Despite elaborate design plans that call for convention facilities, massive atriums and theme park-like environments, the new $515 million Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center on Lake Grapevine is expected to open slightly ahead of schedule in April.

The 2.4-million-sq.-ft. resort will include 1,511 hotel rooms and a 786,000-sq.-ft. convention center. The facilities will also house retail space, restaurants and a 4.5-acre climate-controlled atrium.

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Full Steam Ahead

Gaylord announced its intentions to build the complex in 1998. The company already had experience with two similar developments-Gaylord Opryland Nashville and Gaylord Palms near Orlando, Fla.-which lent hope that the construction process could start up quickly and proceed to a rapid finish.

Construction began shortly after the June 2000 groundbreaking. Gaylord chose Centex Construction Group, a division of Dallas-based Centex Corp., to serve as construction manager and contractor for the project.

"Because of the project's scope, planning was key," said Bob Gist, senior vice president of operations for Centex. "We spend upward of eight months planning this project. And the time we spent up-front more than paid for itself on the back end."

The hotel rests on 57 acres, half of which belong to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
When Centex took on the job, the only access to the building site was through residential neighborhoods or via Ruth Wall Road. Access through the neighborhoods was not permitted, however, and Ruth Wall Road was under 9 ft. of water.

So the company's first task was to build a temporary bridge, followed by a more permanent structure.

Because the site is adjacent to Lake Grapevine, extra care was required when clearing the rolling hills of scrub and trees. Every ounce of dirt removed from the basin area had to be replenished.

It took a month to clear the site, during which time more than 300,000 cu. yds. of dirt were cut. More than 7,500 cu. yds. of dirt were moved each day, compared to about 3,500 cu. yds. on a typical worksite. This required an assembly-line-style armada of 100 trucks continually looping in and out of the site.

As the construction team started the footings and foundation stages of the project, it encountered a great deal of rock materials. Rather than haul the rocks off-site, crews reused those materials to create temporary roads and crane pads.

Derailed

When the project was in its early stages, Centex was working without a contract, final budget or detailed drawings. But Gaylord wanted construction to be completed by August 2003, so Centex steamed ahead.

"Originally, we had a 26-month schedule," said Jeff Parsons, senior project manager for Centex. "With the fast-track schedule, we began building structures early on when we didn't really know what the final architectural intent would be."

The project was derailed after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. First, rumors sprang up that Gaylord would put the plan on a two-year hold, despite the millions the company had already spent in Grapevine.

"We were running between 800 and 900 people when Sept. 11 hit," Gist said. "On Oct. 2, we got the word of a slowdown, and right after that there were a lot of gyrations about what we would or wouldn't do. The options ranged from putting a padlock on the front gate to continuing on schedule."

Gaylord announced it would extend the resort's construction period by nine months, scheduling opening day in June 2004.

"When Sept. 11 came, we were within a couple of months of topping out the concrete structures," Parsons said. "With the impact on the hospitality market, it was a real challenge for the owners to overcome. We helped them as much as we could-we never fully stopped construction, but we did slow down significantly."

Centex kept on board its five main subcontractors-concrete, mechanical, elevator, structural steel and electrical-but dismissed everybody else.

"We were already doing all of the structural work and had started working on some of the exterior skin and interior metal studs for the guestrooms," Parsons said. "We were just starting to ramp up when the slowdown came."

Potentially, there was a bright side to the slowdown, Parsons said. Centex assumed that the lull would give the architects time to catch up with the construction, so when activity proceeded at full-speed, detailed drawings would be ready. But then another major change occurred.

A New Name and Leadership

In the summer of 2002, Centex started working full-speed. "We were ramping up in a very short window and really cranking the motor," Parsons said. "We went out for bids again to the subcontractors and were going pretty strong with 1,600 personnel onsite."

Some trades were working six days a week. At one point, Centex had more than $15 million in equipment working onsite.

Meanwhile, the project's leadership was replaced, including the design team. The new executives brought experience from Las Vegas to the table. As a result, Gaylord changed its vision for the project. It scrapped the name Opryland Texas in favor of the Gaylord Texan moniker. And it introduced major new thematic elements to the project.

"Our company earned its industry stripes in Nashville with our signature Opryland property," said Colin Reed, president and CEO for Gaylord Entertainment. "In fact, it was the brand power of Opryland that originally attracted the Grapevine city fathers to this project.

"To maximize the significant investment we were making in this big, bold, totally Texas product, we renamed the facility to reflect and define its tone, location and look."

Steel-framed atria have become a trademark look for Gaylord Hotels. The Grapevine property boasts three of these themed areas, each representing a distinctive Texas motif: the Lone Star, the Hill Country and the San Antonio Riverwalk.

In the Hill Country region, visitors will stroll among small hills, low canyons and a babbling brook. The Riverwalk area features a mission plaza, while the largest of the three, the Lone Star atrium, boasts a nine-story oil derrick. In all, the three atria cover 4.5 climate-controlled acres, including gardens, waterfalls, walkways, retail space, restaurants and other attractions.

The architects responsible for the atria, Memphis-based Hnedak Bobo Group, incorporated Texas limestone, wood trusses and lintels, iron, stucco and metal roofing in the design.

The Lone Star atrium has a free span that ranges 352 ft. across. Constructing the atrium required nearly 2.3 million lbs. of structural steel and more than 660,000 lbs. of laminated glass.

Covering 88,000 sq. ft., the main atrium is structured by a tied-arch space frame in the shape of a regular octagon covered by a skylight. Each side of the octagon measures 135 ft. and is framed with 42-in.-deep cellular beams. Seven of the corners bear at the roof level of the nine-story hotel towers, which surround the octagon. The eighth corner is supported on a nine-story steel column, designed to look like an oil derrick.

