Incentives approved for Stars owner's downtown Fort Worth hotel project
October 15,2019
See full Dallas Business Journal article by Ryan Salchert here.
Eight million dollars in incentives have been approved for Dallas Stars' owner Tom Gaglardi, who is looking to bring Dallas-Fort Worth's second Sandman Signature Hotel to the historic W.T. Waggoner Building in downtown Fort Worth, the city's Director of Economic Development Robert Sturns confirmed Tuesday.
The property, built in 1920 and standing 20 stories, was purchased by Gaglardi's Vancouver, British Colombia-based Northland Properties last summer for an undisclosed price.
Located at 810 Houston St., the building was last assessed for $17.5 million by the Tarrant Appraisal District. Northland Properties owns the Sandman Signature brand. The hotel will be not only the second in DFW after Plano, but also the second in the United States. There are 12 other Sandman Signature hotels across Canada, two in England and one in Scotland.
The city says the hotel is set to have a minimum of 240 rooms and 1,500 square feet of meeting space.
Launched in 2007, the Sandman Signature brand is known for luxury and high-end amenities like spas, restaurants, business centers, concierge, and valet service. The $8 million will be reimbursed by the city’s Lancaster Tax Incremental Financing District (TIF), contingent upon certain performance requirements that must be met by the hotel. The TIF reimbursement will not kick in until the hotel has been fully operational for two years, and it outperforms its financial projections, the amount reimbursed from the TIF will be reduced.
Though it is not clear when the project will kick off, Sturns said in an email Tuesday that the project's completion deadline is Dec. 31, 2021.
“We’re thrilled that Northland Properties is committed to preserving such an iconic Fort Worth building,” said Robert Sturns, director of Economic Development for the city of Fort Worth in a statement. “This project celebrates Fort Worth’s past while still supporting the current and future growth of downtown, and we look forward to the Sandman Signature Hotel being part of our growing community.”
The nearly 120,000-square-foot Waggoner Building was most recently used as an office building for Fort Worth-based XTO Energy Inc. At the time of the sale, Gaglardi said, "the historical relevance of the W.T. Waggoner Building makes this the perfect hotel asset for us [...]. We are excited to continue to expand throughout Texas, and we think Fort Worth is a fantastic market for us to grow into.”
JLL's Ryan Matthews represented XTO during the August 2018 sale while CBRE’s David Walters and Marty Neilon represented Northland.