By Winston Henvey — April 13, 2023
In the coming months, Mesquite City Council will look at potential updates to its Iron Horse development.
Iron Horse is a 54-acre mixed-use development consisting of retail, restaurant, office and residential uses. It is encompassed by Rodeo Drive, Scyene Road, Stadium Drive and Rodeo Center Boulevard.
The plan approved by Mesquite City Council in 2019 includes 51 single family bungalow homes, 30 single-family villas, 57 single‐family urban row homes, 198 single‐family townhomes and 130,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space.
According to Mesquite City Manager Cliff Keheley, the developer wanted to add a hotel to support incoming restaurants and entertainment uses.
According to Planning Manager Garret Langford, there was an extended-stay hotel on the east side of Rodeo Centre Boulevard.
At the meeting, Juan Vasquez, representing the developer, admitted that the applicants had not reached out to residents with their new plans. The item was denied by the committee unanimously.
Five residents said they wanted to stay with the original plan with the restaurants, retail, and walking trails. This was the main reason for purchasing their homes there.
Christopher Degler spoke against the proposed changes to the development. He said he understood commercial uses would be at the location instead of the hotel and was worried about clutter, crime and taking away from the area’s potential affluence.
Taylor Arnold said he moved from Dallas to Mesquite for a clean and new walkable area and was against potential cluttering.
Fabian Fernandez expressed concern that hotel tenants would throw trash into the neighborhood.
Degler, Arnold and Fernandez said they were concerned about crime and hotel clustering.
Terry Thomas said he wanted to see commercial uses in Mesquite, not a hotel.
Emily Clement said the current hotels are always empty and that hotels were not a part of the master plan.
The city is currently working with Centurion America – the owner of the Rodeo and the developer of Iron Horse – to update the master plan to improve traffic flow and parking in the area, along with some potential updates to the convention center, Keheley said.
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