LIVING UP TO A LEGEND

HOTEL DROVER HONORS ITS WESTERN HERITAGE WITH A SEAMLESS UNION OF TRADITION AND MODERN TEXAS AMBIENCE.

- SUSAN L. EBERT

Unlike Dallas, her fast-moving, sky-scraping big sister to the east, Fort Worth, steeped in tradition, clings to her cattle-driving past so fiercely that change comes slowly … if at all. You just don’t mess with Texas mythology, and you sure don’t mess with Cowtown’s historic Stockyards, anchor point of Jesse Chisholm’s legendary cattle trail and iconic symbol of the American West.

No wonder it took nearly a decade of deliberate planning, patient negotiations, and visionary creativity to achieve a triumphant repurposing of long-forsaken brick barns and an idled creekside arena at The Stockyards into the newly christened Mule Alley. The project’s helmed by Craig Cavileer of Majestic Realty, who leads the team for the redevelopment of the mule barns and its crown jewel, Hotel Drover.

At the far end of Mule Alley, a gargantuan campy neon cowboy crafted by Austin’s famed Evan Voyles swings his lariat and literally ropes me in. In a triumph of imaginative reuse, what was once a row of 108-year-old horse and mule barns suffering from more than 60 years of idleness and neglect has been reborn as a vibrant array of restaurants, shops, a winery, and a brewery lining my approach to Hotel Drover, a 200-room luxury destination hotel ensconced where the dusty arena once stood.

The fragrance of fine saddle leather wafts in the air as I enter what appears to be the grand foyer of one of Texas’ legendary cattle empire estancias. It’s emanating from the three expansive pillars of intricately hand-tooled leather bearing the Hotel Drover brand that serve as check-in stations. Beyond these, a two-story lobby library filled with Texas-inspired books and illuminated by bespoke antler-and-handcrafted-blackened-steel chandeliers beckons me to “come sit a spell” in one of its expansive cowhide lounge chairs.