Plan this summer’s staycation elsewhere because The Belmont Hotel is closed for renovations.
The owners had planned to renovate the hotel one building at a time starting this year, but after the pandemic hit, they decided to close the hotel and do it all at once, says sales director Mara Rothman.
The renovations will include makeovers to every room, new landscaping, reworking the lobby and bar and renovating the restaurant.
Nationwide, the hotel industry has lost $46 billion between mid-February when the pandemic began and July 30. It’s estimated that the industry could soon be on pace to lose $400 million per day, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
The Belmont owners, which bought the hotel in 2015, catered to musicians and fostered the arts, holding concerts in the lobby, giving residence to Texas singer-songwriter and Austin patron saint Alejandro Escovedo and inspiring Paul Cauthen’s second solo album.
But the hotel received some bad reviews from guests who complained of poor maintenance and customer service. Smoke closed in 2018, leaving the hotel without a restaurant to serve guests.
The Dallas Morning News last year called it “sad and shabby,” and the Dallas Landmark Commission considered initiating landmark designation to prevent the hotel from being torn down and redeveloped.
Originally built in 1946 on the Fort Worth Turnpike, the Belmont Motor Hotel was designed by architect Charles Dilbeck.
Developer Monte Anderson bought the iconic hotel in 2004, and bringing it back was not easy, but the renovations and pool events managed to make the hotel one of the coolest places in Dallas.
Rothman says they plan to start releasing updates on the progress of renovation on their social media channels. And they could have an announcement about the restaurant soon. Renovations could be complete as early as next spring.
