Chicago-based Phoenix Development Partners, a developer with various hotel projects under its belt in Illinois and Florida, is shifting its focus to Texas with plans to get started on its first dual-branded Marriott hotel in Uptown Dallas this year and additional projects in Austin and San Antonio in the future.

The $100 million hotel project at 2910 N. Hall St. in Dallas is expected to include a 19-story, 264-key dual-branded Marriott hotel, bringing the Moxy and AC brands to this sought-after part of Uptown Dallas. In all, the hotel is expected to have 143 Moxy rooms and 121 AC rooms upon completion and be the first of many more Texas projects for the developer, said Doug Freedman, a partner at Phoenix Development Partners.

"This is our first entry into the Texas market, and we have been working with a local developer, who found the site, which has been sitting vacant for quite some time," Freedman told CoStar News. "This project is in our wheelhouse, especially as we focus on opportunities in high-growth markets with favorable business climates. This site fits all of those requirements."

David Merritt of Austin-based Merritt Development Group is the Texas developer that found the site and teamed up with Phoenix Development Partners to work on the project. Merritt, who has been working on the Uptown tract for three years, said the hotel will bring a "rocking" rooftop bar and pool to Uptown, within walking distance to the West Village and offer guests an affordable option outside the gaggle of luxury Uptown hotels, such as The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Hotel Crescent Court, Hotel ZaZa and Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek.

When development plans changed to a nearby site in Uptown earmarked for Central Market, nixing what was once going to be a 156-room AC hotel, Merritt said the partnership jumped on the hotel brand — pairing it with a Moxy. The Moxy hotel will have a ground-floor bar to appeal to the younger demographic of Uptown, he added.

"This will be a high-quality property with desirable food and beverage options to appeal to neighbors and visitors," Merritt told CoStar News.

Phoenix Development Partners, which has already purchased the Uptown land site, has applied for city permits with the hopes of beginning construction "as soon as we can," Freedman said.

Construction on the hotel, with $48.8 million in hard construction costs, is expected to get underway by the end of May, according to a state work permit. Completion is scheduled by mid-2025.

Phoenix Development Partners, which has nothing to do with the city of Phoenix, plans to pivot away from developing in Illinois and Florida — where it has previously developed hotels — to focus 100% of its efforts on Texas, Freedman told CoStar News.

"We see a lot of growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with a desire to specifically be in Uptown," Freedman said in an interview with CoStar News. "We are working on this project, but we are also looking at projects in Austin, San Antonio and a bunch of other sites in the Metroplex."

Dallas-Fort Worth, the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan area with more than 7.7 million residents, helped Texas lead the nation in job growth in 2022 with the addition of 650,100 jobs, bringing the Lone Star State's job growth rate to 5%.

"Texas is where we are solely focused on the development side," Freeman said, adding the timing of the project will bring a quality hotel to the market in the years ahead where he expects there to be "an upward trend when it opens."

Merriman Anderson Architects is the project architect. Concord Hospitality has been hired to oversee the hotel's operations.