Construction will begin in November for Texas Live!, the mixed-use development planned by the Texas Rangers and Cordish Companies.
Texas Live! has been in the works for some time, and construction on the project was set to begin this May. However, shortly before it was revealed that the Rangers were pursuing a new retractable-roof ballpark, it was announced that development on Texas Live! would be pushed back to this fall.
As the result of an expansion, Texas Live! will now come at a price tag of $250 million–$50 million over its original cost. Among its main amenities will include a 300-room hotel, three major sports viewing venues, and a 35,000 square foot conference center.
Furthermore, the project is being designed to be nestled between the current Globe Life Park location and the site of the new ballpark. (The preliminary rendering above shows portions of Texas Live! surrounding the proposed retractable-roof facility.) Every component of the development is expected to be in place by the fall of 2018, while the new ballpark–if approved by voters in November–will likely arrive in 2020 or 2021. For right now, developers say that Texas Live! will mostly go through as planned, even if the $1 billion ballpark does not pass via referendum. More from the Star-Telegram:
Although Blake Cordish, development vice president of Texas Live! developer The Cordish Cos., is confident with the Rangers that the city will win the support of voters for the financing of a new ballpark on Nov. 8, he said the construction of Texas Live! would proceed even if voters say no.
“We’d be incredibly disappointed,” Blake said after the press conference. “But the direction of the project and the vision that was laid out would remain the same.”
The outcome of the ballpark vote will also affect plans for Globe Life Park. If a new ballpark is constructed, the Rangers’ current facility will be repurposed rather than demolished. As is currently being discussed, the facade would be preserved while facility is reworked to possibly include office space and an amphitheater.
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