Development Opportunity: Estes Peninsula on Joe Pool Lake, Grand Prairie, Texas

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1 Request for Proposal Development Opportunity: Estes Peninsula on Joe Pool Lake, Grand Prairie, Texas The City of Grand Prairie is seeking a partner to develop a lakeside resort in the middle of Dallas-Fort Worth Estes Peninsula Resort

2 Resort Project The City of Grand Prairie offers a resort site for Estes Peninsula at Joe Pool Lake. The peninsula comprises close to 1,000 rural-like acres that extend between the two arms of the 7,740-acre Joe Pool Lake in southwest Dallas County, surrounded by Texas Parks and Wildlife property and City of Grand Prairie parkland. Views are uncluttered and panoramic. Seen from the Peninsula, the White Rock Escarpment ascends from the lake s eastern bank to the highest point in Dallas- Fort Worth. Given the subject property s proximity to the most passengertrafficked airport in Texas, it is projected that it will be able to penetrate the market at a higher rate than other resorts in the competitive set. Furthermore, the subject property will be the only resort in the primary competitive set to offer a waterfront location on a lake, which will provide an unparalleled competitive advantage. The proposed subject will also offer more meeting space than any other resort within its primary competitive set, thus allowing it to capture larger groups that the other regional resorts may not be able to accommodate. - HVS International, independent Resort Market Study Among development possibilities are a luxury hotel, a conference center, two golf courses, a village-styled entertainment center and a spa. Resort visitors may arrive by way of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and a 20-minute drive. Convention planners will find this niche option close to professional sports, museums and the nightlife of downtowns Dallas and Fort Worth, which are minutes away. The Peninsula development would be accomplished in conjunction with city, school and county taxing jurisdictions. Tax Increment Financing and a 2 percent hotel tax are in place to contribute to the project development. Resort master plan 1 2

3 Features The rural setting of the Lake Peninsula and White Rock Escarpment hillside vista is the setting for a quality resort, conference and entertainment development. Features passing feasibility tests include: 500-room luxury hotel 350,000-square-foot retail/restaurant entertainment center 75,000-square-foot conference center 25,000-square-foot spa and fitness facility Two championship golf courses and a 35,000-square-foot clubhouse Marina Business Center Outdoor pool area with adult pool, kids pool and lazy river Outdoor whirlpool Private beach Resort hotel and conference center, private beach, golf (concept) 3 4

4 Access and Neighborhood The Estes Peninsula resort site benefits from an existing local, regional and international transportation infrastructure. Located about 20 minutes from downtowns Dallas and Fort Worth and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Regional access via Interstates 30, 45 and 20 and Texas Highways 360, 67 and 161 (under construction). Centrally located in the DFW Metro area. The peninsula development will benefit greatly from an outstanding location just 22 miles south of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one of the nation s most trafficked airports, providing exceptional convenience for regional and national meetings and group business. Overall the site enjoys excellent accessibility and the proposed hotel will have high visibility within the local neighborhood. The neighborhood is characterized by upscale residential housing communities, state and locally managed parks, boating retail stores, marina facilities and recreational camp grounds. The neighborhood surrounding the Estes Peninsula could be classified as one of the proposed resort s most advantageous amenities. Joe Pool Lake, which surrounds the site on three sides, is a fresh water preserve of 7,740 acres and reaches depths of 80 feet. The lake is now used for recreation by surrounding residents and regional visitors for boating, fishing and water sports. 5 6

