Ask the Experts: David Cordish Talks Texas Live!
The City of Arlington’s Office of Communication recently talked to The Cordish Companies Chairman David Cordish about the $250 million Texas Live! entertainment complex under construction in The American Dream City.
Texas Live!, anchored by the Live! by Loews hotel, is part of a $4 billion vision for the Arlington Entertainment District that includes the Rangers new $1.1 billion ballpark.
The dining and entertainment space in the district will open in 2018, with Live! by Loews scheduled to open in 2019. For more information, please visit www.texas-live.com.
Here’s some more highlights from our interview with David Cordish:
How did you develop the Live! concept?
We started thinking about being our own tenant and operating these projects. So we would build them, we would design them, but we would also be a good part of the actual tenancy. So that was the origination of the idea. We didn’t see anywhere, and it doesn’t exist anywhere in the United States except for us, a place where the whole community can gather, where we become the living room for the community.
Describe the impact a Live! entertainment destination can have on a community?
When we’re finished here, when Texas Live! is done, this will be a convention central. It will become an entertainment central and you will spin off into Arlington. All kinds of things will happen in Arlington and there will be a lot of things done by other developers because we’re here. Arlington is a good place now, but it’s going to make it bigger and better.
How do you integrate/coordinate programming with neighboring venues?
We complement them and they complement us. If you think about it, when the Rangers have 30 some thousand people in the stands that day, we’re right next door with Texas Live!. It’s pretty hard not to be successful. When they have a big game, we have to be respectful of that in our programming, etc. But it’s not a heavy lift.
What’s the importance of incorporating a hotel into the venue?
It’s very important. The idea is to make this convention central and there’s no reason we can’t be successful. We’re equal distance between Fort Worth and Dallas, we’re a few minutes from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and we have the Cowboys and the Rangers. We’re going to make it convention central and you can’t have convention central unless you have hotels. It’s that simple. We’re already under construction and we hope to have more.
What are your expectations for Texas Live! or how will you define success?
We will spawn so much development in Arlington that we have nothing to do with, other than the fact that we created this anchor. When that happens, then I will feel terrific about Texas Live!.
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