The Belmont Motor Hotel Reborn

The Belmont Motor Hotel was for years a dilapidated wreck. Now it's a stylish urban hotel that's redefining its Fort Worth Avenue neighborhood. by Christine Wilson

When developer Monte Anderson purchased the land on Fort Worth Avenue in 1999, he wasn't the convert of New Urbanism that he is today. In fact, he originally envisioned building a high-rise atop the bluff that is now scheduled to be an innovative, mixed-use development. As for Belmont Motor Hotel and its bulletproof glass reception area, its fate was uncertain. The main appeal of the space certainly wasn't the dilapidated buildings or the low-income housing in the corridor. But the hill on which the Belmont sits is not without appeal; it garners unparalleled views of downtown. I've always loved the hill, and I wanted to live here, Anderson says.

A visit to Austin's Hotel San Jose, a former motor court that has undergone urban renewal and is now a hip, bungalow-style hotel, influenced Anderson. I didn't copy it, but seeing the San Jose changed the way I thought, he says. It was an evolution of being more aware. Now I want to preserve the character of this place. We need this desperately to remember where we came from and to learn from it.

And the Belmont doesn't lack character. The motor hotel opened in 1946, back when Fort Worth Avenue was the main highway between Fort Worth and Dallas. But over the years, the face of renowned regional architect Charles Stevens Dilbeck's hotel saw a changing and deteriorating landscape.

Now the motor inn has been restored to its former glory - if not beyond. The 68-room boutique hotel has an outdoor pool, garden, neighborhood bar and lounge, and wireless Internet in the brightly decorated interiors that sport photographs of Dallas taken by local photographers. Locality is key for Anderson, who grew up in Oak Cliff and got tired of watching his friends move away. I realized I had to do something about it, he says. We basically hire all local, he says. We've gone back to our roots to bring the best artists and craftsmen on our team.

Plans for a spa and an upscale diner are in the works. And the Villas at Dilbeck Court will soon accompany the hotel. The 10-acre project will also include retail and office space. Anderson says he wanted to create a place where his friends and family could live, so prices will range from $600-per-month lofts to $750,000 townhouses. There are all incomes among friends and family. Why can't neighborhoods be that way, too? It's emotionally unhealthy to separate the rich from the poor, Anderson explains.

Looking ahead, Anderson envisions an eclectic mixed-use area that incorporates everything from industrial areas to quality urban retail. In 10 years, I think there will be great sidewalks with trees and lights and outdoor cafes, he says. It will be a place to live, work, and play, a place to meet people from all over the world without leaving the neighborhood.

A Neighborhood Reborn

In what exemplifies the spirit of the grassroots effort, the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group began in 1999 when three North Oak Cliff neighbors became dissatisfied with the nearby corridor of West Commerce Street and Fort Worth Avenue. Empty and poorly maintained spaces and deteriorated residential areas abounded, and economic growth was at a standstill. "The area became blighted and neglected. Becoming a haven for loitering, drug traffic, and condemned facilities," says Joseph Hernandez, president of the development group.

Many who lived and worked in the area were galvanized by the prospect of a revitalized corridor. Hernandez says the biggest challenge was to kick off the rezoning of the area. It had evolved in an unregulated fashion; city planning was not comprehensive, and separately owned properties complicated the needs of the corridor as a whole. The 100+ member group of homeowners and commercial property owners developed a strategy for being heard. They worked with local politicians, the state and federal government, neighborhood associations, and commercial developers to create the Land Use Study, a master plan to designate land uses, develop public safety rules, incorporate green spaces, and basically make the corridor a place you'd want to be.

"It's tiresome to watch the economic boom in the rest of Dallas and see a stigma associated with Oak Cliff and West Dallas. An underlying motivation for the group was the fact that we'd lost our services and amenities," Hernandez says. An excess of $25 million in new development has made its way to the area including a Walgreen’s and a Home Depot. And the group has had direct involvement in trying to bring in other businesses.

"Only about one in five businesses is willing to take that plunge," Hernandez says. But the Belmont renovation is one of them. "The project is a huge catalyst for economic development in the area," he says. The influx of new or improved establishments may challenge other businesses to improve or to sell to a developer. The Belmont Hotel is one just piece of the economic development puzzle....

Copied from dmagazine.com -- Issue Date: D Home MAR/APR 2006: posted 3/13/06; edited by Peggy Levinson