Arlington Sheraton imploded Saturday to make way for a new hotel (original) (raw)

A 19-story hotel in Arlington's Entertainment District was imploded Saturday to make way for a new hotel, Americana by Loews.

The 311-room hotel was brought down by a controlled implosion at 8:15 a.m. Saturday, June 6. Several roads are expected to be closed in the area, including East Copeland Road, AT&T Way, and Convention Center Drive from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and a rolling stop will be in place along Ballpark Way from 8:20 to 8:40 a.m.

Texas Sky Ranger was overhead when the implosion occurred.

A 19-story hotel in Arlington's Entertainment District was imploded Saturday to make way for a new hotel.

The Sheraton Arlington, the white tower currently visible north of the stadiums along Interstate 30, was built in 1984 as the Sheraton Centre Park Hotel on the site of the former Seven Seas Marine Park. The hotel was an anchor for the 1980s Centre Park development that included the construction of the city's convention center, now known as the Esports Stadium and offered hundreds of rooms to support the Texas Rangers and tourists visiting Six Flags Over Texas and Wet 'n Wild.

The Arlington City Council approved a plan in 2023 to build a new 507-room hotel on the site in partnership with Loews Hotels that will include 83,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space. That'll include a 10,000-square-foot "Event Barn" for large-scale gatherings.

The Sheraton Arlington permanently closed in February to begin demolition preparations.

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Construction on the new hotel will begin this summer. Americana by Loews is expected to open in either late 2028 or early 2029.

"We're really excited for two years from now when this place opens," said Alex Tisch, Leows Hotels CEO.

Tisch said they planned for the demolition for two years. He said the company's investment in the city points to their belief in its hub as an entertainment district.

“Our vision here is that you've got two of the best stadiums in America with AT&T and Globe Life, and when they're full our hotels are filled," Tisch told NBC 5 ahead of the implosion.

In a brief press conference ahead of the even, Trey Yelverton, Arlington City Manager, said the move signifies the next chapter for the area.

"Making the old new again in different ways is always going to be part of what we have to do to build the property tax and the sales tax and hotel tax, to invest in the arts, to fix potholes, to answer 911 calls, the things that we need to do to provide the services that our residents expect," he said.

Yelverton said meeting the moment brought back his own memories of visiting the site as a kid, himself, when it was a Marine Park, and then when it became a hotel.

"You would see kids out in the lobby waiting to get autographs from ball players as they kind of went over to the field," he said. "There's lots of memories here from ball games to family experiences to weddings to you name it, lots of history at this site."

"It's, in a way, a sad day because some things are changing, but the future is so bright for this community and for this location in Arlington," Yelverton added.

Lisa Dornbusch and her family were there to see the moment.

“We stayed there when our son and daughter in law got married," she said. "It was a beautiful hotel! So yeah, that’s kind of bittersweet, watching it come down.”

As the dust settles on the fixture of the past, it gives way to the district's next chapter, for it's next generations-- some of them also witnessing the moment on Saturday.

“So cool. I would want to do it again," said sisters Whitley and Brinley Robben, ages nine and 11.

“I got it all on video so I can like rewatch it and stuff," Brinley said.