Texas Live! Announced as name for Ranger-Arlington development
Following approval by the Arlington City Council on a set of incentives for development around Globe Life Park, the Texas Rangers quickly rounded the bases to fill in other aspects of the project.
The name chosen for the project is Texas Live! And the Rangers have brought The Cordish Companies, experienced in entertainment and sports-themed projects, as development partners.
The Arlington City Council voted Dec. 15 to provide up to $50 million in incentives for the $200 million project that includes 100,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and entertainment venues and a convention hotel at the corner of Randol Mill Road and Nolan Ryan Expressway.
“This project is another significant investment in an Arlington economy that already has tremendous momentum,” said Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams. “This state-of-the-art development will expand the city’s ability to host even more major events and conventions. We greatly appreciate the Texas Rangers’ continued investment in our community and we applaud their selection of The Cordish Companies, the premiere mixed-use developer in the country, as their development partner.
The Texas Live! entertainment district will create approximately 1,800 total jobs including 1,000 construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs. Texas Live! will generate approximately $100 million per year of economic output to the city of Arlington and Tarrant County and will generate approximately $2 billion in direct and indirect salaries during its first forty years, according to a Rangers news release.
The agreement also includes plans to develop an upscale, full-service convention hotel with a minimum of 300 rooms and 35,000 square feet of meeting and convention facility. The development team intends to bring in a leading hotel operator and brand for the convention hotel. Should the hotel/convention facility proceed by the end of 2016, the city would provide the Rangers performance based incentives that include retaining income from the following sources: hotel occupancy tax, property tax, sales tax and mixed beverage tax for 30 years from the City and hotel occupancy tax and sales tax from the state for 10 years. The hotel and convention facility will generate approximately an additional 1,225 jobs including 1,000 construction and 225 permanent jobs.
The Cordish Companies, based in Baltimore, has been involved in several mixed-use/entertainment developments around the country, many sports-themed. The family-owned company has partnered with brands such as NBC Sports, Fox Sports Midwest, St. Louis Cardinals, AEG, PBR (Professional Bull Riders), Philadelphia Flyers and Comcast Spectacor.
According to a news release from the Rangers, Texas Live! will be inspired by sports entertainment districts such as The Cordish Companies’ and St. Louis Cardinals’ Ballpark Village in St Louis, but “will be uniquely authentic to Arlington and will set a new national standard for sports anchored districts.”
“Commercial development around Globe Life Park in Arlington has been a vision of the Rangers for a number of years,” Rangers co-chairman Ray Davis said in a statement. “This first-class entertainment complex will be a tremendous addition to the area.”