AT&T Discovery District
The more than $100 million campus makeover of AT&T's headquarters in downtown Dallas is about half way completed.
When the AT&T Discovery District was first announced in May of 2018, only one of the food and beverage components had been decided upon. Now, the more than $100 million campus makeover of AT&T's headquarters in downtown Dallas is about half way completed, and some openings are expected by year end.
The Discovery District will have all the bells and whistles. That includes high-tech audio visual capabilities with a new seven-story-tall, 6K media wall; public art installations, including a 30-foot sphere-shaped sculpture called “The Globe;” and expansive green spaces to attract residents back to downtown Dallas. An additional 65,000 square feet of retail space will also bring new food and beverage offerings to the five-block campus.
The same firm that opened Fort Worth's first "true" food hall in Crockett Row in late 2018 is now gathering a stellar lineup of both local and national names to be part of the food hall coming to AT&T Discovery District.
Kevin Lillis, with Hospitality Alliance, says he will be announcing the 17 chefs and their concepts in stages and in conjunction with the District. His varied stable of restaurateurs is nearly complete.
There will also be a barbecue and beer garden component under Hospitality Alliance's umbrella. It will be located in building four across Jackson Street and should open first. "That site didn't require as much work, so I expect it will open in November or December of this year," Lillis says.
He says the food hall itself should be opening in February or March of 2020 in building two across Commerce Street from the historic Adolphus Hotel.
The fine dining restaurant, Hawthorn, will be an upscale steakhouse by Dallas restaurateur Richard Ellman. The restaurant will be located in the lobby of the AT&T Whitacre Tower. In an update late last week, the District confirmed that Hawthorn is on pace to open by year end.
Ellman's ARG Concepts also owns Merchant House on Maple Avenue in Dallas and El Bolero Cocina Mexicana, which has three locations in Dallas and Fort Worth − one of which opened last year in Crockett Row. Pakpao Thai will soon have three locations too: in the Dallas Design District, Preston Hollow Village, and another in Crockett Row, which is currently still under construction.
