Developers are preparing to break ground on a $100M hotel project in Uptown Dallas.

The 260-room, 25K SF hotel will be dual-branded as AC and Moxy, both upscale Marriott chains. The former is an urban boutique-like hotel geared toward older travelers, and the latter is targeted toward a slightly younger demographic, Merritt Development Group President David Merritt said.

Each brand will have its own lobby and entrance but will share some amenities, Merritt said. The front desk at the Moxy hotel will double as a bar, he added.

“It feels sort of like a nightclub,” Merritt said.

MDG has built similar multibrand hotels in Chicago and San Antonio. The average daily rate at the Uptown property will be around $230, which Merritt said is significantly lower than other properties in the area.

The project was originally a Hilton dual-branded hotel, but once Hilton brought its Canopy property to Uptown, it no longer made sense to move forward with that plan, Merritt said. The hotels would have targeted the same demographics, so instead, Merritt pivoted to Marriott.

The AC/Moxy hotel will be located at 2910 North Hall St., near the intersection of McKinney and Oak Grove avenues. MDG and co-developer Phoenix Development Partners are still waiting on a handful of approvals from the city, a process that was delayed by the pandemic and Dallas’ widely publicized permitting system issues.

“We are excited to have a little jewel box in the great Uptown market,” Merritt said. “It’s taken us three years to get here, so it’s not for the faint of heart.”

Construction is set to begin in May and take about 20 months, Merritt said. The project is being designed by Merriman Anderson Architects.