Updated Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie includes new bar

by Rita Cook of The Assignment Desk, DFW

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The renovations cost $3 million.

GRAND PRAIRIE — Visitors to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie will notice a $3 million facelift. The old Post Time Pavilion was given a relatively large overhaul and has been re-named Bar & Book.

“It was identified that the main simulcast facility had gone through considerable decline in the last 15 years,” said G. W. Hail, vice president and assistant general manager of Lone Star Park. “This is the cash cow of our facility 363 days a year, so [it was] the first area shored up.”

The construction began in July. The City of Grand Prairie paid $1 million of the cost of the renovation and Global Gaming Solutions LLC paid the additional $2 million. Management hopes to see a 10 percent increase in attendance with the new renovations.

At the start of the project, the entire facility was gutted, with only the exterior left standing. It's now a 36,000 square-foot "Las Vegas style" simulcast racebook, sports bar, and restaurant.

The Bar and Book’s centerpiece is the enclosed sports bar with big screen televisions, a dinner menu, 12 beers on draft, 60 beers from around the world, and a full bar. The enclosed sports bar now allows the venue to show any sport on its televisions. Global Gaming Solutions LLC, the company that acquired Lone Star Park in May 2011, hopes it will attract horse racing entertainment facility. “We want our footprint to be more than horse racing, and this was the appropriate time to do it since Dallas is a sports town and it has recently been taken to the next level,” Hail said.

Hail also pointed out the non-smoking areas in the racebook, which did not exist before.

“Overall, it’s more comfortable for the casual sports fan,” he said, detailing the eleven 32-inch dedicated flat screen televisions and three projection televisions. The racebook can fit nearly 250 customers with individual racing carrels and televisions, half of which are in the non-smoking area.

The new facility has an industrial look, with a granite bar that looks like concrete, said Kevin Craig of Kevin Craig Architects.

Bar & Book’s soft opening took place in early December, but Hail says there are still a few things to be done in order to complete the renovation. Next up for capital improvements are the installation of an HDTV jumbotron, and, on the backside, the barn area will undergo changes. They'll be most noticeable to horsemen, said Hail.

The horse racing season begins Thursday, April 12.

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