The atrium was fabricated by Hirschfeld Steel Co. of San Angelo and erected by Peterson Beckner Industries of McKinney.

Even before construction was complete, the atrium design won the annual TEKLA Model Drawing Competition, which strives to demonstrate the versatility of steel. The design was submitted by the British firm Consteel Detailers, which is owned by Hirschfeld Steel.

The atrium's skylight is designed to give the property instant recognition as a Dallas-area landmark. It features a 72-ft-wide Lone Star shape that will be visible from the air as passengers fly into nearby DFW International Airport. Rather than building the atrium's center compression ring in place on false work, the team constructed it on the ground. It was then raised by two cranes vertically extended 82 ft. in the air and set into place. The remaining atrium was then built to the compression ring.

"When the structure was set and glassed in, we dropped the structural steel from beneath it, jacked it down and deflected it about four and a half inches, which was within our expectations," Parsons said. "It dropped right into place".

Whimsy in the Works

"When we started back up, we thought we would be in a good position with completed drawings to work from," Parsons said. "Instead, we ended up right where we had been."

Ideas were floated, considered and changed. A proposed model of the Texas Governor's Mansion evolved into a replica of a train station. Restaurant themes were born and reborn.

"We had grayed-out areas where we thought some venues might be," Parsons added.
"We tried to build around those. We placed steel embed plates around a lot of spaces where we thought there would be ornamental railings. Some we got right, and some we didn't."

Because the heart and soul of the property depends on its thematic elements, the details could not simply be left to interior designers. Construction teams were key to creating the atmosphere Gaylord desired, Gist said.

"This is different from Vegas, where everything looks plastic, or Disney, where everything looks Mickey Mouse," Gist said. "Here the front lobby looks like a cattle baron's living room. Half of the stuff in there is faux, but we spent a lot of time to make it look as good if not better than the real thing."

For example, the construction team used crown molding of 16, 18 and 20 in. that looks like mahogany but is actually fiberglass.

No doubt, it's not easy to build a river indoors, much less a canyon.

Centex brought in some of its employees that had worked on Disney's Animal Kingdom for advice. As a result, a wall was built to resemble the historic San Antonio missions. The wall was created from conventional construction materials, such as cement and plaster. But when it came time for painting, less conventional methods were employed.

"To give it an aged look, coffee grounds were splattered on the wall and then left there overnight," Parsons said. "This created the illusion of 200 years worth of aging".

A pedestrian walkway was designed and constructed to mirror a vintage trestle. Artists gave the bolts a rusted appearance, complete with drip lines.

"We have rivers going through a replica of the Guadalupe Canyon and the Palo Duro Canyon," Parsons added. "In addition, we had to create materials that look like Austin stone."

The "river" is a pumped and recycled system, not unlike a swimming pool. The most daunting task was coordinating the underground pipes, utilities and wiring in the atrium area.

"There is a mess of spaghetti piled up underground," Parsons said. "One of the challenges has been putting work into place without it being damaged by another trade's work, since many of the elements are so close together."

Once completed, the project will house nine restaurants and bars. Guests will have access to an outdoor grotto pool with terraced vineyards, a children's splash area, two additional pools and a 25,000-sq.-ft. spa with 12 treatment rooms and a 20-meter lap pool.

Pump up the Columns

Gaylord's resort-under-glass is positioned to draw conventioneers to Grapevine. In all, the project's convention center offers nearly 179,800 sq. ft. of exhibition space, plus prefunction and registration areas.

Generally, convention centers need to be equipped to handle heavy loads, so most are built on grade. But Gaylord needed more parking space and instead chose to construct a 700-car underground garage beneath the convention center floor.

"The loading and design of the convention center slab is designed to handle tractor trailers," Parsons said. "It could support Abrams tanks. By using conventional concrete and reinforcement systems, massive live loading could come in."

The convention center's main floor comes with 24-ft. ceilings and an exhibition hall, capable of being divided into six separate sections. The level above also features ballrooms with 24-ft. ceiling heights.

Because columns would span both floors-making them 48 ft. high-the construction team had to take a nontraditional approach. Columns are usually poured from the top down, Parsons said. "But in this case, we pumped them from the ground up."

The team used a column-hung forming system that did not require shoring or scaffolding. The forming system was used to help form the ballroom-level slab.

Three ballrooms run 49,500 sq. ft., 32,200 sq. ft. and 3,300 sq. ft. The ceilings are loaded with infrastructure to support performances, conferences and other events.
The convention center also offers 70 breakout rooms, wireless and direct satellite access and T-1 lines.

"There are rigging points throughout for people who rent the space to hang signage, Parsons said. "It's so elaborate that we have a catwalk system. It's something the general public won't see. They'll 'ooh and aah' at the crown molding and the architectural finish-out. But behind the scenes, the infrastructure is what's really incredible."

Final Inventory

Tethered to the convention center is a support building that houses a training area, laundry facilities and employee kitchen and dining area. Below the roof are the cooling tower, four 200-ton chillers, boilers and other mechanical systems that support the hotel. Two tunnels run from this building to the hotel, providing a conduit for water and electrical lines.

In the nine-story hotel, standard rooms include in-room safes, T1 or T3 access for computers, louvered closets, elevated beds, 27-in. TVs, stereo systems and sculpted crown moldings.

In the Lone Star Tower, an upscale, boutique hotel-within-a-hotel, guest rooms feature higher finish-outs.

"The hotel has 1,511 guest rooms," Parsons said. "When we talk about the project, there are so many amazing features that we tend to overlook the guest rooms."

In all, the project encompasses 44 elevators, 10 escalators and more than 1,700 parking spaces.