Alex Lepe
Several of the partners who put up Pop’s Garage - a private recreation center in South Fort Worth they use to support youth in Fort Worth - are back at it with another project, this time the transformation of an old warehouse into an event venue called The Mopac near Colonial Country Club and the Trinity River.
The Mopac, 1615 Rogers Road, opened in October to an open-to-the-public performance by the Bellamy Brothers and a private party headlined by Kenny Loggins.
Fort Worth businessmen Lance Byrd, Jared Shope, Gus Bates Jr., Ricky Stuart, Kyle Poulson and Walter Kinzie are partners in the project. All but Kinzie are partners in Pop’s Garage.
“There’s a real need for this in Fort Worth, just a small venue” for weddings and events like meetings and fundraisers, Byrd said. Shope: “We’re trying to put something near TCU, Colonial, for the people right here.”
“We’ll mix in a few of the concerts,” but the business model isn’t focused on them, Byrd said.
Byrd and Shope are running the venue. The partners will lever some of their other businesses to help run The Mopac. Byrd is 25 percent owner in Encore Live, an event planning business that’s next door to The Mopac. Other Encore Live partners include talent buyer Gary Osier, who will help book concerts, and Kinzie.
The partners’ offices are in a small office complex they renovated and expanded three years ago, next door to the Mopac. “We get together on Saturdays and watch football,” Byrd says.
The low-slung, 6,814-square-foot, 1954-vintage Mopac building, on a 0.8-acre site, is about as unassuming as Pop’s from the exterior.
The partners converted the old storage space and bar area and added a stage, wood floors, sound system and lights, restrooms, and a fence and turf lawn.
The building has capacity inside for 250 seated, with tables. Spilling through three garage doors onto the exterior patio, capacity can run as high as 700, Byrd said.
Rental fee for a Saturday night is $5,000, and, for Friday night, $4,000.
“It ticks down during the week,” Byrd said.
The entry foyer of Rogers Road can be rented for meetings. Amenities such as the stage and lights add value, Byrd said. “You save money” by not having to rent those, he said.
The venue is already starting to book events, with word of mouth spreading from people who attended the early events, Byrd said. “Fort Worth is a small town, so a lot of people talk,” he said.