development. Chef Mario Sanchez’s menu leans toward the traditional, with an Italian-centric wine list, and it’s as pricey as its Dallas counterpart. A private dining room is available with seating for about 60 guests.
Locally roasted coffee, house-produced spirits, designer cocktails, gooey desserts, and light food are the focus of Acre Distillery. The coffee shop and bar opened in what was once the legendary Hell’s Half Acre red light district in downtown Fort Worth in February. Owners J.B. Flowers and Tony Formby got their start at the city’s Rahr craft brewery, and Acre is firmly part of the craft movement. A private event spaces holds 100 people for receptions, and private tours are available, with reservations required for groups of eight or more people.
The 96-suite SpringHill Suites Fort Worth Fossil Creek, which includes four luxury suites, opened in April in north Fort Worth’s Fossil Creek neighborhood, just minutes from downtown Fort Worth and even closer to the city’s historic Stockyards and Texas Motor Speedway. The hotel features 1,600 square feet of meeting space that can be configured to accommodate as many as 100 people in theater-style seating. Also available: an indoor swimming pool with whirlpool and a fitness center.
The newest Courtyard by Marriott in Dallas’ north suburban the Colony is a short drive from what is becoming one of the state’s biggest corporate office regions, with almost 6 million feet of space including Toyota’s soon-to-open U.S. headquarters as well as FedEx, Ericsson, Bank of America, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, Capital One, and Pizza Hut/Yum! Brands. Courtyard Dallas Plano/The Colony, which opened in May, has 115 rooms and 13 suites, plus three meeting rooms totaling 1,405 square feet. The largest space holds 150 guests for receptions or 125 theater-style. Located in the 100-acre mixed-use Cascades at the Colony development, the hotel also has an electric car charging station and fitness center.
Long before craft cocktails, Eddie “Lucky” Campell was one of Dallas’ best-known bartenders, and his new venture on lower Greenville Avenue shows why. At Knuckle Sandwich Co., look for Campbell’s Dallas-famous cocktails and artisan sandwiches like the Pork Belly Knuckle, which includes a fried egg; a pastrami hoagie, about as rare in Dallas as possible; and a Reuben with cheddar foam instead of the familiar Swiss. The location, at the site of the since-closed and infamous Greenville Avenue Country Club, includes seating for 40 inside and two patios: one in front that seats as many as 40 and another in the back with seating for as many as 70.
The Hall Bar & Grill at Trinity Groves, a steakhouse near West Dallas Trinity Groves, comes from long-time restaurateur Bob Sambol, whose resume includes Bob’s Steak and Chop House. The 100-seat saloon-style space opened in March, featuring standard steakhouse fare.
Hampton Inn & Suites Dallas Downtown opened in June in downtown Dallas in the historic 1700 Commerce Street building. The 176-room hotel, near the center of downtown, is within walking distance of Dealey Plaza, the Neiman Marcus flagship store, and the Dallas Convention Center. For small meetings, it offers a 10-person boardroom.
A 135-room Country Inn & Suites By Carlson opened in February to serve the Grand Prairie, DFW, and Arlington areas. It’s located in Grand Prairie, about 20 minutes west of downtown Dallas. The 135 rooms come in a variety of suites and configurations, and there is a 30-seat meeting space as well as a 15-seat boardroom. In addition, the hotel offers complimentary shuttle service to DFW International Airport, 10 miles away. The hotel’s location puts it within 15 minutes of Joe Pool Lake, Six Flags Over Texas, Hurricane Harbor Water Park, Globe Life Park, and AT&T Stadium.
