The Ophelia on track for winter opening
The Ophelia Hotel and Conference Center is nearly complete. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
The 127-room boutique hotel and conference center, The Ophelia, could be opening its doors this winter. The future hospitality hotspot has been under construction since early 2025 and was originally expected to open in October of this year.
The hotel, located at 1 Main Street near downtown Marble Falls, should be open for business by mid-December according to Marble Falls Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Christian Fletcher.
“It’s still consistent with our expected 15-18 month build time,” Fletcher told DailyTrib.
Work crews were busy repaving a stretch of Main Street beside the hotel site on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Fletcher said that the structure is almost totally finished and the final steps required were furnishing rooms, landscaping, and limited sitework.
Fletcher said that more details regarding a grand opening ceremony will be released once the opening date is closer.
He also said the impacts of the hotel on the local economy could be immediate.
“I think there will be a center of gravity established (at and near the hotel),” Fletcher said. “People eating at the restaurants and bar, and I think we’ll see more people visiting downtown restaurants and more foot traffic overall during the week.”
Background
The Ophelia, named after the first woman mayor of Marble Falls, Ophelia “Birdie” Harwood, will be a 127-room, 96,000-square-foot boutique hotel with an attached 9,000-square-foot conference center and a public bar and restaurant.
The project is a collaboration between the city of Marble Falls, the Marble Falls EDC, and developer Phoenix Hospitality Group, the latter of which will mostly handle the project’s management, funding, and buildout. The EDC did contribute $7.6 million in total value, including the land on which the hotel is being built.
That contribution is seen as an investment in the city by local leaders as The Ophelia is expected to have a $200-million economic impact on Marble Falls in its first 10 years of operation. The EDC, founded in 1991, is a standalone governing body, funded by a half-cent sales tax. That money can only be used to retain, expand, and attract businesses and industry to Marble Falls and foster the retention, creation, and reinvestment of wealth in the community.
The project is over a decade in the making, with the city pursuing the concept of a boutique hotel in the early 2000s. But, solid plans did not materialize until 2019.
The project faced delays due to the COVID slowdown in 2020 and a series of changes in business partners. After the end of the pandemic shutdown, leaders thought the project could be done by early 2024. But this was not to be, and ground wasn’t broken until August 2024.
A spring 2026 finish date was announced at the groundbreaking, but construction was delayed again. Ultimately, work got underway in early 2025, and an October 2026 full buildout prediction was given. That date was pushed back due to heavy rainfall throughout construction, but a December 2026 opening now seems to be imminent.
I would be curious to know if the EDC also gave money to Hidden Falls Inn? The Ophelia will definitely have an economic impact on the HFI. I have no skin in the game, just curious as to why new businesses get money and older established places potentially get pushed out.