Foundry District Expansion Includes a Taste of Dallas’ Sweet Tooth Hotel

BY SAMANTHA CALIMBAHIN, FORT WORTH MAGAZINE, MAY 12, 2021

Fort Worth will soon be getting its own taste of Dallas’ immersive Sweet Tooth Hotel exhibit, but among expansion plans for The Foundry District and its Inspiration Alley, well, let’s say that’s just the icing on the cake.

Real estate company M2G Ventures — the developers behind The Foundry District just north of West Seventh Street behind Montgomery Plaza — announced Wednesday that a major expansion is coming to the area starting in June. It will kick off with the opening of The Sweet Tooth Motel, an offshoot of The Sweet Tooth Hotel in Dallas, on June 5.

For those unfamiliar, The Sweet Tooth Hotel is a 5,000-square-foot experiential art venue and bar in Dallas’s Victory Park, marked by walkthrough installations that have become a hotspot for selfies. A mini version of that concept will set up at The Foundry and showcase art from the past two years of Sweet Tooth Hotel exhibits alongside new work. 

But that’s not all M2G has planned for the district. The Foundry will also be expanding its wall-to-wall outdoor mural gallery, Inspiration Alley, unveiling new works by local artists lining Carroll Street to Vacek Street.

Additionally, Fort Worth Bike Sharing will set up a new cycle station with specialty branded bikes called “unicorn cycles” that integrate design and art by M2G’s chief creative officer Katie Murray. The bikes will be available for citywide use and also allow for curated riding events and programming that start and end in The Foundry.

Also rolling out throughout the rest of the year will be placemaking initiatives like landmark signage, district-wide wayfinding, and tenant expansions, among others.

“Our hope is that this new expansion will excite and spark new energy among our neighbors and community while continuing to put Fort Worth on the map for innovation,” M2G co-president Jessica Miller Essl said in a statement. “This launch is just the beginning of what we have planned for 2021. We decided to set our plans into motion with a focus on art, but this phase is the first of many exciting placemaking initiatives that will include landmark signage, district-wide wayfinding, Fort Worth bike share partnership, anchor tenant expansions, with more details coming over the next few months.”