Dallas hits the top note with new leisure venue

Texas byAlan Moore

Dallas hits the top note with new leisure venue

City’s entertainment builds on musical links

DALLAS will be able to rival neighbouring Fort Worth for big-time western entertainment next year – and visitors to the Texas stand at World Travel Market will get a glimpse of what’s in store.

US country and western star Mickey Gilley, whose music venue in Pasadena, Texas, was the backdrop for the 1981 movie Urban Cowboy, has given his name to a more ambitious entertainment complex opening in Dallas next August. Located in the heart of the redeveloped southern part of the city, it is celebrates the western style of music that popularised the term ‘Texas Honky Tonk’.

Entertainment

The $18 million, 200,000sq ft complex, to be called Gilley’s Dallas, will include themed bars and restaurants, a retail alley, amusement arcade, nightclubs, shows, a Wild West arena for live rodeos and a convention facility. There will also be private clubs for corporate entertaining.

The project is part of the last section of downtown Dallas to be redeveloped, to be called South Side on Lamar, which has fine views of the city’s skyline.

Nearby, the former Sears Catalogue Merchandise Building is being converted into 455 luxury loft apartments, while a boutique-style hotel and other restaurants are planned.

The area is just half a mile from downtown, and a rapid transit/light rail system is being extended along Lamar Street to connect the nearby rapidly expanding Dallas Convention Centre, the new $500 million American Airlines Sports Centre and the city’s historic West End.

Spencer Taylor, president of Gilley’s Dallas, said: “We are trying to create a Texas entertainment identity for the city that it has not had before. More than 70% of all visitors to Dallas request a Texas experience and usually visit places like Fort Worth or South Fork Ranch.

“Gilley’s is now something that can be sold to the tourist or convention delegate that is within easy reach of other entertainment venues.”

He added: “It is the first privately owned facility of its kind and we will have a lot of corporate sponsors of events, the main one being Coors.

“The names of all the bars and restaurants will also be derived from some of Mickey Gilley’s biggest hits in the ’70s and ’80s when he had over 18 number one songs.”

Examples include Lawdy Miss Clawdy, a Louisiana-style restaurant that doubles as a karaoke bar from midnight, and My Old Flame, a rhythm and blues venue that also serves classic Texas barbecue dishes.

Nightlife

Other venues will include a City Lights rooftop bar with views over Dallas, a Windows Up Above dance club with Martini and cigar bars for VIP corporate hospitality, and two country saloons called Headache Tomorrow and Heartache Tonight.

Taylor said admission to the complex is expected to be $10, with tickets to shows costing between $25-$35.

Private boxes in the Coors showroom will cost between $2,500-$5,000 a year, while some VIP suites will be in the $1 million bracket.

Gilley’s Dallas: the $18 million complex will include an arena for live rodeo shows

Ride ’em cowboy: the retail alley will be a shoppers’ paradise for those after western gear

Shoppers’ paradise

Adjacent to the 3,000-delegate Texas Star Convention Centre will be a Wild west show and rodeo arena, while the retail alley in the main entertainment complex will be a shoppers’ paradise for western gear and the centre for Gilley’s.com – a worldwide e-commerce mall based on a Web café facility.

Taylor said: “Just about anything the tourist or convention delegate might want to experience in Texas-style entertainment will be at Gilley’s Dallas.

“With many exciting sights and sounds, it will be hard to absorb it all in just one visit. The Coors Light Showroom will be another new facility with national acts four nights a week. It is designed to house live broadcast events.”

He added that it will accommodate 4,000 people and feature traditional and progressive country music, rock and roll, rhythm and blues and Latin pop.