The former T&P Tavern station dining room will be combined with the adjacent 1931 vintage ballroom and offered for lease as a dramatic, landmark restaurant and events center, according to Trinity Metro’s plans.
The Fort Worth-based transit agency purchased the tavern and concourse patio at the Fort Worth T&P Station in July, allowing the agency to find one tenant for the spaces at 221 W. Lancaster Ave., a spokesperson confirmed.
Such a large restaurant would become a major anchor on the south side of downtown Fort Worth. It would also be a destination for commuters and tourists arriving by train from Dallas or DFW Airport to the station, which is across from the planned hotels and the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The 5,400-square-foot ballroom, formerly the Main Waiting Room of the Texas & Pacific Railway Terminal, is one of Fort Worth’s most photographed landmarks.
It features 35-foot ceilings, ornate chandeliers and classic 1920s Zigzag Modern-era Art Deco architecture of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building in New York City.
Now that Trinity Metro owns both the cafe and the ballroom, “we are looking for a tenant who can use both properties,” Laura Hanna of Trinity Metro wrote by email.
When the restaurant closed in July after 14 years, it still looked the same as it did when it was the dining room that served eastbound and westbound passenger trains and welcomed celebrities like President Harry Truman or singer Elvis Presley.
Trinity Metro rents out the ballroom for large events.
