Centurion Retools Former Crowne Plaza in Addison

A long-shuttered legacy hotel in Addison is getting a second life, aiming to appeal to the small town’s businesses and tourists.

A top-to-bottom renovation by Mehrdad Moayedi’s Centurion American Development Group is nearly complete at the former Crowne Plaza at 14315 Midway Road, rebranding the 426-room property as Hotel Dax. The project will have nearly 32,000 square feet of redesigned meeting space, four new dining concepts, a resort-style pool and a TopGolf Swing Suite, positioning the hotel as a business-and-leisure hybrid aimed at both visitors and locals, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

An LLC affiliated with Centurion acquired the property in August, and the hotel is expected to open early next year. The investment marks one of the more significant hospitality upgrades in Addison, a town of roughly 18,000 known for its dense concentration of restaurants and steady corporate traffic.

Moayedi said in a statement that there is demand for higher-quality meeting and event space in Addison, and that Hotel Dax is meant to add options to the town.

While Centurion is best known for master-planned residential communities — including massive developments underway in Fort Worth, Gunter and Denison — the firm has a track record with high-profile hotel redevelopments. Most notably, it spearheaded the $255 million restoration of downtown Dallas’ Statler Hotel, reopening the 1950s landmark in 2017 as a luxury, midcentury-inspired destination.

The Addison project required a similarly heavy lift. The Crowne Plaza closed in April 2020 amid financial strain and mounting repair costs tied to weather damage. Built in 1984 and renovated as recently as 2013, the hotel previously earned InterContinental Hotels Group’s “renovation of the year” award prior to its decline. Before its Crowne Plaza branding, the property operated as a Harvey Hotel.

This time, Centurion gutted the interior entirely, according to a company spokesperson, while keeping the building’s exterior structure largely intact, including its signature glass ceiling. Dallas-based Merriman Anderson Architects led the interior redesign, and Dreamscape Hospitality will manage the hotel.

The new food-and-beverage lineup is central to the repositioning. Concepts include Top Brass, an American bistro with Southern influences; Bar Dax, a social and sports bar; an outdoor pool lounge open to locals as well as for private events; and Brewed, a coffee shop and grab-and-go market. The hotel is also participating in Marriott Bonvoy, tying it into the brand’s global loyalty network.— Eric Weilbacher