‘We can’t worship the automobile forever.’ Grapevine celebrates its grand train station

Grapevine will celebrate the grand opening of Main Station, a multimillion-dollar development featuring a food hall, a 150-foot observation tower and easy access to TEXRail trains.

The festivities at 815 S. Main Street start Saturday at 11 a.m. with a champagne toast and music from the band Decades.

Mayor William Tate said the Main Station is a “once in a century opportunity” to reshape Grapevine’s landscape and to expand the city’s economy.

“We think that whole area will re-develop and augment our Main Street,” he said.

Main Station is a transit-oriented development featuring a 38,000-square-foot Peace Plaza, 42,000-square-foot rail station featuring Harvest Hall, a European-style food hall with seven kitchens, as well as craft coffee drinks and cocktails, a 150-foot-tall Observation Tower and the new home of the Grapevine Visitor Information Center.

Main Station is also connected to Hotel Vin, a six-story, 120-room Marriott Autograph Collection property that opened late last year.

“We feel like this will be a great transportation hub for us,” said Kimberly Foster, director of marketing and brand management for the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“We’re close to DFW Airport, and we have eight highways coming into Grapevine. We are a prime location,” she said.

People coming to Grapevine Main Station will see the Peace Plaza where there are many events such as Poses on the Plaza, free yoga classes every Saturday and Thursday night jazz concerts this month.

The observation tower has four clock faces to pay homage to train stations of the past.

“If you venture out in the city, you always have the landmark (tower) to welcome you back,” Foster said.

The Hotel Vin and Harvest Hall offer entertainment with the Third Rail, which offers a pub atmosphere at Harvest Hall. There is also live music at Hotel Vin in an outdoor area called the Junction. The Junction has a sculpture of a grapevine, creating a feeling of being in a vineyard, Foster said.

Dan Weinberger, who owns Weinberger’s Deli on Main Street, said that at first, he was not a fan of the new station, but he has been there several times and is “pleased” with the project.

“They did a brilliant job with the eateries. The music and entertainment are very good. Whether they (people) eat there or on Main Street, the object is to get the exposure, and we are definitely going to get exposure,” Weinberger said.

“I see people walking all of the time toward our restaurant,” he said.

Weinberger said the atmosphere of the station is like being in Italy.

“It reminds me of Italy where you see people sitting at tables enjoying a glass of wine and enjoying the nice weather,” he said.

Jessica Cruz, who owns the Texas General Store on Main Street, said the station is bringing “more beauty to downtown Grapevine.”

“I love that more attractions are being brought to the city. That ends up driving more foot traffic to Main Street,” she said.

Tate described how he was driving along Main Street recently and saw people bringing meals from the food hall to enjoy outside while children played nearby.

“It was like a Norman Rockwell painting,” he said.

Tate said that before the pandemic, the TEXRail trains brought more people to Main Street where they frequented the restaurants and shops.

“People are gradually riding the train again…” he said. “This is the way of the future. We can’t worship the automobile forever.”