Arlington OKs $410 million hotel project

Arlington’s city council has approved a plan to give the city a new major hotel and meeting space.

The city will form a public-private partnership with Loews Hotels and Co. to build a 500-room hotel with a minimum of 25,000 square feet of convention center space.

Arlington’s city council unanimously approved the project at its Tuesday night meeting without discussion.

The new hotel near Interstate 30 will replace the 311-room Sheraton Arlington Hotel, which Loews acquired this summer. Built in 1984, the 19-story hotel has about 26,000 square feet of meeting space and was last renovated in 2009.

Under the proposal with the city, the existing hotel will be demolished to free up 14 acres for the new project. Work to prepare for the development would start next year.

A new parking garage would serve the planned hotel and other venues in the area.

“The total project cost is estimated at $410 million,” according to a filing with the city. “The developer is advance funding all components of the project using private equity and debt.”

Arlington will contribute $40 million toward the development costs and provide annual grants totaling more than $57 million over 25 years.

“The project is expected to produce $3.1 billion in economic output over 30 years, with $711 million in net benefits for the city, Tarrant County, and Arlington Independent School District,” according to the city council request. “If approved, the project is expected to commence with construction of the parking garage in 2024.”

The hotel will give New York-based Loews almost 1,700 hotel rooms in Arlington.

“What we have is the opportunity to continue to invest in the infrastructure in our entertainment district,” city manager Trey Yelverton told the council.

He said with the latest project it represents “over a billion dollars of investment that Loews Hotels has made in our community.”

Loews opened the $150 million, 300-room Live! by Loews Hotel in 2019.

Loews is currently building the $550 million Loews Arlington Hotel and convention center started in 2021 between the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field and Choctaw Stadium, the Rangers’ former home.

The high-rise hotel project will open early next year with 888 rooms, 266,000 square feet of meeting space and the 150,000-square-foot Arlington Convention Center.

The planned Arlington hotel adds to the growing number of hospitality projects in the works in North Texas. More than 21,000 hotel rooms are in the development pipeline in Dallas-Fort Worth.

This story was updated following Arlington’s evening city council vote on the project.