While Irving, Texas, has long been a popular Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex meetings and business travel destination, new entertainment options that primarily draw leisure visitors have provided a jolt to its non-transient traffic.
This transformation into a bleisure magnet is augmented by a new ultra-luxury Ritz-Carlton resort entering the market that even further raises the profile of a destination that has always enjoyed an impressive roster of Fortune 500 companies that live, work and play in its master planned Las Colinas neighborhood.
“The city was well built for residents and businesses—from a functional standpoint, especially for corporate-related travel, it worked really well,” said Maura Gast, executive director for Visit Irving, Texas. “But where we always were challenged was on the ‘what’s there to do when we’re done for the day’ piece, and we have those pieces now. Our hotels have those pieces. Now the convention center has those pieces.”
Now, Irving is stealing the music spotlight from nearby Dallas and Fort Worth with superstars, world-renown headliners, local bands and talented regional artists taking to the stage in this Metroplex hot spot, with top-shelf venues such as the Toyota Music Factory and its Live Nation Pavilion topping the charts.
[Related: How Irving, Texas, has Transformed Into a Bleisure Magnet]
Headliner Irving Entertainment Venues
The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Located in the Toyota Music Factory entertainment district, Live Nation’s The Pavilion has a capacity for 4,000 inside and another 4,000 on the lawn, with giant airplane hangar roll-up doors that open to the lawn seating.
The venue offers a total of 100,000 square feet of private event areas and holds the distinction of being one of the few convertible concert venues in the U.S. that has the capacity to change from a climate-controlled indoor environment to an indoor/outdoor amphitheater with the push of a button.
The venue’s VIP Toyota Lounge can accommodate 50 and features a sizable lobby space that planners can use for creative activations. The 40-acre site on which it’s located also includes the Irving Convention Center and the Westin Irving Convention Center.
Toyota Music Factory
Located behind The Pavilion, the Toyota Music Factory boasts dozens of restaurants and bars, including what’s described as the “ultimate honkytonk,” Mama Tried. Now owned by Brookfield Asset Management, the district is set to welcome $6 million in upgrades scheduled for an October completion.
A highlight of Toyota Music Factory is the Texas Lottery Plaza, an open-air stage surrounded by a variety of restaurant options, that will also be part of the renovation.
The Rayleigh Underground
This aptly named new two-story stunner in Toyota Music Factory is tucked under the lawn of The Pavilion’s amphitheater and boasts an “underground dinner theater” vibe with indoor and outdoor dining and five bars. Like a Las Vegas dinner theater experience updated for the 21st century, the 38,000-square-foot Rayleigh Underground is an audiovisual extravaganza with an 18-by-50-foot stage boasting a 36-foot video wall and multiple interactive LED screens.
Smaller Venues to Catch Rising Stars
To catch up-and-coming talent, groups can tap Irving venues such as the patio at OUTLAW Taproom, located in The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas; Two Mules Cantina at Texican Court, which serves Tex-Mex favorites steps from the convention center and has a beer garden; or the intimate stage at The Ranch at Las Colinas.
[Related: Irving Packs a Lot of Texas Into One Compact Package]
Meetings Hotel Options in Irving, Texas
Irving hotel happenings include The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas, which this year took over the former Four Seasons on 400 acres of prime Las Colinas land and offers 431 guest rooms and nearly 80,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
New-build 2023 hotel entrants include Element Dallas Las Colinas, with 157 guest rooms and 2,277 square feet of meeting space, and the Embassy Suites by Hilton Irving Las Colinas, with 168 guest rooms, four meeting rooms and 3,702 square feet of space. The Westin Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas headquarters hotel opened in 2019 with 350 guest rooms and 47,500 square feet of space.
Getting to Irving, Texas
Located in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with easy access to both major international hub DFW International Airport (nine miles) and Dallas Love Field (8.5 miles), Irving is within a three-and-half-hour flight of every major metropolitan area in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
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This article was produced in partnership with Visit Irving Texas.
