Airport News
Braniff Airways flight attendant college to become Dallas boutique hotel
A vintage building near Dallas Love Field that was once part of Braniff Airlines is being redeveloped into a boutique hotel.
Located at 2801 Wycliff Ave., the building was home to Braniff International's Hostess College, built in 1968 as a dormitory and training center for flight attendants.
Braniff Airways is the former airline, based in Dallas; the company is now a branding/marketing and tour firm.
According to a release, Braniff Airways chairman Richard Ben Cass signed a deal with MM Property Holdings, Inc. (Centurion American); "MM" is Mehrdad Moayed, who restored the Statler Hilton Hotel in downtown Dallas in 2018.
The property will be a luxury hotel with approximately 75 hotel rooms, plus pool, restaurant, and gift shop.
The building itself is minimal: a five-story rectangle with windows on the top three floors — "mid-century internationalism style," according to the Texas Historical Commission.
Braniff went out of business as an airline in 1982. But nostalgia for the airline's mid-century modern flair, embodied by the iconic colorful Pucci uniforms the flight attendants wore, lingers.
The renovation of the building will retain some of its original character, including most famously a sunken fireplace lounge nicknamed the Passion Pit.
A Braniff boutique will sell Braniff-branded goods such as model airplanes and T-shirts. Braniff designs include creations by big names such as Alexander Girard, Emilio Pucci, Halston, Harper and George, and Alexander Calder.
Braniff also has an online retail store, and administers an employee discount travel progam.
This will be the only Braniff hotel in existence in the United States, but the release says that additional Braniff hotels are planned for other former Braniff destinations.
The hotel is part of a larger renovation of Braniff's operation and maintenance base. In 2019, the company signed an agreement with the Dallas Cowboys, TACAir, Lincoln Property Company, and Randall Reed Enterprises authorizing their use of the Braniff name at the former 1958 Braniff International Operations and Maintenance Base located at 7701 Lemmon Ave., with whom they're working to preserve their signature hangar, which boasts a mid-century-era dual butterfly design.
A rendering of the Grand Central Atrium. Courtesy of Carnival 