Local officials and developers gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the opening of a new hotel in Cowtown, Le Méridien Fort Worth Downtown.
“Situated in the heart of downtown Fort Worth and occupying the former Hotel Texas annex building, Le Méridien Fort Worth Downtown marries modern aesthetics with local charm,” the press release for the ceremony reads. “Located at 811 Commerce Street, Le Méridien Fort Worth Downtown is within easy walking distance of the Fort Worth Convention Center and close to local landmarks such as Trinity Park and Sundance Square.”
Premier Development has been working on the hotel since 2022, and Remington Hospitality has a contract to manage it.
Several business leaders thanked Ashford Hospitality CEO and Remington Hospitality founder Monty Bennett for how the project turned out.
“Without his support and his guidance throughout this entire development project, there is absolutely no way we would be here basically; thank you very much, Monty,” said Premier CEO Hector Sanchez.
Andy Taft, the president of the non-profit booster organization Downtown Fort Worth Inc., also heaped thanks on Bennett.
“Thank you Monty. Thank you for what you do in Fort Worth, not only how we appear and how we feel and what you do on the street but for the investment and the faith [in the city],” Taft said.
He went on to compliment the vision and commitment shown by stakeholders who worked to revitalize the building and further bolster the heart of Fort Worth’s city center.
“This sat as a hole in the heart of downtown next to an empty parking lot, next to an arena that hadn’t been used in years, and just a couple of blocks away three city parking lots that are about to become what will be a tier-one research university, Texas A&M in the heart of downtown,” Taft said.
Kunal Mody, CEO of Blueprint Hospitality, another partner involved in the project, expressed similar sentiments.
“When I walked this building in 2019, 2020, I think almost everyone thought I was a little crazy. … This [was] an abandoned building. This is a project that my company Blueprint [targets]. We love going to the cities and finding adaptive reuse. We think that there’s a big beneficial factor to that, not just as a project, not as just a hotel or development, but what we contribute back to the city,” Mody said.
“We take a building that’s abandoned. We prevent crime, you know, property taxes that we pay, tax that we pay, jobs that we create. These are all things that we give back to the community, not just a beautiful hotel,” he added.
Downtown Fort Worth, for its part, does not have too much of a crime problem as far as downtown areas go. Downtown Dallas regularly logs way more criminal offenses than Fort Worth’s city center. Fort Worth’s downtown area is patrolled by a special police unit and private security guards.
Disclaimer: Monty Bennett is the publisher of The Dallas Express.