Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc., a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") specializing in group-oriented, destination hotel assets in urban and resort markets, has announced today that it plans to invest $120 million for the expansion of the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.
"This investment at Gaylord Texan is also a continued investment in Grapevine and its citizens. We look forward to its completion and the additional visitors we will welcome to our great city as a result," said William D. Tate, Mayor of Grapevine.
According to the press release of Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. in Business Wire, the expansion plans for the Gaylord Texan Resort and Center includes the addition of 300 guest rooms to the resort's existing 1,511-room inventory, and the addition of 86,000 square feet of carpeted meeting space, which include a new 30,000-square-foot ballroom, 30,000 square feet of breakout space, and approximately 26,000 square feet of carpeted pre-function space. With the expansion, the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center will now have an estimated total of 490,000 square feet of meeting space, making it the second largest non-gaming convention center hotel in the United States, as measured by total self-contained exhibit and meeting space, behind Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, and ahead of Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.
"For the past 12 months, we have talked about the strength in our business and the large group segment as a whole, where we are seeing increased demand for rooms and meeting space across our portfolio. At the same time that we are seeing this increased demand, we are also seeing almost no new competitive supply of this scale under construction for the foreseeable future, outside of the Gaylord Hotels brand," said Colin Reed, chairman and chief executive officer of Ryman Hospitality Properties. "We view this expansion as a perfect opportunity to cement our unique position in the large group meetings market with a very efficient use of the company's capital."
