The change became official in January: the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas turned into The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas. It’s still a mouthful. Still luxurious. Still with Las Colinas taking a back seat in the nomenclature. So what’s different?
Starting with the obvious: the ownership. Partners Group and Trinity Fund Advisors bought the resort in 2022 and partnered with Marriott International to manage it. What those guys didn’t buy was the revered on-site sports club; that was purchased separately by Century Golf Partners and HKI America. It’s now the Nelson Golf & Sports Club, even though the Byron Nelson golf tournament hoofed it to McKinney in 2021.
The hope is that hotel guests won’t need to concern themselves with any of that. They will still have the use of all the amenities that make the resort an alluring staycation destination—the tennis, racquetball, and pickleball courts, the indoor pool, the fitness center, the TPC Las Colinas golf course—just not the members-only Cottonwood Valley Golf Course.
The Outlaw Taproom remains, but the lobby bar has had a lovely, airy refresh, and Law steakhouse has been replaced by Knife Italian, chef John Tesar’s latest venture. The splashiest part of the $55 million renovation is the planned overhaul of the extensive pool area, which, fingers crossed, should be completed late spring or early summer and will include private cabanas in the “newest Ritz-Carlton style,” meaning minifridges and fans in addition to stylish loungers and fruit plates on demand.
What makes this property unique, aside from being unusually close to an existing property—in this case, the Ritz-Carlton in Uptown—is that this is the first time the brand has converted an existing property. “They’ve always built from the ground up,” says Ariel Turner, PR supervisor with FerebeeLane. But the company viewed this as a special case. “They loved the history of it being the Carpenter family ranch [see sidebar below], and they thought it was a great opportunity to return an iconic property to its former glory.”
Next on the resort’s agenda: updates to the villas. Next on the brand’s agenda is the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. The 448-passenger Ilma, the second of a planned trio, is scheduled to set sail in the Mediterranean later this year. Orcas beware.
The Hills Are Alive
How the Carpenter family ranch became a resort
1920s: Highland Park resident and Southland Life Insurance founder John W. Carpenter Sr. buys 1,500 acres in the hills northwest of Dallas. He names the property Hackberry Creek Ranch; his wife renames it El Ranchito de las Colinas, a more poetic “little ranch of the hills.”
1950s: John serves as the chairman of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce and advocates for the creation of a regional airport due west of his ranch; his son Ben continues to grow the family’s real estate empire. In 1959, the year John dies, Stemmons Freeway is built.
1960s: The Joe Finger-designed Las Colinas Country Club is established in a former pasture on the family ranch.
1970s: Ben founds the 12,000-acre master-planned Las Colinas community, Texas Stadium is built, and the John W. Carpenter Freeway and DFW Airport open.
1980s: USAA Real Estate Company develops the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas; in 1983, the Byron Nelson golf tournament is moved here from Preston Trail Golf Club.
2000s: After the subprime mortgage crisis, the hotel changes hands numerous times. In 2022, it is purchased by Partners Group and Trinity Fund Advisors, who bring on Marriott International to assume management of the new Ritz-Carlton Dallas in January 2024.
This story originally ran in the March issue of D Magazine with the headline, “One Ritz Isn’t Enough” Write to [email protected]. The print story incorrectly stated that the Byron Nelson moved to the Four Seasons from Lakewood Country Club; it moved from Preston Trail Golf Club.
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