Council denies extended stay hotel at River Walk

The Flower Mound Town Council this week denied a request from the River Walk developers to allow a proposed extended stay hotel to be built.

The proposed hotel would be a TownePlace Suites by Marriott with 106 rooms, according to Michael Beaty, president of Mooreland Development, now the developer of the River Walk. The $25 million hotel would have provided the town with over $1 million annually in tax revenue, he said. It would be located on the south side of Central Park Avenue, next to Home2 Suites by Hilton, also an extended stay hotel.

Hotels are allowed by zoning in the River Walk — a Courtyard by Marriott and Home2 Suites are already there — but the request needed council approval because the proposed hotel would be four stories, which is higher than what is allowed.

Many nearby residents opposed the proposed hotel, largely because they want the developer to add more restaurants, shops and amenities before adding another hotel and asking for variances. The Flower Mound Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval of the request by a vote of 4-2 in a November meeting, but council members denied the request, saying more amenities need to be completed at the River Walk first.

The proposed hotel “looks like a really nice product … it would probably be successful,” Councilman Adam Schiestel said. “But there’s a vision for this whole area … and we’re drifting away from that vision. It’s hard to see where we’re going when we put in another extended stay with a big empty lot with another extended stay and a big dirt hill that’s supposed to be an amphitheater.”

Schiestel disagreed with the part of the presentation suggesting that more hotel guests will drive more foot traffic to nearby restaurants and other businesses.

“It’s backwards. We should have the public amenities driving traffic, and then those people should be demanding a place to stay because they’re all coming to visit the River Walk,” he said. “We’re just going the wrong direction, so, frankly, I’m just not interested in any more entitlements until we get some movement on the public amenities. That’s what needs to happen first, and then we’ll see what changes we have to make to support them, but doing it the other way around will just result in just these hotels and nothing else.”

Other council members agreed, but Jim Engel pushed back on the expectation of the River Walk becoming what it was originally planned to be. He said the proposed hotel may not be most people’s first choice for a new addition to the development, but it could help it progress toward completion.

“We haven’t gotten what was originally envisioned for the River Walk … 15-plus years ago. I would say that ship has sailed, I don’t think we’re ever going to get that,” Engel said. “I think it helps the restaurants and the general area, and would drive additional development to finish the River Walk, which I think we all want … I would say it’s a viable option.”

Engel was alone in his support of the proposal, as the four other council members voted to deny it.