Plans for a 19-room boutique hotel near the soon-to-open Dickies Arena moved forward Tuesday when the Fort Worth Zoning Commission approved a plan to redevelop a former warehouse.
The zoning case was approved unanimously by the board, but the motion allowed the group to continue working with the neighborhood group in the area prior to the case being voted on by the Fort Worth City Council.
The project is being developed by Memo Hospitality Group, headed by Jonathan Morris, an entrepreneur who currently runs the Fort Worth Barber Shop and The Lathery. The warehouse was originally used to manufacture dry ice.
Morris is working with Michael Bennett of Bennett Benner Partners on designing the hotel. Some in the neighborhood spoke against the project, concerned about noise and the bar included in the hotel. However, the developers and the neighbors have been discussing changes to the plan to satisfy neighborhood concerns.. “This is not some party palace, this is a place to sleep, not a place where people will be up all night,” Bennett said.
Morris, who spoke to the Zoning Commission, also lives in the neighborhood.