5 Demand The resort area shows relatively high local wealth indexes and positive growth in service sector industry employment. Service sector employment grew from 724,800 to 1,194,700 people from 1990 to 2005 in the lake area and is expected to grow annually through 2010 at a rate of 2 percent. Major Employers: Providing additional context for understanding the nature of the regional economy are the major employers in the resort property s market. These major resort demand generators include Texas Instruments, Parkland Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Baylor Medical Center, United Parcel Service, Vought Aircraft, Bell Helicopter, AT&T, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. The wholesale merchandise industry is also important in the region. The Dallas Market Center is one of the largest hospitality demand generators in the area. The complex of specialized wholesale and display facilities is one of the world s largest merchandise marts. The Dallas Market Center conducts some 50 markets annually, attracting more than 400,000 retail buyers from 50 states and 84 countries. The Center attracts buyers and vendors who require more than 750,000 hotel room nights a year. The medical sector is prominent in the Dallas-area economy. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center ranks among the top academic medical centers in the world. It includes three degree-granting institutions: Southwestern Medical School, Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedi- 7 8 Entertainment/Retail Village cal Sciences and Southwestern Allied Health Sciences School. The faculty members and residents provide medical care to nearly 75,000 hospitalized patients and oversee more than 1.7 million outpatients annually. Office Space: Trends in occupied office space are typically among the most reliable indicators of lodging demand, because firms that occupy office space often exhibit a strong propensity to attract commercial visitors. Thus, trends that cause changes in vacancy rates or the amount of occupied space may have a proportional impact on commercial lodging demand, and a less CONTINUED

6 DEMAND (continued) direct effect on meeting demand. Net rentable square feet is about million in Dallas-Fort Worth. Convention Center Activity: A convention center serves as a gauge of visitation trends to a particular market. Convention centers also generate significant levels of demand for area hotels and serve as a focal point for community activity. During the largest conventions, peripheral hotels may benefit. The Dallas Convention Center contains 1.15 million square feet of net rentable space. From 2001 to 2006, the Dallas Convention Center held 211 conventions that brought 4,265,014 delegates. Commercial Airline Traffic: Airport passenger counts are important indicators of lodging demand. Depending on the type of service provided by a particular airfield, a sizable percentage of arriving passengers may require hotel accommodations. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is one of the nation s largest airports, offering more than 125 non-stop domestic routes and 36 international routes, including 16 to Mexico. The facility serves as headquarters for American Airlines. In 2006, DFW International had 60.3 million in passenger traffic. The change in passenger traffic between 2005 and 2006 was up 1.8 percent. Tourist Attractions: The market benefits from a variety of tourist and leisure attractions in the area. The peak season for tourism in the area is May to September. During other times of the year, weekend demand comprises travelers passing through to other destinations, Photo: dallascowboys.com people visiting friends or relatives, and other similar weekend demand generators. Primary attractions in the area include: The Dallas Museum of Art, established in 1903, features more than 23,000 works of art. The Nasher Sculpture Center in downtown Dallas opened in 2003 at a cost of $70 million and features an extraordinary collection of sculpture and art. 9 The American Airlines Arena hosts NBA Dallas Mavericks basketball and NHL Dallas Stars hockey, as well as many high profile concerts, special events and shows, attracting about 3 million people a year. The Dallas Cowboys NFL football team will open its 2009 season at a new 100,000-seat stadium in Arlington. The stadium will host the 2011 NFL Super Bowl. The Cowboys now attract more than 1.4 million visitors a year. City Financial Participation In addition to this ideal location for resort development, the City of Grand Prairie and area taxing jurisdictions have project financing mechanisms in place: A 2% increase in the city hotel/motel tax is dedicated to the project. A Tax Increment Financing District provides developer revenues for project development as property taxes generated by new project development are returned to the developer. Public cash contributions going back to the resort project are estimated at close to $80 million over the first 12 years of the project (hotel infrastructure and 75,000-square-foot conference center). Conference center owned by the city and leased back to the resort developer at $1 per year. 10 Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie features Class 1 thoroughbred and quarter horse racing and attracts 1 million visitors a year. Texas Rangers baseball in Arlington attracts 2.4 million people a year. Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington attracts 2.5 million visitors a year. Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie attracts 400,000 people annually.

7 Invitation to Resort Developers The City of Grand Prairie invites an expression of interest in development of the Estes Peninsula Resort on Joe Pool Lake. Interested parties, please respond in writing to: Bob O Neal, Economic Dev. Director Estes Peninsula Resort City of Grand Prairie P.O. Box Grand Prairie, TX Resort Entertainment Village (concept) Respondents should enclose: Cover letter Financial information showing capacity to complete a project on this scale Resumé which includes past successes on similar projects The City of Grand Prairie will respond to qualified expressions of interest. w w w. g p t x. o r g