Grapevine carving its spot on the tourist map
Part of a massive targeted plan for the city, Grapevine Economic Development Manager Dan Truex said years of selling the North Texas town are paying off in a big way.
“We go to the trade shows; we generate leads wherever we can and whenever we get a lead, we do aggressively push if it’s the right thing for Grapevine,” Truex said. “There is a growing knowledge of who we are because of our festivals and our developments and other things that have been put in place over the years that generate leads.”
Currently, three massive developments are in various stages within Grapevine’s city limits including an indoor ski park, a land of Legos and a mixed-use project on the edge of a lake.
Truex said all of the large developments – two of which were announced in the past few months – were won in Grapevine thanks to the city’s location and a growing “snowball effect.”
“There is a definite momentum,” he said. “Location is a large part of it. We are in the vicinity or adjacent to six major highways. We have the third busiest airport at our doorstep, but probably 20 to 25 years of planning into what Grapevine was going to be was most important.“
Those deals, Truex said, are concentrated in the tourist industry: hospitality, retail, restaurants and entertainment
because “we’re creating a snowball effect for tourism – far
and near.”
The Big Three
There are three large developments currently in the works in Grapevine: the World Villages of Grapevine, Silver Lake Crossings and Legoland Discovery Centre.
Announced earlier this year, the World Villages of Grapevine is a planned $1.6 billion, 3-million-square-foot development including a one-of-a-kind indoor ski park and an Asian cultural center to be developed by The Gardens of Grapevine Development LP and set to break ground between state highways 121 and 2499, adjacent to the Grapevine Mills Mall.
Just down the road is the planned Silver Lake Crossings, a 52-acre master-planned, mixed-use development by Newcrest Development that will feature a 301-room Courtyard by Marriott as well as additional hotels and some multifamily.
The most recent entertainment project announced in Grapevine, however, has a younger target audience. Merlin Entertainments soon will build Legoland Discovery Centre, a $12 million project, within Grapevine Mills shopping mall.
“It’s very exciting for us,” Truex said of the three developments. “And then of course you have The Gaylord, which has plans for an expansion, and Great Wolf Lodge, which just wrapped up an expansion.”
Though the city itself has certainly been a selling point for developers, Truex said Grapevine also has remained competitive through incentive programs.
World Villages and Silver Lake have not received incentives to date, Truex said, although as the developments “secure and attract different types of entertainment venues, they may possibly come to the city and ask for one and we do entertain incentives.”
Legoland did receive an incentive of $500,000 for the planned center and, if project leaders develop a miniature golf facility adjacent to the mall as has been indicated, Truex said they will receive an additional $500,000 incentive.
“Most developments do expect it and we’re conservative,” Truex said. “We try to be very reasonable and make sure we’re not giving the farm away.”
The next step: connectivity
As developments come online, Truex said it will be imperative that the different areas of Grapevine – from the Gaylord and Great Wolf Lodge in north Grapevine to the city’s Main Street famous for its annual wine festival called GrapeFest – stay connected. And thanks to a convention and visitor’s bureau initiative, Truex said that will be possible.
The city hopes to soon introduce a new visitor’s shuttle comprised of four vans that will run on four separate routes between the city’s different areas, connecting each entertainment area.
George Kakos, assistant executive director for the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the 23-passenger vans will feature Grapevine attractions on their exteriors such as Delaney Vineyards and various hotels and will run from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The vans will cost $5 each and $10 for a day pass.
“Our whole thought is that we wanted to make it convenient for people staying in hotels to get where they want to go,” Kakos said. “Hotel shuttles, their No. 1 use of their shuttles is to get people to and from the airport. This takes some of the burden off of their plate. It benefits everyone and it connects people to our attractions, which, in the end, is the point. We have all these places for people to go – they have to have a way to get there.”
