PROJECT DETAILS
Mule Alley - Fort Worth Stockyards & Hotel Drover
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Installed Products
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
"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.
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.
Lighting Design: The Ruzika Company, Tom Ruzika
Architect: HKS
General Contractor: Commerce Construction
Mechanical Engineer: Blum Consulting Engineers
Photography: Ruehle Photography | Xueying Chen | The Ruzika Company
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
"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.
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.
Lighting Design: The Ruzika Company, Tom Ruzika
Architect: HKS
General Contractor: Commerce Construction
Mechanical Engineer: Blum Consulting Engineers
Photography: Ruehle Photography | Xueying Chen | The Ruzika Company
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