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Luxe boutique hotel built from shipping containers to debut in Waco

The Hotel Herringbone will open in March 2024.

Rendering courtesy of Federica Cortabarria at CoveArch

There's a cool new hotel checking into downtown Waco, and this time, it's not from Fixer Upper's Chip and Joanna Gaines.

The modern, art-deco-inspired Hotel Herringbone, at 319 South 4th St., is set to open in March 2024. Converted from a former shipping container development, the hotel will offer 21 boutique rooms for guests, along with four restaurants, including a rooftop bar.

The rooms, ranging from 230-square-foot single rooms to a 1,300-square-foot multi-bedroom suite, are inspired by art-deco and mid-century modern design. Taylor Leage, the hotel's lead interior designer, says in a press release that he wanted to highlight the pre-existing exterior architecture of the space while completely transforming the interior to elicit design aesthetics from all areas of history.

“We aimed to showcase layered elements stemming from the wide-ranging regions and history through the lens of a 20th-century world traveler and her husband – evoking the feeling of your grandmother's attic filled to the brim and brought to life as if it were brand new," Leage says in the release. "Art Nouveau detailing is balanced out with modern futuristic forms, and a bright, bold, modern color palette to bring in a light sense of humor and new life."

In addition to the classic boutique hotel amenities, the hotel will offer luxurious extras, including hotel-branded refillable bottles, MovieBeam entertainment and fitness programming, morning craft coffee services, and a daily happy hour in the evening.

Hotel Herringbone, Waco hotel The hotel is opening in a former shipping container development.Rendering courtesy of Federica Cortabarria at CoveArch

The Hotel Herringbone site was previously home to The Containery, a brightly-colored shipping container development that foreclosed in 2021, and has since sat vacant. Lucky Find Hospitality acquired the development – which spans across an entire city block – and partnered with San Diego-based design firm Rad Lab, FreeForm Development, and acclaimed Waco chef and restaurateur Corey McEntyre to bring the hotel to life.

Lucky Find Hospitality and McEntyre developed four restaurant concepts at the Hotel Herringbone:

Red Herring, a 6,000-square foot warehouse-turned-Mediterranean-inspired fine dining establishment
Lucky Buck's, a fourth-story rooftop lounge and sports bar
Song Bird, an international wine and charcuterie bar and al fresco dining concept, with a goods market and live music space
Nightlight Donuts and Coffee, a ground-floor craft coffee and doughnut bar with indoor and outdoor seating

Hotel Herringbone, Waco hotel The Red Herring spans 6,000-square feet.Rendering courtesy of Federica Cortabarria at CoveArch

There are several more projects in the works to transform the hotel and existing development into spaces for gatherings, events, and experiences.

Event spaces inside and outside the Herringbone Hotel include:

A second-floor hotel ballroom that can fit 150 people
A 500-square-foot boardroom and bridal suite adjacent to the hotel ballroom, overlooking the plaza
A 1,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor vinyl record listening studio and lounge
30,000 square feet of space for restaurants, music and event venues
A 15,000-square-foot public plaza that displays 12 retail spaces
A shaded outdoor play space for children
A large stage for live music performances

The hotel is near popular touristy shops and stops, such as the Dr Pepper Museum, Fabled Bookshop and Cafe, the Waco Downtown Farmers Market, and (of course) the Silos at Magnolia.

"When we began spending significant time in the market, our team quickly fell in love with the community, the people, and the blossoming food, music and art scenes," says Lucky Find Hospitality CEO Rigel Bitterman in the release.

Hotel Herringbone reservations are now open for stays beginning March 15, 2024, with room rates beginning at $233 per night. More information about the hotel can be found at hotelherringbone.com.

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News for campers

New 650-acre state park coming to Lake Palestine in East Texas

Photo courtesy of TexasLand

Lake Palestine

East Texas is gaining a new state park at Lake Palestine that will include amenities like hike-and-bike trails, campsites, and lakefront access.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation has paid more than $10 million for a 650-acre ranch at Lake Palestine that will be converted into a state park, the agency says. If the park opened today, it would be the 90th state park in Texas.

The ranch, roughly 100 miles southeast of Dallas, had been on the market for a little less than $10 million. Roughly 60 percent of the ranch is wooded, and about 40 percent is pastureland.

The foundation will make improvements to the site, about 18 miles west of Tyler, before handing it over to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in late 2027. That’s when funding from the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund will become available for the department to acquire the property.

The deal preserves one of the last large habitat sites in that part of East Texas and will ultimately expand public access to Lake Palestine. The lake encompasses more than 25,500 acres and touches four counties. White-tailed deer, bobcats, and waterfowl are among the creatures that populate the habitat.

“Opportunities to protect a property like this don’t come along very often, and when they do, timing is critical,” Anne Brown, the foundation’s executive director, said in a release. She said the land will “ultimately become a place where generations of Texans can enjoy the outdoors.”

The Pollard family had owned the ranch, which housed their pecan farm, since 1940. Aside from the pecan orchard, the property includes pine forests, ponds, a seven-acre lake, and Lake Palestine frontage.

Sam Pollard, president of Texas Pecan Nursery, said the property “is part of my soul. It means a lot to me that we can leave a legacy for people to enjoy.”

The foundation says visitors to the future park will be able to enjoy blufftop views of the lake, watch wildlife and birds, and walk around the pecan orchard. They’ll also be able to take advantage of boating, paddling, swimming, and fishing at Lake Palestine.

Rodney Franklin, director of the state park system, called the site an “East Texas gem” and thanked the Pollards for enabling “this special slice of the Pineywoods to be accessible for generations of Texans.”

The parks and wildlife agency plans to create the park in phases, starting with guided access, followed by daytime access and then full-day and overnight access. The agency will invite public input about the park’s development.

Planned amenities include hike-and-bike trails, traditional and primitive campsites, day-use areas and lakefront access.

The NextEra Energy Foundation, a philanthropic arm of NextEra Energy and NextEra Energy Resources, chipped in $100,000 to support the future park. NextEra supplies electricity to about one million customers in Texas, mostly through its Gexa Energy subsidiary.

In addition, the wildlife foundation tapped into the state’s Land Conservation Loan Fund for the ranch purchase. The voter-approved, donor-supported fund aids land conservation efforts. Dallas-based Lyda Hill Philanthropies was an inaugural backer of the loan fund.

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