Officials from the Opryland Hospitality Group and its parent company, Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET), were joined in the ceremony by representatives of the City of Grapevine and a group of meeting professionals who already have booked meetings at the property.

�The Opryland Hotel Texas will reflect the proud history and spirit of Texas,� said David Jones, president and chief executive officer of the Opryland Hospitality Group.  �It will exemplify all of the great attributes of Texas and therefore will be more than just a hotel.  It will be a true destination unto itself.�

The site of the $400 million Opryland Hotel Texas is on 77 acres at the southern end of Lake Grapevine, just 15 minutes from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.  The hotel, designed to combine the grand architectural elements of a Texas mansion with the rustic feel of a working ranch, is targeted to open in the spring of 2003.

In addition to its 1,500 guest rooms, the hotel will offer 400,000 square feet of pre-function, meeting and exhibition space.  Its meeting and exhibit space will include a 178,000-square-foot exhibit hall and three ballrooms, the largest of which will cover 48,000 square feet, more than an acre.  It will employ approximately 1,700 people and have an annual economic impact of more than $400 million on the region.

The Opryland Hotel Texas will be the third hotel to fly the Opryland flag.  The original is the 2,884-room Opryland Hotel Nashville, and the second is the 1,400-room Opryland Hotel Florida, which will open in February 2002 in Kissimmee-St. Cloud, five minutes from the main gate of Walt Disney World.  A fourth property is in the development stages in the Washington, D.C. market.

�Starting in 1977, the Opryland Hotel Nashville developed the concept of having complete entertainment, conventions, meetings and exhibition facilities directly in a hotel.  The property now is the largest combined hotel and convention center under one roof anywhere, and we are extremely well established in our primary markets of meetings, conventions, and exhibitions,� Jones said.

�When we announced our development plan, the meeting planner community said the Dallas-Fort Worth area is of prime importance.  We are delighted we found a home in Grapevine.  More than a year-and-a-half of work with the city, our neighbors and the Corps of Engineers went into today�s groundbreaking.  It truly is a great day,� Jones continued.

The groundbreaking ceremony, staged at high noon, was highlighted by a pyrotechnic branding of the Opryland Hotel Texas logo (the Texas Star) onto a specially constructed barn facade.  A crane suspended a 3,000-pound branding iron above the wood, which had been laid flat on the ground.

After the branding, ceremony participants pulled ropes to �raise the barn� and show off the eight foot-wide, twenty-four-foot-long Opryland Hotel logo branding iron.

The Opryland Hotel Texas branding iron logo will be carried over into the completed hotel.  The signature architectural element of all Opryland Hotels is a substantial glass-roofed atrium, and the one for the Opryland Hotel Texas will cover four acres of indoor gardens, Texas-themed restaurants and other amenities.  The crown of the atrium will feature a gigantic Lone Star design, clearly visible to airplane passengers arriving at DFW.
 

Complementing the attractions of the Opryland Hotel Texas itself will be the nearby Grapevine Mills entertainment and retail complex, a Bass Pro Shops� Outdoor World and numerous golfing opportunities.  The Dallas Cowboys Golf Club is building an 18-hole championship course just minutes from the hotel site, and the hotel is negotiating with Evergreen Alliance, developer and operator of the Dallas Cowboys Golf Club course, on another course.  That course would be an 18-hole executive course surrounding the hotel.  Nearby are 27 holes on municipal courses, making a total of 63 holes available to hotel guests. �The Opryland Hotel Texas will be strategically located in the middle of the country.  Its hometown of Grapevine is charming, and its neighboring cities of

Opryland Hotel Texas Aerial View

Contracts for more than 50,000 room nights were signed during the groundbreaking event.  Companies and associations that committed to Opryland Hotel Texas conventions were the Army Aviation Association, Carpet One, Inc., Harley Davidson Motor Company, Home Interiors, Meeting Professionals International, Southwest Society of Orthodontists, Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association and the Texas Society of Association Executives.

The Opryland Hotel Texas is part of Gaylord Entertainment, a diversified entertainment company operating in three business groups: hospitality and attractions, creative content and interactive media.  Among its properties are WSM Radio and the Grand Ole Opry, Opryland Hotels, the Ryman Auditorium, Acuff-Rose Music Publishing, Word Entertainment, Opryland Productions, WWTN Radio, the Wildhorse Saloon, Gaylord Sports Management, Musicforce.com, MusicCountry.com, Lightsource.com and Country Music Television International.  It is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: GET).