Kimpton Harper Hotel

A century-old bank tower turned 226-room Kimpton in the middle of downtown Fort Worth, built around a penthouse whiskey bar and an Italian restaurant rather than a pool or spa. It's one of the more thoroughly documented adaptive-reuse hotel openings in the state.

The place

The hotel occupies 714 Main Street in downtown Fort Worth, a block from Sundance Square and roughly three miles from the Fort Worth Stockyards. The address places guests inside the city's main entertainment and dining district rather than at its edge, with the hotel's own 24th-floor bar doubling as one of downtown's higher vantage points over the skyline and surrounding plains.

The concept

The Harper is an adaptive reuse, not a new build: the 24-story tower was constructed in 1921 by local firm Sanguinet & Staats as headquarters for the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank, and was for a time the tallest building in Fort Worth. It later served as the headquarters of XTO Energy before Memphis-based developer Development Services Group, Inc. bought and converted it into a hotel using historic tax credits, opening on the building's 100th anniversary. Architecture firm Bennett Benner Partners handled the conversion in coordination with state and local historic preservation officers, while interior designer Cynthia Forchielli of Forchielli Glynn furnished the 226 rooms and suites (including 31 one-bedroom suites) with brass fixtures and mid-century-inflected pieces. Kimpton operates the brand; day-to-day management sits with Pivot, the lifestyle-hotel division of Davidson Hospitality Group.

Dining & wellness

Il Modo, a ground-floor contemporary Italian restaurant led by chef Matt Williams, and Refinery 714, a whiskey-focused cocktail lounge occupying the building's 24th-floor penthouse, are the hotel's two publicized F&B outlets, alongside in-room dining. The hotel has no pool and no spa; the fitness center is furnished with Peloton bikes, and the property markets more than 10,000 square feet of event space in the former bank's ground-floor halls.