Omni Hotels & Resorts is starting construction on what it plans will become its "most iconic" property out of its portfolio of 60 luxury hotels in North America, as the hotelier shifts gears to focus on investing in resort destinations and convention center cities.

The Omni PGA Frisco Resort broke ground Tuesday in Frisco, Texas, a fast-growing suburb about 27 miles north of downtown Dallas, after more than a year of delays because of the pandemic. The 501-room resort that includes a 127,000-square-foot conference center is being built adjacent to where PGA of America's headquarters and two PGA championship golf courses are underway.

CoStar News reported last month that the hotel's construction was expected to start in May and open in the spring of 2023, about a year behind schedule.

The pandemic provided a silver lining for the Frisco hotel, giving planners more time to think about the design before construction started, according to Blake Rowling, president of TRT Holdings Inc., which owns Omni Hotels & Resorts.

"This day has been a long time coming with construction being delayed for over a year now due to the pandemic and its effect on our business, but that additional time has given us the ability to make hundreds, if not thousands, of improvements to the project," Rowling said at the Omni PGA Frisco Resort's Tuesday groundbreaking ceremony, which was attended by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott said during a speech at the ceremony that the beginning of the project's construction after the delay from the pandemic marks an "incredible milestone" for the community, and once complete, the resort will become "one of the premier destinations in the United States" attracting golfers, visitors and travelers throughout the country.

"I cannot think of anyone that had a more challenging year than [Omni Hotels & Resorts CEO] Bob Rowling," Abbott said during the press conference. "There is probably no other industry in the United States, or the entire world, that has been more challenged over 2020 than the hospitality industry."

Bob Rowling is the father of Blake Rowling and has a real-time net worth of $3.9 billion, according to Forbes.

Dallas-based Omni Hotels & Resorts relied on millions in funds tied to the Paycheck Protection Program to continue its operations over the past year, according to Hotel News Now, a sister publication to CoStar News.

The new Frisco hotel and resort is part of about 660 acres that are being transformed into a hub of golf innovation. The PGA of America, a 105-year-old golf trade association with 28,000 members, is relocating its longtime headquarters from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to a new campus in Frisco that should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

The PGA of America teed up agreements for more than $160 million of economic incentives from various Texas government entities for the relocation, including $1.5 million to create 150 jobs from the Texas Enterprise Fund, which offers "deal closing" grants when the Lone Star State is competing with other states for companies to expand.

Blake Rowling said the new Texas hotel is part of the company's strategy of banking on its resort business and will be the hotelier's 15th resort in its portfolio. Blake Rowling said he expects the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, which is a $500 million public-private partnership with the city of Frisco, to become the company's "most iconic" property in its hotel portfolio.

Construction on the hotel is beginning at a time when the hospitality industry has yet to recover from the pandemic. The Omni PGA Frisco Resort, as well as the championship golf courses and PGA of America headquarters, are expected to be a catalyst for a much larger, 2,000-acre, $10 billion proposed development in the region called Fields.

SB Architects and Robert Glazier Architects are the architects for the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, which is being built by Brasfield & Gorrie as general contractor. Jeffrey Beers International is the hotel's interior designer. The two championship golf courses were designed by Beau Welling and Gil Hanse. PGA of America's new headquarters was designed by Page and is being built by Adolfson & Peterson Construction.