ALLAS IS BIG ON DEVELOP- ment and big on meetings, and it just keeps getting bigger. Indeed,
there is always something new in the “Big D,” where more than $15 billion in new and ongoing development has created a diverse city with countless accommoda- tions, the largest urban arts district in the nation, the Southwest’s best shopping, a thriving culinary scene, 13 entertainment districts, five professional sports teams, and 200 golf courses. Anticipation is growing in Dallas as
construction of the Omni Dallas Hotel proceeds in preparation for an early-2012 opening. Featuring a direct link to the Dallas Convention Center and serving as the city’s convention-center headquarters property, the 1,000-room hotel will offer 110,000 square feet of meeting space. More important, it will allow Dallas to accommo- date larger meetings and conventions than it has been able to in the past. Other recent additions to the city’s hotel roster include The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas; W Dallas–Victory; The Joule, Dallas; Kimpton’s Palomar Dal- las; and the Aloft Dallas Downtown. The Dallas Convention Center has
itself grown along with the city’s cadre of hotels. Following a recent expansion, it has more than one million square feet of space, including 724,526 square feet of prime exhibit space; a 203,000-square-foot, col- umn-free exhibit hall; a 9,816-seat arena; a 1,750-person-capacity theater; and 88 meet- ing rooms. A $60-million investment slated for January 2011 will bring more changes, including the addition of a 19,000-square- foot multipurpose room, as well as refur- bished ballrooms and bathrooms. In the heart of downtown, Dallas’
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big DoingS in the big D: New development is always the watchword in Dallas. One great space is Winspear Opera House, part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center, which houses the newest venues in the Arts District and plenty of available meeting space.
at a glance
Hotel rooms: More than 30,000 citywide Convention facilities: The Dallas Convention Center has more than one million square feet of space, including 724,526 square feet of exhibit space; a 203,000-square-foot, column-free exhibit hall; a 9,816-seat arena; a 1,750-person- capacity theater; and 88 meeting rooms.
Attractions: Main Street DiStrict — Pegasus Plaza; Main Street Stone Street Garden; flagship Neiman Marcus; Joule, Adolphus, and Magnolia hotels; Fair Park — historic Art Deco, seven museums, Vic- tory Park, AT&T Plaza, American Airlines Center, House of Blues, Hard Rock Cafe; artS DiStrict — multi-block central boule- vard, outdoor plaza, three museums, three additional facilities; SouthSiDe DiStrict — Gilley’s, Eddie Deen’s Ranch, 66-acre Dallas Arboretum, White Rock Lake; WeSt enD — Dallas World Aquarium
19-block, 68-acre Arts District is now home to the new $354-million, multi-ven- ue AT&T Performing Arts Center. Known as the most significant cultural construc- tion project in the United States since New York City’s Lincoln Center, the AT&T Performing Arts Center is home to several performing-arts companies and offers a wealth of options for meetings and special events. Several other venues populate the Arts District, among them the Dallas Mu- seum of Art, the Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, and Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, to name just a few. These venues provide groups with unique alternatives to traditional hotel and convention-center meeting space. The Park, slated to open in 2012, will
take great outdoor meetings in Dallas to new heights. Serving as a “front lawn” for the AT&T Performing Arts Center, The Park will span 5.2 acres with a perfor- mance pavilion, shaded walking paths, a dog park, a children’s discovery garden, a great lawn, water features, an area for games, and more.