Work has started on Hotel Vin Reserve, the new 120-room hotel next to Hotel Vin in Grapevine.

What’s happening? Tom Santora, Coury Hospitality's chief growth and strategy officer, said the timetable for completion after dirt is moved is about 18 months. That would put the timetable from opening in the late summer or early fall of 2027, slightly later than the spring/summer of 2027 forecast presented to council, according to previous reporting. 

According to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the work has an estimated cost of $58.9 million.

Zooming in: The Grapevine City Council approved several conditional use permits for Hotel Vin Reserve during an Aug. 19 meeting, according to previous reporting.

The six-story, 76-foot-tall boutique hotel will feature 120 rooms, rising from the location that formerly housed Sunbelt Rental. The addition will feature a 1,470-square-foot prefunction space and a 4,700-square-foot event hall. The courtyard between the two hotels will feature a pool, event lawn, cabanas and outdoor bar.

• 321 E. Dallas Road, Grapevine

A historic vehicle and agriculture machinery museum will be coming to Main Street in Grapevine.

During the Feb. 17 City Council meeting, Paul W. McCallum, executive director for the Grapevine Convention & Visitor Bureau, said the building is being funded through an anonymous donation.

Grapevine-based Ware Brothers Construction was awarded the bid of $296,355, the lowest of the two submitted bids. Lawn Escapades and Custom Patio Covers submitted a bid of $419,607, while Lasso Work Cedar did not provide a bid amount.

Zooming in: The project will be 1,3000 square feet of enclosed space to house historic vehicles. McCallum said the display museum will help keep the community’s history and heritage alive. He proposed a historic equipment museum at the Cotton Belt Railroad District in November 2022.

The context: The viewing museum will be similar to the display at J.E. Foust & Son Funeral Directors and its historic horse-drawn hearse. McCallum said the ledge of the viewing space will be low enough that a four-year-old can stand flat-footed and see all the vehicles

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s Founders’ Plaza has reopened after being closed for more than three months.

According to previous reporting, the area was closed for soil remediation around the observation area in Grapevine.

Zooming in: The area at the intersection of Texan Trail and North Airfield Drive is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is used by photographers and visitors to the airport to take photos or videos of planes, according to the airport website.

Visitors can watch planes take off and land and listen to air traffic control communications from the Federal Aviation Administration tower.

The background: DFW’s Founders’ Plaza was dedicated in 1995 as a tribute to the founders of DFW Airport, which opened in 1974, according to the airport website.

• 1700 N. Airfield Drive, Grapevine

Taylor Rehmet was sworn in Feb. 19 as Texas’ newest state senator, becoming the first Democrat to represent State Senate District 9 in decades.

The details: Rehmet, an Air Force veteran and union leader, will serve an 11-month term in the state Senate. He fills a seat vacated by former Republican Sen. Kelly Hancock, who resigned from the Legislature last summer to lead the state comptroller’s office.

Rehmet won the north Tarrant County seat by 14 percentage points during a Jan. 31 special runoff election, flipping a district that he said had been held by Republicans since 1983.

The Legislature is not currently in session, meaning Rehmet is unlikely to cast a vote on legislation over the next 11 months.

Quote of note: “My role as senator is the same as when I was campaigning,” Rehmet told Community Impact after he was sworn in. “I have to go and talk to the voters—now constituents—and help them with their issues, listen and build a plan and agenda for whenever I win in November.”

Check out the top trending Community Impact stories in the Dallas-Fort Worth area last week.

New drive-thru restaurant proposed along US 380 in McKinney

Opening date set for $1M Starbucks store in McKinney’s Hub 121

Frisco City Council considers new rules for public input

Q&A: Meet the Democratic primary candidates for US House District 24

See 5 road project updates around Dallas-Fort Worth

Prosper park plan rejected, $2M Denton County roadwork moves forward: 6 Dallas-Fort Worth update  

The overview: Dallas-Fort Worth residents can expect to see mixed-use developments continue to drive residential and commercial growth across the region, local real estate leaders say.

Community Impact Founder and CEO John Garrett sat down with local real estate experts for a panel discussion Feb. 17 for the company’s first InCIder Hour event in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The panel included Michael Ortiz from Pogue Construction, Laura Blackstock from The Cheney Group and Jay Nelson from Rimosa Real Estate Services.

More details: To learn more about The InCIder reader membership program and support Community Impact’s mission, click here.