Mule Alley – Fort Worth Stockyards & Hotel Drover, Fort Worth, TX
The Stockyards National Historic District—a popular attraction in town—also has received a facelift that will enhance the experience for groups in the area with the addition of the 200-room Hotel Drover, a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel with 40,000 square feet of unique indoor and outdoor event space. The property—which opened in 2021—anchors the Stockyards Heritage Development Co.’s multi-million-dollar renovation of historic Mule Alley in the Fort Worth Stockyards which includes shops, eateries, creative workplaces and live entertainment venues.
The Hotel Drover in historic Fort Worth, Texas is a unique property that reinterprets rustic Lone Star style with an elegant twist. The high-profile property is the most recent addition to California-based Majestic Realty’s redevelopment project in Fort Worth’s historic entertainment district. The company first partnered with Hickman Cos. of Fort Worth on the project in 2014, when real estate icon Holt Hickman was starting to craft a legacy plan for the 70 acres he owned in the Stockyards.
His son and daughter wanted to do more than typical preservation, and they sought Cavileer’s help. A public-private partnership was formed between Majestic, Stockyards Heritage Development Co., and the City of Fort Worth to take the project to the next level.
Tom Ruzika, of The Ruzika Company, lead the lighting design team for the Mule Alley renovation and Hotel Drover exterior lighting design.
Lighting Design: The Ruzika Company
Architect: HKS
General Contractor: Commerce Construction
Mechanical Engineer: Blum Consulting Engineers
Photography: Ruehle Photography | Xueying Chen | The Ruzika Company
The $200 million plan included the adaptive reuse of the area’s mule barns into a mixed-use shopping and restaurant haven called Mule Alley, which opened in June 2020, and the construction of Hotel Drover, a 200-room luxury Western hotel. Two years after opening, Mule Alley has attracted national brands such as Ariat and Lucchese and restaurateurs Tim Love and Marcus Paslay.The lighting design team from The Ruzika Company were responsible for all exterior lighting from the exchange building and the old coliseum – rodeo place – stockyards hotel. "Basically everything from the street, mule alley and any new development in the area of the Stockyards," noted Tom Ruzika.
The historic renovation includes over 180,000 sq. ft. of restored, historic brick horse and mule barns transitioned into a variety of retail shops, boutiques, restaurants and cafes, and a hotel. Mule Alley, as its name suggests, was built in the heyday of the Stockyards as a barn for all sorts of livestock. At the time, the Fort Worth Stockyards was the biggest livestock trading center in the Southwest. In 2018, plans were announced to transform the vacant, dilapidated barns into a center for commerce and tourism. Today, Mule Alley is a vibrant street in the Stockyards and part of a $175 million project to revitalize the district. The “Alley” contains numerous retailers, entertainment venues and the rustic-luxe Hotel Drover.
MULE ALLEY The Stockyards is the top attraction in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, with an estimated 3 million visitors each year.
As guests walk thru the streets that the cattle once were driven down, they are welcomed with tree lined pathways illuminated with a combination of lighting from Targetti's KEPLERO ZOOM. The in-ground fixture provides the ideal solution with a unique dynamic optical system that can change at any time to adjust to an ever changing landscape. With KEPLERO ZOOM the beam optic can changed at any time thanks to its revolutionary optical system with four set optics – Spot, Flood, Medium Wide Flood, and Wide Flood.The KEPLERO ZOOM projectors are recessed in the tree grates at the head of the main street in front of the old coliseum and public walkways of the renovated Fort Worth Stockyards. Careful planning of the fixture location and installation was noted by the design team to ensure proper placement of the KEPLERO fixtures to allow ample room for root growth.Learn More
KEPLERO provides a walk over - drive over rated fixture that the optic can be refocused to accommodate for the growth of the trees or landscaping.
Mule Alley and the historic Fort Worth Stockyards transition during the holiday months with an ice skating rink, sounds of the season, and festive activities and lights.
Guests can journey through a district-wide Western wonderland complete with dreamy lighting and decor. Stroll down East Exchange Avenue and Mule Alley, where every tree is lit, light poles wrapped in garland and ribbon, and garland and lights can be found decorating Cowtown Coliseum, the Exchange Building, Stockyards Station, and even the Cowtown Cattlepen Maze.
We were working closely with the main developer and he has an amazing eye for light. We started with two ingrades per tree (KEPLERO) in the original plan. Then we added PICO PYROS mounted with tree straps to the young trees for more accent."This is beautiful but I need more light on my trees" commented the developer. So we added the DART MEDIUM projectors to the mix to provide a larger punch of light.
