Craig Cavileer’s new firm partnering with Woodbine Development of Dallas
A new hotel and resort development is coming to the south side of the Fort Worth Stockyards — led by executives that ushered major growth in the Stockyards and the Dallas firm that developed the iconic Reunion Tower.
Fort Worth-based Delightful Development Co. and Dallas-based Woodbine Development Co. plan to develop a $160 million resort at Main Street and 23rd Street in the historic Stockyards, along 1,000 feet of Marine Creek frontage, behind Mule Alley and Hotel Drover. The new development will feature two luxury hotels totaling 200,000 square feet, 225 rooms and a three-level underground parking garage with more than 350 spaces. Construction is targeted for fall 2027 with an anticipated spring 2030 opening.
The development will also have 30,000 square feet of green space and an entertainment area with access to Marine Creek and a crossing to connect to the Lonesome Dove restaurant and Mule Alley. Other amenities include a large resort-style pool with cabanas overlooking the creek, about 18,000 square feet of meeting space and a 4,000-square-foot event barn and lawn, a 7,500-square-foot grand ballroom and a full-service day spa.
Each hotel will have a “grand living room” and lobby bar in each hotel. The area will have also feature 3,000 square feet of retail shops and five restaurants including a rooftop restaurant and bar.
The new development announcement comes as another major proposed expansion of the Stockyards by Majestic Realty Co. and Hickman Cos. was put on ice.
Groundbreaking for the Delightful Development and Woodbine project is targeted for fall 2027, with opening set for spring 2030.
Delightful Development is a new company led by Craig Cavileer and Kayla Wilkie-Kinne, two former Majestic execs that helped develop the popular Mule Alley and the Michelin-recognized Hotel Drover. Cavileer and Wilkie-Kinne also led the relocation of the RFD-TV, Cowboy Channel and Cowgirl Channel Studio and Professional Bull Riders Inc. world headquarters to the Stockyards.
Last year, Cavileer left Majestic — the company that partnered with the Hickman family to expand the Stockyards — amid a legal battle with his former employer that is still ongoing in a Los Angeles court.
After a new leader was appointed to oversee the area, Wilkie-Kinne also left Majestic on her own terms. Cavileer and Wilkie-Kinne formed Delightful Development Co. last summer.
“We loved what we created with Hotel Drover and the Stockyards development, and wanted to do that again,” Wilkie-Kinne said.
The new development is a public-private partnership with Delightful, Woodbine and the city of Fort Worth. The board that oversees the tax increment reinvestment zone for the Northside and Stockyards approved a tax increment financing development agreement with the developers Aug. 5. That agreement would provide the developer partnership State and Main LP up to $8.5 million in reimbursements for public improvements. The city estimates the project will generate $4.8 million for the tax increment reinvestment zone, which expires in 2036.
As part of the project, the developers would have to make a $160 million investment, including $112 million in hard construction costs. Construction would have to be complete by Dec. 31, 2031.
Cavileer said originally, the project was much smaller: a 75-key luxury hotel. But when the project grew after they acquired more property that wrapped around to 23rd Street, he said it was time to find a partner. That brought them to a partnership with Woodbine, the company responsible for Dallas landmarks such as Reunion Tower. Woodbine’s founder, John Scovell, received Dallas Business Journal’s Best Real Estate Deals Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.
“Woodbine brings 50 years of hospitality investment experience, and owns some of the more iconic properties in the state of Texas,” Cavileer said. “And we thought, who better than another legacy Texas family and institution to partner with? And we’re really proud to have them side by side with us.”
Woodbine, founded in 1973, has been involved with more than $11 billion in commercial real estate development including resorts, mixed-use, office, residential, industrial and masterplanned projects. In Fort Worth, the company in 2016 developed a 180,000-square-foot class A office in Clearfork, the 270-acre mixed-use development at Edward Ranch.
Dupree Scovell, managing partner and chief investment officer for Woodbine and the founder’s son, called the development a “marquee project” in the Stockyards.
“The location of the resort is iconic as it sits at the gateway to the Historic District, which for the past five years has garnered national and international attention with visitation exceeding 10 million annual visits each year from local, regional, national and international travelers,” he said.
For Cavileer and Wilke-Kinne, the Stockyards is one of several project sites across they have across the state under the new company. Delightful is under contract to acquire the historic Williamson County Jail in Georgetown, in Central Texas, with plans to convert it to a possible hotel or restaurant, according to the Austin Business Journal.
Cavileer welcomes the return to the Stockyards, where he and Wilkie-Kinne spent thousands of hours working across the years.
“I would say it’s more of a return to passion,” Cavileer said. “The fact that it sits across Marine Creek from the Drover, is just the facts of circumstances. It certainly wasn’t by design, and I think we’re just proud to be back in the neighborhood, so to speak. And I think we’ve got a lot to add and contribute to the stockyards in the city of Fort Worth.”