Major changes are coming to Cowtown’s historic Fort Worth Stockyards, including a sweeping renovation and re-purposing of 200,000 square feet of old horse and mule barns. The first phase of the $175 million overhaul and ground-up development began last week amid announcements of what’s coming into the space, including shops, restaurants, creative offices and more. It will be anchored by the Hotel Drover, a four-star boutique hotel, event space and rustic resort, which will be located at the end of the reimagined Mule Alley. The shops and restaurants should be finished by fall of next year, with the hotel’s completion scheduled for spring 2020.
The new plans are being executed by the Stockyards Heritage Development Company, a partnership between Majestic Realty Co. and the Hickman Companies. Filling the new development with the right mix of businesses will take time, says Craig Cavileer, executive vice president of Majestic.
So far, tenants include Second Rodeo Brewing Co. by Chef Jason Boso, who is best known for Dallas and Houston’s Truck Yard and Twisted Root restaurants in the DFW area. His Stockyards concept will be a “brewpub meets live music hall.”
Another local chef, Marcus Paslay (Clay Pigeon, Piatello Italian Kitchen) will open a new restaurant, not yet named, that will focus on grilled and smoked meats in a space that will be a tribute to the cowboy and country music heritage of the Stockyards. Fort Worth’s first Shake Shack, the hamburger chain by New York chef Danny Meyer, will also find a home in Mule Alley.
Mule Barn’s flagship store, MB Mercantile & Supply, will be a modern take on a traditional general store, offering one-of-a-kind goods by Texan artisans. The new headquarters for RFD-TV, along with the Cowboy Channel and Rural Rodeo (all part of the Rural Media Group) will open a new broadcast studio that will be open to the public. Their mission “is to reconnect ‘city with country’ to the over 100 million homes in RMG’s networks, and a day-to-day emphasis on programming centered on the cowboy and cowgirl lifestyle.”
To follow along with the development’s progress, visit Stockyard Heritage.
