Developer Pulls Plug on Hotel That Threatened to ‘loom' Over Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum

After being told earlier this month that it would not receive a promised tax incentive from Fort Worth after all, the developer of the controversial Hotel Renovo planned near the Kimbell Art Museum on Camp Bowie Boulevard is pulling the plug on the project.Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Shingleton, whose District 7 includes the planned hotel site, said the mayor and City Council lost confidence that Illinois-based Heart of America Group could develop a four-star hotel.The Kimbell argued against the hotel's initial design, contending that the planned height would "loom" over its property, affecting in particular an interior courtyard that features a famous sculpture."It's a unique location and a unique set of neighbors," Shingleton said. "We just never came to a mutually agreeable concept plan."Kirk Whalen, vice president and general counsel for Heart of America Group, said the company "so deeply wanted to be a part of the Fort Worth community."In a statement, Whalen said, "We are deeply saddened and confused that after years and millions of dollars of effort to bring a world-class hotel to Fort Worth, after dramatically changing the project to meet everything that was asked of us, and after providing absolute assurance of four-plus-star quality and an international affiliation, why in the final moment that we couldn't satisfy some stakeholders in the Cultural District."The hotel project, featuring a rooftop restaurant and bar, is still listed on the company's website.  Continue reading...