17 replies to this topic

[Dallastar]

TAKING STOCKYARDS
Proposed entertainment complex designed to bring locals back to StockyardsBy Sandra Baker
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

STAR-TELEGRAM/RON JENKINS
Spencer Taylor plans to revive West Exchange in three phases.
More photosFORT WORTH - Spencer Taylor, who co-founded Billy Bob's Texas in the city's historic Stockyards District more than a quarter of a century ago, has returned to his Fort Worth roots and is again working on an entertainment-related project in the Stockyards area.

This time partnering with Fort Worth architect Ken Schaumburg, Taylor has leased seven buildings on West Exchange Avenue, between Main Street and Ellis Avenue, where each will become a different music venue, but part of one entertainment complex simply called West Exchange.

"If we do a monster job, and we're half as good as we think we are, we can make West Exchange Avenue the No. 1 entertainment spot in Fort Worth," Taylor said. "All I want to do is do good, and complement everyone in the Stockyards."

Hoping to have the project open in time for his 60th birthday on April 20, Taylor said this will probably be his last venture.

"I've been praying for over 20 years that if I could ever go back to where I started in the entertainment industry, I know I'd handle my success differently," Taylor said.

Taylor has a long and storied past in the entertainment world, which began in the early 1970s with some Fort Worth bars, including Spencer's Corner near Texas Christian University. His projects took him to the bustle of Dallas' West End, to raucous Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and to the wilds of Deadwood, S.D.

Most recently, he was working on an entertainment complex off the Dallas North Tollway in Addison, as well as some projects with Schaumburg elsewhere in Fort Worth.

His projects have been among the area's highest-profile and highest-revenue producers. He has also been bankrupt.

Steven Murrin, who owns several properties in the Stockyards, including some that Taylor is leasing, and who has headed the Stockyards Business Association, said the area has waited for more than 30 years for someone to step in and bring a cohesive development plan.

"If Spencer can pull this off, it will be one of the most exciting things happening in the Stockyards in many years," Murrin said.

Taylor hit it big when he co-founded Billy Bob's Texas in the Stockyards with Billy Bob Barnett in 1981. The bar was highly successful until 1988, when it fell on hard times and closed. Later, an investor group reopened its doors and the venue again became a world-renowned honky-tonk, featuring some of the biggest names in country-Western music.

Pam Minnick, marketing director for Billy Bob's Texas, said Taylor's best attributes are his innovative ideas, and the knowledge and experience to make clubs work. Billy Bob's Texas still uses some of the inventory controls that Taylor developed and put into place when he owned the club, she said.

"He's a risk-taker," Minnick said. "It's my hope that it doesn't divvy up the traffic already coming here, but bring more people to the area."

Taylor said he is drawing on his nearly four decades of experience in the industry to make West Exchange work.

He plans to revive the street in three phases.

The first phase will take in both sides of the western half of the 100 block of West Exchange Avenue, which in recent years has seen businesses come and go, and open seven live entertainment venues that will operate all week.

Three of the locations, Spinner's Blues Bar, Grace Live and Wiggie's Karaoke Bar, are named for his three children. Another, Cadillac, is the name of one of his former Stockyards bars.

It wasn't until just a few months ago, though, that Taylor even began putting his plan together. He had been living in Roanoke the past couple of years and was having lunch with Bevely Hughes, who handled marketing for Billy Bob's when it first opened. He said he hadn't seen Hughes in many years and they met to catch up on old times.

While eating at the Star Cafe on West Exchange Avenue, owner Don Boles, a longtime Taylor friend, told him that the Longhorn Saloon, one of the oldest joints in the Stockyards area, had closed.

"I didn't know that it needed help," Taylor said.

At that point, Taylor said he just couldn't hold back and set out to bring the area up to its potential - and what he had envisioned years ago that it could be.

"I might be nuts," Taylor said of getting involved in the project. "But when it's God's will, things will happen."