Tom Ruzika
As guests walk thru the streets that the cattle once were driven down, they are welcomed with a tree lined pathway with a combination of uplighting from KEPLERO ZOOM, DART Projectors, and PICO PYROS mounted to smaller trees.
KEPLERO MINI ZOOM
We really wanted to make this a gateway entrance. It is the PR entrance for the Stockyards. The addition of some of our lighting elements came into play after design and the beginning of construction, It was an after we finished it off. We wanted the entrance gateway to be glowing completely.
Tom Ruzika The Ruzika Company
KEPLERO MINI ZOOM and JEDI linear projectors provided the additional accent to make the entrance to MULE Alley spectacular.
Mule Alley takes on a shimmering look during the holiday season with the addition of holiday decor and additional lighting.
The historic renovation includes over 180,000 sq. ft. of restored, historic brick horse and mule barns transitioned into a variety of retail shops, boutiques, restaurants and cafes, and a 4-star Hotel Drover. As guests wander thru the new retail, office and hospitality section of the ever popular Mule Alley, their way is guided with tree lined pathways.
In the initial design JEDI linear projectors provided accent lighting to the feature sculpture of the American Paint Horse Association that is a focal point of Mule Alley. DURALED Cable lights were added to hang from building to building to create a festival atmosphere. JEDI
"When selecting a strand lighting, I knew we needed a reliable product that would stand up and be good in all weather. It had to be resilient and rugged," commented Ruzika."We went thru so many lamps – that we ended up screwing and unscrewing different color temperatures and lamp types to find the effect we were looking for."
Tom Ruzika The design team selected Targetti's DURALED Cable Light with DURALED Vintage G25 Lamps in 2200K for the project.
The hotel, part of the Marriott's Autograph Collection, has 200 unique guest rooms and is the centerpiece of the first phase of the Stockyards development. The high-profile property is the most recent addition to California-based Majestic Realty’s redevelopment project in Fort Worth’s historic entertainment district.The owner / developer also served as creative director for the entire project, according to Ruzika.- Photo courtesy of Hotel Drover
"He selected every piece of furniture, art on the wall, and every tree was a handcrafted design with the owner," remarked Ruzika. "He spent two hours or more uplighting various configurations finding the right spot and configuration. He wanted a curtain of trees."
DART Medium The end result was a combination of two lights per tree, mounted on the left and right about 3 ft. off the ground. This configuration provided the ideal effect the owner wanted to achieve.
DART MEDIUM Projectors were added to increase the amount of light on the trees that line Mule Alley. DART MEDIUM is available with two asymmetrical optics. A more open version on the horizontal axis that makes it possible to widen the pitch between fixtures and a new version defined as Narrow Asymmetric that is more comfortable and controlled.According to lead designer Tom Ruzika, the design team spent an incredible evening of 6 hours or more climbing every tree to find the right placement for each fixture. "Each tree was truly handcrafted, " remarked Ruzika."The feature tree by the pool area started with 6 to 8 fixtures but we ended up with around 18 and then we also added 2 to 4 lights on background trees.""We were trying to create a mood - atmosphere, " noted Ruzika. "The owner loves the soft warm look, everywhere. So that’s what we trying to achieve with our design approach."
Tom Ruzika Ruzika Company
According to lead designer Tom Ruzika, the design team spent an incredible evening of 6 hours or more climbing every tree to find the right placement for each fixture. "Each tree was truly handcrafted, " remarked Ruzika."The feature tree by the pool area started with 6 to 8 fixtures but we ended up with around 18 and then we also added 2 to 4 lights on background trees. We were trying to create a mood - atmosphere," noted Ruzika. "The owner loves the soft warm look, everywhere. So that’s what we trying to achieve with our design approach."
DART MEDIUM
"We needed something that would meet code and would be able to easily install into all the cut stone," noted Ruzika. ZEDGE MINI is the Targetti LED step marker with a minimalist design and compact size with a hidden LED source for visual comfort. Crafted with a specially designed linear LED module, ZEDGE MINI delivers uniform lighting illumination and is available in three distinct “face plate” versions (Floor Wash, Louver, Bi-Directional) that each deliver distinct light effect.
ZEDGE MINI
There were over 30+ DART Medium Projectors installed with tree straps mounted in the large Oaks along this pathway. They were added to uplight into the branches of the trees along this walk way creating another wall of light around the property.Photo courtesy of Hotel Drover.
PICO PYROS were mounted to the young trees with tree straps as part of the original design. The extremely compact dimensions and design make PICO PYROS flood light projector an impressive design tool able to integrate discreetly and with the minimum impact in any architectural context.
PICO PYROS
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JEDI
DART MEDIUM
ZEDGE MINI
PICO PYROS
