Luxury lodging

$78 million resort breaking ground in charming Texas Hill Country town

The charming Texas Hill Country destination of Fredericksburg, long beloved for its array of B&Bs and wineries, is getting its first full-fledged destination resort.

The $78 million Seven Hills Resort and Conference Center, at U.S. Highway 87 North and U.S. Highway 290 West, will include:

A 150-room, full-service hotel under the upscale Curio Collection by Hilton brand.
A rooftop bar.
A 35,000-square-foot conference center.
A 40,000-square-foot retail and restaurant “village.”
An outdoor amphitheater.
Restoration of the historic Klingelhoefer House.
Nearly a dozen new Sunday Houses, a style of guesthouse common in Fredericksburg.

Construction on the 22-acre project is set to break ground this fall, with the opening slated for early 2020, according to the Austin Business Journal.

Ernie Loeffler, president and CEO of the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau, says Seven Hills will be one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken in the history of Fredericksburg.

“The Seven Hills Resort and Conference Center will significantly strengthen the group-market appeal of Fredericksburg based on room count under one roof, level of service, amenities, and the amount of meeting and event space,” Loeffler says. “The resort will also be attractive to the leisure travel market as a full-service hotel — a market niche currently missing in Fredericksburg.”

Seven Hills Resort and Conference Center is being developed by Houston-based Murphree and Co. The Austin office of The Beck Group will oversee design and construction, according to ABJ, while the Woodlands-based Benchmark Resorts & Hotels will run the hotel and conference center.

A 2015 report by hospitality consulting firm HVS noted that while Fredericksburg “enjoys a strong presence in the state tourism market,” it lacks the facilities — namely a conference center — needed to attract group meetings. The report explained that competition for a Fredericksburg conference center would come primarily from hotels in Austin, San Antonio, and San Marcos.

“Fredericksburg has several strengths as a group event destination, including its quaint downtown, dining and retail amenities, and natural beauty,” the report said.

Despite its charms, an HVS survey of event planners found that nearly 30 percent wanted to host a gathering in Fredericksburg, but the absence of adequate event space deterred them. As such, Fredericksburg loses group-meeting business to other cities in and around the Texas Hill Country, including San Marcos, New Braunfels, Kerrville, and Marble Falls, the report said.

The FCVB hopes to capture a "niche" market with the new destination resort.

Courtesy of The Beck Group

The FCVB hopes to capture a "niche" market with the new destination resort.

hotels hill-country

DART News

DART to replace escalators at their only underground Dallas station

DART

DART Cityplace

Over the next three years, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is going to replace and refurbish six escalators and two elevators at the Cityplace/Uptown Station.

According to a release, replacing aging escalators is a component of DART's infrastructure improvement efforts and part of their commitment to maintaining a safe and reliable transit system.

Located at Haskell Avenue and US-75, the Cityplace/Uptown station is a stop on the Red Line, Blue Line, and Orange Line and also serves as a transfer point to the M-Line Trolley, which runs through Uptown.

While this work is underway, train service will remain unaffected. However, riders may experience minor inconveniences during the construction period. Accommodations for ADA passengers will be provided as needed.

To minimize disruption, no more than one escalator will be taken out of service at a time. Escalators at the station operate in pairs; therefore, when one is temporarily decommissioned for replacement, its counterpart will be designated for upward movement to assist passengers in accessing the platform without using stairs.

Their target completion date is 2028.

Here's a fun fact: The station is the only underground station on the DART rail system, as well as the only active underground rail station in the state of Texas. It's the stop point on a 3.5-mile tunnel that runs from downtown Dallas to SMU/Mockingbird station. Excavation began in 1991 and the station opened in 2000.

It's a "tri-level" station with escalators to boarding platforms that are located 10 stories, or 120 feet, below US-75. There are three pairs of escalators plus two inclined elevators plus a staircase with 213 steps total.

No public parking, however.

Entrances to the station are available on both sides of US-75: from the Cityplace Tower office building on the east frontage road, to the left and right of the entrance to the Cityplace Tower office building; and directly across the freeway on the west frontage road, on the edge of West Village.

transportation