One of his goals is to bring more local residents back into the Stockyards. The historic district has about 2.2 million visitors a year, said Kristin Liggett, president of the Fort Worth Stockyards Business Association.

Liggett said she hopes the development on West Exchange Avenue will bring a cohesiveness to the businesses on East Exchange Avenue.

"We think it's great," Liggett said. "We welcome any new businesses in the Stockyards."

About six months ago, Schaumburg hired Taylor to put together some en-tertainment possibilities for his Left Bank development, a 25-acre project of town houses, restaurants and nightclubs planned for the west side of the Trinity River, off West Seventh Street, and for The Ruins, a 23-story condo tower he plans at Peach Street and Lexington Avenue.

That's when Taylor stumbled into the Stockyards deal and presented it to Schaumburg, who became an equal, but silent, partner.

"For him, it's like going back home," Schaumburg said. "It was a real easy deal to put together. I would not have anything to do with the entertainment business if wasn't for Spencer."

The buildings are all vacant, and most have had their interiors demolished, Taylor said.

Now, it's just a matter of renovating the building interiors, getting their marketing campaigns running and waiting for liquor licenses before they can open.

"It's definitely a homecoming," Taylor said. "People here like me and it's going to be a wonderful project because of that."

Spencer Taylor's bar biography

1973-80: Owned and operated Spencer's Corner, Spencer's Palace and the Daily Double, in Fort Worth; Players in Arlington.

1980-82: With Billy Bob Barnett, owned and operated Cowtown, Pick 'N Parlor, the Maverick and the Cadillac, all in the Stockyards.

1981-84: With Barnett, owned and operated Billy Bob's of Texas.

1984-90: Owned and operated Dallas Alley in Dallas' historic West End.

1990-96: With Barnett, owned and operated the Cats Meow, Wild Bar and Lucky Pierre's in New Orleans.

1991-94: With Barnett and Buffton Corp., owned and operated Mississippi Live in Minneapolis.

1995-97: Served as a consultant for Major's Casino, Las Vegas.

1998-2001: Helped obtain public facility designation and corporate sponsorship for Gilley's Dallas.

2001-03: Developed financial marketing package for Deadwood City Limits entertainment complex and hotel in Deadwood, S.D.

2003-06: Worked with Barnett on Dallas City Limits, a planned $150 million entertainment complex in downtown Dallas.

SOURCE: Spencer Taylor

www.fortworthstockyards.org

[safly]

I hear he is the REAL DEAL. Hope it all works for him and that area.

[DrkLts]

I think this is fantastic. I'm not much into the whole western thing, but I wonder if any of the clubs/bars in this new complex will continue that theme or will deversify. I been hearing about rock and hip hop clubs in the vicinity.

[hooked]

Spencer Taylor, who co-founded Billy Bob's Texas in the city's historic Stockyards District more than a quarter of a century ago, has returned to his Fort Worth roots and is again working on an entertainment-related project in the Stockyards area.
This time partnering with Fort Worth architect Ken Schaumburg, Taylor has leased seven buildings on West Exchange Avenue, between Main Street and Ellis Avenue, where each will become a different music venue, but part of one entertainment complex simply called West Exchange.

"I've been praying for over 20 years that if I could ever go back to where I started in the entertainment industry, I know I'd handle my success differently," Taylor said.

"I might be nuts," Taylor said of getting involved in the project. "But when it's God's will, things will happen."

Is it just me, or does it sound weird to say that seven new bars in the Stockyards is "God's will?" Or does the first part of that sentence explain the rest of it?

[seurto]

Spencer Taylor, who co-founded Billy Bob's Texas in the city's historic Stockyards District more than a quarter of a century ago, has returned to his Fort Worth roots and is again working on an entertainment-related project in the Stockyards area.
This time partnering with Fort Worth architect Ken Schaumburg, Taylor has leased seven buildings on West Exchange Avenue, between Main Street and Ellis Avenue, where each will become a different music venue, but part of one entertainment complex simply called West Exchange.

