April 20, 2026

By Mary Beth Gahan

In 2017, the town entered into a Chapter 380 agreement with a developer to bring Unscripted, a five-story full-service hotel, to the west side of Long Prairie south of the Lakeside Parkway. In addition to the 60,000-square-foot hotel with 24-hour room service and up to 140 rooms and suites, the developer promised to build about 15 townhomes, as well as 90,000 square feet of restaurant and retail. In all, the construction build-out would value $55 million, according to planning documents.

In exchange, the developer, Newstream Resorts and Hotels, would get a myriad of incentives like a grant for 50 percent of real and business personal property taxes paid over 7 years and a 75 percent rebate of Hotel Occupancy Tax for five years.

The developer missed a performance deadline and the town extended the agreement in 2018 and again in 2019.

The proposed hotel brand changed several times in that period. And in 2022, the developer, Scott Tarwater, died.

A portion of the property, including the townhomes, has been developed.

Tonight, town council will hear the plans from a different developer for a proposed extended stay hotel on that spot.

Realty Capital is asking to amend the planned development to allow an extended stay hotel by right, as well as some exceptions to the parking ratio and architectural standards.

The planning and zoning commission recommended denial in February after Lakeside residents expressed concerns about parking and perceptions about the type of customers that kind of hotel might draw in.

Prior to the planning and zoning commission meeting, town staff received 45 emails in opposition to the project and 5 in favor.

The developer is hoping to build a five-story Residence Inn by Marriott.

North Texas Sun reached out to Nic Ready, with Realty Capital, and David Stewart, Managing Partner of Lakeside Village. Stewart sent an article written by himself about a meeting that Jimmy Archie, managing partner of Realty Capital, had with Lakeside Crossing residents at Los Caminos. Stewart and Ready did not respond to questions that were emailed on April 6 regarding any changes that have been made to the application since the planning and zoning commission meeting, why there was a two-month delay between that meeting and tonight’s town council meeting, or what the residents thought after the meeting with Archie.

In the story written by Stewart, he said average nightly rates at some Residence Inn locations in the Metroplex show that the all-suite hotels “reflect the quality of their surroundings.” If approved, Lakeside Crossing’s Residence Inn is expected to have rates around $190 per night with an average stay of three nights, Stewart wrote.

The developer is asking for less than one parking space per hotel room, which is less than the town currently allows. With 138 proposed rooms, the hotel would need to have 138 parking spaces to be in line with town standards. Realty Capital is proposing 105 parking spaces.

Kevin Hutchins, a resident of Lakeside, said at the planning and zoning commission meeting that parking was his biggest concern.

“That existing parking lot on weeknights gets full pretty quick,” Hutchins said.

Stewart wrote that a parking lot near the townhomes was built for the future hotel, but has been used by restaurant-goers and residents throughout the years. Archie, in the meeting with residents, said residents are parking in the spots closest to their unit, rather than street parking designated for residential use.

“Due to the town’s decision not to enforce parking rules on the public streets, our parking is in a state of anarchy,” Archie suggested. “That hurts our customers, our businesses, the town, and us.”

Because the planning and zoning commission recommended denial, the project requires a super majority of town council to approve the changes.