Development surrounding historic property in Frisco breaks ground after yearslong stall

After years of delays, the Foote’s Rest development that will transform a historic block in downtown Frisco is beginning to take shape.

The Foote’s Rest development is being built around the site of the historically preserved Foote’s Rest Sweet Shoppe on Main Street and had an official groundbreaking Dec. 3 after its first purchase, sale and development agreement was approved in 2017.

Developer Kelly Foote, whose grandparents opened Foote’s Rest Sweet Shoppe in 1946, said the team has an approximate 24-month construction schedule with hopes to open by Thanksgiving 2027. Colorado-based Greenwood Hospitality Group will be the operators of Foote’s Rest, including the 80-room hotel, five kitchens, a 10,000-square-foot rooftop, 4,000-square-foot event space and a 13,000-square-foot entertainment venue.

Norris Design Principal Elena Scott said the development will be a Marriott Tribute hotel, which is a portfolio featuring independent boutique hotels that each have their own style and flare.

“This is really exciting for the community because it’s going to be a pretty big game-changer for us to have a pretty nice hotel in downtown Frisco,” she said.

Foote’s Rest heavily focuses on historical preservation, partially at the request of the town of Frisco, and includes six preserved structures, some of which will serve as lodging options for the hotel. The Foote’s Rest Sweet Shoppe is already on the National Register of Historic Places. Foote said there are plans to relocate another preserved structure as part of the development, the Staley-Rouse House built in the early 1900s, and put it back on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties after it’s moved.

Foote said the project’s been a long time coming. Conversations around the project started around 2014. He said at this time there were discussions happening about selling land under the historic Staley-Rouse House nearby Foote’s Sweet Shoppe, and this partially served as the catalyst for his project.

He said around three years of meetings with the town followed before landing on a development agreement in 2017, and this locked down an entire block on one side of Frisco Main Street for the development in between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue. The design process took place for around a year afterwards. A couple amendments were then made to the original development agreement, altering some plans. He said given the planned use of historic structures, the development team navigated processes related to historic preservation.

By the time developers solidified everything, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“That basically shelved all hospitality projects across the country, especially this one,” he said.

During that time, he said the town updated its building codes and asked the developers to change aspects of the project to adhere to those adjustments. He said the team submitted an updated plan in December 2021. These plans had to undergo more reviews at the town.

Following this new set of approvals, his team was able to get things moving again in October 2024. From there, the team worked to install a finance structure, a process Foote said also caused delays. Scott said it also took a decent amount of time to garner funding because Foote’s Rest is a boutique hotel, which can be more difficult to get funding for as opposed to other types of hotels.

Now, with all aspects of the project solidified, the team is still working on the identity and name of some of the eateries it will house. One kitchen will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and room service, another will be for the entertainment venue and one will be on the rooftop deck. The Staley-Rouse House will have a small kitchen and be a coffee shop of sorts selling things like smoothies and pastries. There will also be a kitchen for what will become the Blacksmith Saloon.

“Our goal is that every food (item) that we sell on the property will be produced and baked or cooked by our team on the property,” he said.

What will become the Wildhack’s entertainment venue gives a nod to the family the Foote’s bought land from to build their sweet shop on, the Wildhacks. The 13,000 square-foot space will house six bowling lanes, six semi-private golf swing suites and a sports bar. There will also be a 4,000-square-foot event space.

Foote said the historical component of the development, including six preserved structures, eats up around 40% of the property’s footprint. The Foote’s Rest Sweet shop, three cabins, a historic blacksmith building that will become the Blacksmith Saloon and the Staley-Rouse House will be preserved.

Two of these structures will be used for a historical lodging component of the hotel.

His family’s sweet shop will remain a sweet shop, but with a twist. There will be three units in the sweet shop that will join units in two historic cabins, making for a five-unit historical lodging component. The third historic cabin will be mixed-use with office space. Developers also plan to relocate the Staley-Rouse building to the corner of 5th Avenue and Main Street.

Scott said the public plaza space that’s long been next to Foote’s Rest Sweet Shoppe will remain.

For more information visit FootesRest.com.