Many of the buildings that now host beloved restaurants and businesses are used in ways that are a far cry from when they were built.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hurtado Barbecue is one such business, currently operating out of an old train station.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owner Brandon Hurtado and his wife, Hannah, ran a food truck across the Dallas-Fort Worth area until settling in at Division Brewing in 2019. Hurtado\u2019s smoked meats and sides have landed on numerous best barbecue lists<\/a> in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n A few months after parking in downtown Arlington, Brandon Hurtado received a call from Street Realty co-founder Ryan Dodson. He had a vision to transform the Urban Union part of downtown Arlington into a walkable economic hub.<\/p>\n For Hurtado, buying into Street Realty\u2019s vision of the area seemed natural since he went to UT-Arlington.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of things, and a restaurant has never been one of them,\u201d Brandon Hurtado said of the restaurant\u2019s current home. \u201cWe had a lot to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The vision is what sold Wilson on a location under The Rambler Inn, a boutique hotel<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStreet Realty told me about all the concepts and I said absolutely,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cMy police station is 300 yards from there, and I have investors and friends that are all going to be like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s Mike\u2019s restaurant, let\u2019s go eat lunch there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Developers want Urban Union to become a dense, walkable area that attracts businesses and visitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maggie Campbell, the president and CEO of the Downtown Arlington Management Corporation, said the dream and the creative use of buildings has helped keep Arlington attractive to larger businesses looking for office space.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat has been built here is infill and adaptive reuse, so you can find a place for an office that\u2019s not on the 12th floor, but it\u2019s on the third floor, and your employees can walk nearby and enjoy this great urban, walkable district,\u201d Campbell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rambler Inn\u2019s retail space, which opened in June 2025, has helped address a problem that downtown Arlington has had for years, Campbell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we did not have was new space that was available to prospective new businesses,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThe ground-level space we generally had available was being adapted to new uses.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell said that new businesses have begun to flock to the new space.<\/p>\n \u201cThe addition of new buildings with small rental space was really meeting an unmet demand, a pent-up demand in this market,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a flurry of small businesses that are trying to get a presence on the street.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As the downtown area grows, Campbell says that her organization is looking for ways to help businesses capitalize on the city\u2019s influx of visitors \u2014 especially during the World Cup in June 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a little more than a mile away from the entertainment district, and anytime anything major happens at those big venues, we see overflow traffic,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cWe will benefit, definitely, from that activity.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson said he is aware of how that traffic will affect operations at Blue Mint Thai and that his company is already making preparations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking with potential staffing partners, because it\u2019s going to be hard to hire 30 or 40 new people for an entry-level restaurant,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWe are in conversations, knowing that it\u2019s going to be a tidal wave of influx.\u201d<\/p>\n With a hope to initially open the store in the first quarter of 2026, Wilson said that settling in the Urban Union is an investment for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cThe impression of this is to try to bring the downtown Arlington area like a Victory Park,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cIt\u2019s very walkable and everyone\u2019s there for the retail, dining and high-scale entertainment district. It\u2019s clear the path we are on.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Moss is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hurtado_Moss-1-4.jpg\")
A packed house at Hurtado Barbecue in the Urban Union in downtown Arlington Oct. 20, 2025. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RamblerInn_Moss-1-5.jpg\")
The Rambler Inn, a boutique-style hotel, sits in the Urban Union in downtown Arlington Oct. 20, 2025. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/UrbanUnion_Moss-1-5.jpg\")
Front Street runs through the Urban Union in downtown Arlington Oct. 20, 2025. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)<\/p>\n
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