"I've been praying for over 20 years that if I could ever go back to where I started in the entertainment industry, I know I'd handle my success differently," Taylor said.

"I might be nuts," Taylor said of getting involved in the project. "But when it's God's will, things will happen."

Is it just me, or does it sound weird to say that seven new bars in the Stockyards is "God's will?" Or does the first part of that sentence explain the rest of it?

LOL

[texastrill]

I think this is fantastic. I'm not much into the whole western thing, but I wonder if any of the clubs/bars in this new complex will continue that theme or will deversify. I been hearing about rock and hip hop clubs in the vicinity.

I always thought E. Exchange should be kept as it is"the Western thang",and Exchange west of Main St. should be diverse when it comes to bars/clubs.So the tourists and the "cowboys" can have their part and us locals can have ours to party!

[Now in Denton]

Mr. 900 ft tower Ken Schaumburg? and Spencer Taylor? Is he the one who tried to sweep off the feet of the people at Dallas city hall with a glitsy video about year or so ago? On what he wanted to do in DTDallas. But in the end Dallas said its nice but you have nothing to show you can do this project. And the whole thing was droped.

If so....... do we need to really talk about this project ?

[Dallastar]

Mr. 900 ft tower Ken Schaumburg? and Spencer Taylor? Is he the one who tried to sweep off the feet of the people at Dallas city hall with a glitsy video about year or so ago? On what he wanted to do in DTDallas. But in the end Dallas said its nice but you have nothing to show you can do this project. And the whole thing was droped.

If so....... do we need to really talk about this project ?

That would be him, NID. He's given credit for projects that never came to fruition.

[Fort Worthology]

Mr. 900 ft tower Ken Schaumburg? and Spencer Taylor? Is he the one who tried to sweep off the feet of the people at Dallas city hall with a glitsy video about year or so ago? On what he wanted to do in DTDallas. But in the end Dallas said its nice but you have nothing to show you can do this project. And the whole thing was droped.

If so....... do we need to really talk about this project ?

Well, I never thought I'd be defending Ken (I was right in there with cracks about the Ionic Breeze Tower project), but he actually does have quite a few nice projects under his belt. Pecan Place condos & Cassidy Corner (though I don't like the style), Schaumburg Lofts, Le Bijou (going up now), the Versailles, 959 W. Bluff Street Lofts, that sort of thing.

[texastrill]

Mr. 900 ft tower Ken Schaumburg? and Spencer Taylor? Is he the one who tried to sweep off the feet of the people at Dallas city hall with a glitsy video about year or so ago? On what he wanted to do in DTDallas. But in the end Dallas said its nice but you have nothing to show you can do this project. And the whole thing was droped.

If so....... do we need to really talk about this project ?

Well, I never thought I'd be defending Ken (I was right in there with cracks about the Ionic Breeze Tower project), but he actually does have quite a few nice projects under his belt. Pecan Place condos & Cassidy Corner (though I don't like the style), Schaumburg Lofts, Le Bijou (going up now), the Versailles, 959 W. Bluff Street Lofts, that sort of thing.

Any info on The Ruins?

[JKC]

"I've been praying for over 20 years that if I could ever go back to where I started in the entertainment industry, I know I'd handle my success differently," Taylor said.

"I might be nuts," Taylor said of getting involved in the project. "But when it's God's will, things will happen."

Is it just me, or does it sound weird to say that seven new bars in the Stockyards is "God's will?" Or does the first part of that sentence explain the rest of it?

i wondered if anyone else would have that question!!!

[DrkLts]

^^^ Well, it does seen kinda odd.
Then again the bible does say Jesus turned water into wine for some kinda festival. So I guess alcohol isn't the devil's nectar afterall. Just use it, don't abuse it

[renamerusk]

 

I don't understand why they would use that word either, I've never even heard of Billy Bob's.
 

 

 

Oh really!; but isn't this your post?

