The fast-track schedule is due to convention bookings, a revised design and the corporation's improved fiscal picture, GlobeSt.com is told by a Gaylord contact. Construction came to a standstill last year, but restarted about a month ago as Gaylord completed sales in its homeport. "There's a real good buzz at the site," says the corporate contact. The stepped-up plan also means 1,900 jobs will be put in place sooner than anticipated.

The April 2004 bookings are definitely conventions, but no one's allowed to say who it is at this time. Bookings for 2005 and 2006 also have been coming in particularly strong, according to the contact. The resort will contain 400,000 sf of convention, exhibition and meeting space. It's a one-of-a-kind destination for the central US, says Reed.

The project has been re-ignited by $30.8 million from the sale of the Opry Mills shopping center in Nashville to Virginia-based Mills Corp.; $64 million from the feds' economic stimulus coffer; and will get an added boost from $157 million that will be realized in mid-August from the sale of the Acuff-Rose Music Publishing Catalog.

With every Texas metropolis working on a convention center expansion, it's critical that Opryland get moving on its bookings. To push the business, Gaylord hired 20-year hospitality industry veteran, Bob McPherrin from Six Continents as the vice president of sales and marketing for the Grapevine resort. "Robert has a proven track record in sales and marketing at some of the biggest names in the hospitality industry," Randy Miller, Gaylord Hotels' senior vice president of sales, said in a prepared statement. McPherrin's resume includes MGM-Mirage, Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts, Fairmont Hotel Management LP, Regents Hotels, Marriott Hotels and Resorts and Hilton Hotels Corp.

Monday's mid-morning gala, attended by five of Gaylord's upper echelon, was filled with announcements, including news of a deal signed Friday for guests to use the nearby Cowboys Golf Club, an 18-hole, par 72 course designed by award-winning architect Jeff Brauer. On the construction side, Gaylord also signed a pact with Wilson & Associates Inc. of Dallas to handle interior architectural design services for the hotel.

"It goes without saying this project is a particular delight for us," James Carry, Wilson's project principal, said in a press release. "We're a hometown firm, and the Wilson team members who aren't technically natives have adopted Texas as their own." He says the team--interior specialists Connie Jackson, Paul Adams, Rodney Austin and Andrea Thomas--was challenged to showcase Texas' regions and personalities "and to do so without cliches." A trio of atriums will showcase the San Antonio Riverwalk, famed Texas Hill Country and the state's western heritage.