W Dallas and the Victory Project

Opened in August as the beachhead of the Victory Project surrounding the American Airlines Center, home to the fabled Ghost Bar and Craft restaurant, inaccessible except through a small valet stand....it's the W Dallas-Victory hotel. The hotel features the zen-inspired sleekness seen at other W locations. There is a 16th floor fitness center, featuring the Bliss Spa and an infinty-edge pool with skyline views. The W's numerous floors of condo residences are capped with a private helipad.

Once the Victory project is fully developed, the hotel will be in the thick of things: shopping, business, entertainment, sporting and restaurants. The hotel is part of a larger project by the Hillwood group which will feature several other office buildings, condominium and apartment tower developments--including the Starck + Yoo project, and the Mandarin Oriental hotel. A fly-through model of the entire neighborhood's development is available on You Tube. Although there are numerous concerns over the use of tax incentives to build such upscale development on a previous brownfield, the infill into Uptown is testament to the interest in more urban, modern living, closer to downtown.

The photo of the W's serene travertine staircase is from the Dallas Daily Photo blog, while the exterior shot is from the Dallas Metropolis web forums, where several contributors are tracking the progress of architecture Uptown and Downtown.