Grand Prairie, Tx. – At 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, the city of Grand Prairie and its hotel, conference center and restaurant partners will break ground on EpicCentral, 2960 Epic Place, Grand Prairie. The 172-acre park site is located in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex off George W. Bush Tollway (Highway 161) and Arkansas Lane.
The city is building two connecting hotels with a shared conference center, six restaurant spaces, parking garage and creating a water/light show on the lakes as well as interactive technology experiences on the land. EpicCentral will emphasize Grand Prairie’s family, friendly, fun culture and offer exciting new dining and entertainment experiences.
Details about the projects:
Hotels, conference center. Grand Prairie will build two connecting hotels with a conference center in EpicCentral, with the two hotels being Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites to open in 2023. Concord Hospitality is providing construction development and procurement services. The Hilton Garden Inn will offer 129 luxury rooms, executive lounge, restaurant, pool, fitness room and business services. The Homewood Suites will offer 147 studio, one- and two-bedroom suites with full kitchens.
The conference center will offer a 10,000-square-foot ballroom with seating for up to 1,000. The ballrooms can be divided into five conference rooms in addition to an executive conference room with seating for 10 across the hall. The complex is designed by Merriman Anderson Architects, and built by Arch-Con Corporation. Interiors will reflect the flora and fauna of the north Texas prairie in tones of blue, green and whites, with accents of orange and red.
Restaurant Spaces. The city is building six restaurant spaces designed by Merriman Anderson Architects and built by Hill & Wilkinson Construction Management in EpicCentral to open late 2022 and has negotiated terms with Milkshake Concepts to bring Vidorra Cocina de Mexico; an American modern concept; Serious Pizza, Sliders and Shakes; and a new breakfast/brunch concept called Poach’d. Larry Lavine, the founder of Chili’s, will open Loop 9 BBQ in a fifth space. The city is entertaining options for the sixth restaurant space. This is all going just north of Chicken N Pickle, offering farm fresh foods and indoor/outdoor pickleball courts, and opening December 2021.
The American modern restaurant will be an approachable neighborhood restaurant and bar, suitable for all of life’s gatherings; a business lunch, a happy hour cocktail, an intimate meal or a relaxed place to eat and unwind with friends. Its artisanal menu offers a variety of unique delicacies for all palates.
Vidorra Cocina de Mexico celebrates Mexican food, drink and culture. The restaurant offers bold and exciting Mexican flavors, a unique cocktail program, lively social experience and rooftop patio.
Serious Eats will feature the infamous Serious Pizza and introduce Serious Sliders and Serious Shakes.
The restaurant space will feature expansive seating, a full bar, and a live music stage that faces both the interior and the lawn. Finally, Milkshake Concepts – one of Dallas’ most dynamic and fastest growing hospitality groups – will launch their new breakfast/brunch concept called Poach’d.
In a fifth restaurant site, Dallas entrepreneur Larry Lavine, who founded Chili’s in Dallas in 1975, and his partners, will open Loop 9 BBQ. Lavine helped launch Ten50 BBQ in Richardson in 2014. Loop 9 fare will tempt guests with great barbecue, melt-in-your-mouth brisket, burnt ends, pork ribs, beef ribs, sausage, pulled pork, and farm fresh poultry. From scratch sides include hand cut fries, mouth-watering mac n’ cheese, crisp coleslaw, hand battered onion rings and Grandma’s creamy potato salad. Hand crafted golden crust fresh fruit pies and cobblers provide a sweet ending to every barbecue celebration.
The city is entertaining options for the sixth restaurant space.
Open Space. Surrounding the hotels and restaurants is a large outdoor open space with covered stage for events, concerts and programs.
Water/Light Show and Land Experiences. The city of Grand Prairie is working with Outside the Lines (OTL), 900lbs of Creative and End Design to design and fabricate creative and innovative placemaking attractions at EpicCentral, with construction to start 2022, opening late 2022. OTL, a design-build specialty construction company, creates one-of-a-kind water features, rock work and themed environments. 900lbs is an interactive design agency that creates a diverse range of interactive initiatives and visual content to showcase the art of the possible using an arsenal of cutting-edge technologies. End Design is a leader in fabricating high quality custom goods and jaw dropping public art installations.. The experiences will repeat daily and be refreshed 3-4 times per year. Design concepts may integrate technology, water, lighting, image projection and other inventive ideas.
EpicCentral also home to. Reflecting innovation and community investment, EpicCentral is also home to Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark; The Summit recreation center for adults ages 50+; The Epic Arts, Fitness and Entertainment Center; PlayGrand Adventures, an all-inclusive playground; Prairie Paws Adoption Center; Central Bark dog park; and the Grand Prairie Public Safety Building. Amenities include five lakes, a grand lawn, boardwalk, and pad sites for future retail opportunities.
Chicken N Pickle. Opening in late 2021 just south of the hotels is Chicken N Pickle. Chicken N Pickle is the wildly popular, indoor/outdoor entertainment complex centered around pickleball, offering a variety of games, a casual, chef-driven restaurant and sports bar. The 77,000-square-foot venue will feature a dining room, six indoor pickleball courts, five outdoor pickleball courts (two covered), and 7,500 square feet of outdoor yard games. A large rooftop bar, stages for live performances and the signature lawn games for which Chicken N Pickle is known round out the property. In this joint venture between the company and the City of Grand Prairie, the city will own the land, develop parking needs and lease to Chicken N Pickle. Chicken N Pickle will operate the facility.
Bolder Adventure. In addition, Bolder Adventure Indoor Adventure Park broke ground in EpicCentral in August 2021. Bolder Adventure is an indoor family entertainment facility that will provide adventure-based attractions in a 66,000-square-foot pneumatic dome structure with ceiling heights of approximately 75 feet. Guests will be offered a unique opportunity to experience rock climbing, zip lines, via ferrata, ropes courses, tubing slides, synthetic ice skating, adventure nets and more. The venue plans to open summer 2022, and Grand Prairie would be its first nationwide location.
