Snow In Texas

$215 million resort will bring world's longest indoor ski run to North Texas

If all goes according to plan, the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie will have a grand new addition in 2018. Dubbed The Grand Alps, the $215 million development is an indoor ski resort and hotel that will sit on a massive, 350,000-square-foot property off Interstate 30 and Belt Line Road.

The City of Grand Prairie announced the news in an October 14 release, detailing the artificial winter wonderland that will soon await paying customers.

There will be beginner, intermediate and expert ski runs, in addition to ice climbing, luge track and Olympic half pipe.

A snow dome will house the longest indoor ski run in the world, which will be more than 1,900 feet in length. There will be beginner, intermediate and expert runs, in addition to ice climbing, luge track, Olympic half pipe and snowboard courses, and general snow play areas.

The ski resort will be integrated with a Four Diamond Hard Rock Hotel and Restaurant. The hotel will contain 300 rooms, two restaurants, retail stores, and a rooftop pool and deck capable of hosting live music events. Within two years, the developer must build a second hotel or double capacity.

In the release, Grand Alps Resort co-chairman Sherman Thurston called the Hard Rock Hotel "the icing on the slopes."

"The Grand Alps will be a summertime favorite for Texans who want to escape the summer heat and enjoy a usually seasonal only sport," Thurston said.

Construction on the hotel and ski facility is slated to begin in January 2015, with hopes of opening in 2018. According to the release, the City of Grand Prairie's investment includes the land and very generous tax breaks, including 100 percent real estate tax abatement for seven years and 75 percent hotel tax rebate for 10 years.

The city estimates more than 1.3 million annual visitors to the venue and the creation of around 2,000 jobs. The total cost of the project is expected to reach $400 million by 2018.

"The entire area is proud to be home to the first Hard Rock Hotel in Texas," Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen said. "The Grand Alps will be a great new addition to our well established tourist business."

unspecified

No Cap

Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z paradise like Dallas?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles — and now Dallas, which had the ninth-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

Dallas' new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Dallas saw an influx of 13,770 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 9 most popular city. That's 4,223 more Gen Zers than the net migration rate from 2022, the report found.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Dallasites may have learned, it's going to take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Dallas are likely to spend over $149,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Dallas saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — "a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

trends