AT&T Discovery District Gets a New Boss: Jerry Jones

CultureMap reported last week that Legends Hospitality has taken over management of AT&T Discovery District, including the food hall, The Exchange.

The entertainment district is adjacent to AT&T's corporate headquarters downtown. It's a brilliant, energetic block with some green-ish space, water features, restaurants, bars and art. On weekends the area is a great space for art fairs and food events. Some evenings, families gather on the plaza to watch movies and Cowboys games on the giant 104-foot media wall.

The food hall houses many locally owned spaces like Revolver Taco, The Dock, Saturday Morning Cereal, Monkey King Noodle, Birdie, Easy Slider and ZaLat Pizza. When the weather is behaving and not trying to murder everyone with broiler breath, big glass doors on the front of The Exchange open onto the plaza. It's big fun, sometimes downright lovely.

The Exchange opened just after the worst of the pandemic had passed but, alas, after workers downtown had already headed for the hills. Some of those workers have trickled back, but much of the customer base for downtown comes from events at the convention center. The Exchange has experienced some bumps through it all.

Last week a large restaurant just outside The Exchange, Jaxon Texas Kitchen and Beer Garden, closed. A more upscale upstairs area inside the food hall has changed hands a couple of times over the years. Rise and Thyme, an anchor spot that served breakfast and lunch, closed last year. And a wall of to-go lockers on one side of the food hall has sat empty, never seeming to be in use and appearing to remain unused. Looking through the website, there's no way to order ahead from any of the restaurants.

Enter Legends Hospitality stage right. Legends is the hand behind many a bucket of popcorn at sporting events around the U.S. That's actually putting it extremely mildly. Legends got its start in 2008 when Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones created a joint business venture with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
Together they established a hospitality venture that provided concessions at AT&T Stadium and the then-new Yankee Stadium, along with some affiliated teams. In 2017, less than a decade after its launch, this hot dog and peanut pusher had $750 million in annual revenue. Partnerships include Manchester City Football club, the San Francisco 49ers, the University of Notre Dame, the Dallas Mavericks and One World Observatory in New York City.

If anyone can take The Exchange to another level, Legends can. AT&T Discovery District announced last week on social media that Legends Hospitality is the new management team, adding, "Stay tuned for details on a new restaurant and upgrades to the District in the coming weeks."

We spoke to the owner of The Dock, Brett Curtis, a longtime tenant at The Exchange. He said they had a brief meeting a couple of weeks ago about the management transition, and he's optimistic.

"Legends is taking over the whole district, from promotions and marketing, events and the food hall," Curtis says. "It's refreshing, actually. People will be there, boots on the ground, which will be really good."

Curtis says the leadership team at Legends is asking the right questions and everyone seems to be excited, adding that business has been a bit of a rollercoaster: some good times, some bad, although this late spring and summer, he says things have picked up for his seafood spot. He looks forward to coordinating with big local events, like FIFA, in a few years.

As far as the restaurants currently at The Exchange, Curtis says there's been no mention of anyone moving in or out.

The Legends job board has several postings for The Exchange, from line cooks to a director of finance and operations manager for the Discovery District.