 

TAKING STOCKYARDS
Proposed entertainment complex designed to bring locals back to StockyardsBy Sandra Baker
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

STAR-TELEGRAM/RON JENKINS
Spencer Taylor plans to revive West Exchange in three phases.
More photosFORT WORTH - Spencer Taylor, who co-founded Billy Bob's Texas in the city's historic Stockyards District more than a quarter of a century ago, has returned to his Fort Worth roots and is again working on an entertainment-related project in the Stockyards area.

This time partnering with Fort Worth architect Ken Schaumburg, Taylor has leased seven buildings on West Exchange Avenue, between Main Street and Ellis Avenue, where each will become a different music venue, but part of one entertainment complex simply called West Exchange.

"If we do a monster job, and we're half as good as we think we are, we can make West Exchange Avenue the No. 1 entertainment spot in Fort Worth," Taylor said. "All I want to do is do good, and complement everyone in the Stockyards."

Hoping to have the project open in time for his 60th birthday on April 20, Taylor said this will probably be his last venture.

"I've been praying for over 20 years that if I could ever go back to where I started in the entertainment industry, I know I'd handle my success differently," Taylor said.

Taylor has a long and storied past in the entertainment world, which began in the early 1970s with some Fort Worth bars, including Spencer's Corner near Texas Christian University. His projects took him to the bustle of Dallas' West End, to raucous Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and to the wilds of Deadwood, S.D.

Most recently, he was working on an entertainment complex off the Dallas North Tollway in Addison, as well as some projects with Schaumburg elsewhere in Fort Worth.

His projects have been among the area's highest-profile and highest-revenue producers. He has also been bankrupt.

Steven Murrin, who owns several properties in the Stockyards, including some that Taylor is leasing, and who has headed the Stockyards Business Association, said the area has waited for more than 30 years for someone to step in and bring a cohesive development plan.

"If Spencer can pull this off, it will be one of the most exciting things happening in the Stockyards in many years," Murrin said.

Taylor hit it big when he co-founded Billy Bob's Texas in the Stockyards with Billy Bob Barnett in 1981. The bar was highly successful until 1988, when it fell on hard times and closed. Later, an investor group reopened its doors and the venue again became a world-renowned honky-tonk, featuring some of the biggest names in country-Western music.

Pam Minnick, marketing director for Billy Bob's Texas, said Taylor's best attributes are his innovative ideas, and the knowledge and experience to make clubs work. Billy Bob's Texas still uses some of the inventory controls that Taylor developed and put into place when he owned the club, she said.

"He's a risk-taker," Minnick said. "It's my hope that it doesn't divvy up the traffic already coming here, but bring more people to the area."

Taylor said he is drawing on his nearly four decades of experience in the industry to make West Exchange work.

He plans to revive the street in three phases.

The first phase will take in both sides of the western half of the 100 block of West Exchange Avenue, which in recent years has seen businesses come and go, and open seven live entertainment venues that will operate all week.

Three of the locations, Spinner's Blues Bar, Grace Live and Wiggie's Karaoke Bar, are named for his three children. Another, Cadillac, is the name of one of his former Stockyards bars.

It wasn't until just a few months ago, though, that Taylor even began putting his plan together. He had been living in Roanoke the past couple of years and was having lunch with Bevely Hughes, who handled marketing for Billy Bob's when it first opened. He said he hadn't seen Hughes in many years and they met to catch up on old times.

While eating at the Star Cafe on West Exchange Avenue, owner Don Boles, a longtime Taylor friend, told him that the Longhorn Saloon, one of the oldest joints in the Stockyards area, had closed.

"I didn't know that it needed help," Taylor said.

At that point, Taylor said he just couldn't hold back and set out to bring the area up to its potential - and what he had envisioned years ago that it could be.

"I might be nuts," Taylor said of getting involved in the project. "But when it's God's will, things will happen."

One of his goals is to bring more local residents back into the Stockyards. The historic district has about 2.2 million visitors a year, said Kristin Liggett, president of the Fort Worth Stockyards Business Association.

Liggett said she hopes the development on West Exchange Avenue will bring a cohesiveness to the businesses on East Exchange Avenue.

"We think it's great," Liggett said. "We welcome any new businesses in the Stockyards."

About six months ago, Schaumburg hired Taylor to put together some en-tertainment possibilities for his Left Bank development, a 25-acre project of town houses, restaurants and nightclubs planned for the west side of the Trinity River, off West Seventh Street, and for The Ruins, a 23-story condo tower he plans at Peach Street and Lexington Avenue.

That's when Taylor stumbled into the Stockyards deal and presented it to Schaumburg, who became an equal, but silent, partner.

"For him, it's like going back home," Schaumburg said. "It was a real easy deal to put together. I would not have anything to do with the entertainment business if wasn't for Spencer."

The buildings are all vacant, and most have had their interiors demolished, Taylor said.

Now, it's just a matter of renovating the building interiors, getting their marketing campaigns running and waiting for liquor licenses before they can open.

"It's definitely a homecoming," Taylor said. "People here like me and it's going to be a wonderful project because of that."

Spencer Taylor's bar biography

1973-80: Owned and operated Spencer's Corner, Spencer's Palace and the Daily Double, in Fort Worth; Players in Arlington.

1980-82: With Billy Bob Barnett, owned and operated Cowtown, Pick 'N Parlor, the Maverick and the Cadillac, all in the Stockyards.

1981-84: With Barnett, owned and operated Billy Bob's of Texas.

1984-90: Owned and operated Dallas Alley in Dallas' historic West End.

1990-96: With Barnett, owned and operated the Cats Meow, Wild Bar and Lucky Pierre's in New Orleans.

1991-94: With Barnett and Buffton Corp., owned and operated Mississippi Live in Minneapolis.

1995-97: Served as a consultant for Major's Casino, Las Vegas.

1998-2001: Helped obtain public facility designation and corporate sponsorship for Gilley's Dallas.

2001-03: Developed financial marketing package for Deadwood City Limits entertainment complex and hotel in Deadwood, S.D.

2003-06: Worked with Barnett on Dallas City Limits, a planned $150 million entertainment complex in downtown Dallas.

SOURCE: Spencer Taylor

www.fortworthstockyards.org

[Austin55]

Did you just use a 7 year old post to call a guy out?  I'm impressed.

Edited by John T Roberts, 24 August 2014 - 12:41 PM.

[renamerusk]

Did you just use a 7 year old post to call a guy out?  I'm impressed.

 

Yep! There are additional posts but this one jumped out rather easily.

 

Dallastar might take the opportunity to attend a local benefit and sports auction at Billy Bob's that will highlighted by prizes from all of the Fort Worth Area professional teams-

 

http://billybobstexa...enefit-concert/

Edited by John T Roberts, 24 August 2014 - 12:41 PM.

[Dallastar]

 

Did you just use a 7 year old post to call a guy out?  I'm impressed.

 

Yep! There are additional posts but this one jumped out rather easily.

 

Dallastar might take the opportunity to attend a local benefit and sports auction at Billy Bob's that will highlighted by prizes from all of the Fort Worth Area professional teams-

 

http://billybobstexa...enefit-concert/

 

I stand corrected!  I am also impressed.  In my defense, most articles that I post I do not read, if it has a particular catching headline I just post it, but I did a little research after I submitted my last post, and did remember that Billy Bob's is a Honkey Tonk or Worlds largest or something to that degree, which maybe is why I did not know what it was.  I can surely say that I've never been to one.

[renamerusk]

I stand corrected!  I am also impressed. 

 

It is all in the spirit of good and accurate debate.  Peace.

[Dallastar]

 

I stand corrected!  I am also impressed. 

 

It is all in the spirit of good and accurate debate.  Peace.

 

It's all good bro!