First look: Terry Black’s Barbecue family starting work on mini-resort near Driftwood

The family behind Austin barbecue joint Terry Black’s Barbecue is getting ready to ramp up work on its newest venture: a vineyard-centered mini-resort near Driftwood.

Dubbed “Friday Mountain,” the 64-acre plot at 150 Concord Circle in Hays County will include a winery and production facility, a 22-room boutique hotel, event space, spa, a high-end restaurant and all-day cafe, among other amenities, according to co-owner Mark Black. There will be 14 acres of vines and 60,000 square feet of interior space, including a 20,000-square-foot underground cave with a wine facility.

Black said some work has started on the site and construction will ramp up in the next month. He estimated that it will take about 10 months to complete construction, cautioning that he’d “be happy” if everything is open by early next year. He expects the resort to have a full-time staff of 60 employees, with 80 part-time staff.

“Austin can handle anything right now. There’s so many people coming in and there’s so many people looking for stuff to do and get out of the city,” he said. “With all the breweries and wineries popping up around Driftwood and Dripping Springs and out toward Fredericksburg, there’s not a lot of restaurants that we’ve seen and not a lot of higher-end hospitality and stuff like that.”

Friday Mountain is the latest venture for the family behind Terry Black’s, which includes Mark, his twin brother Mike and their sister, Christina. They have family roots in Lockhart with the venerable barbecue joint Black’s BBQ, but launched their own business in 2014 after a family dispute. A second location of Terry Black’s has since opened in Dallas.

The Driftwood project has long been in the works, with Mark Black noting that “the more and more Austin has grown … the more and more special that property has became to us.”

A Jan. 10 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for the project gave an estimated cost of $20 million and an estimated completion date of January 2023. Estimates given in TDLR filings are often preliminary and can change.

“Instead of it being two wedding venues, I think it’s going to be something that adds value to the community on a day-to-day basis, where they can go out there and actually enjoy it,” he said. “It’s not going to be a place that’s super exclusive to people out there renting spaces. We wanted to create a space that, if they have family coming to town, they can stay at the hotel, they can go out there and use the spa, they can go out there for coffee and a workout.”

It’s the latest development in the Driftwood area. Driftwood is an unincorporated community in northern Hays County, about 25 miles southwest of Austin. It’s well-known as the home of the The Salt Lick barbecue chain, which is less than 4 miles from Friday Mountain. The community is also home to Salt Lick Cellars, a sister winery next to the restaurant. Discovery Land Co. is also constructing nearby the 800-acre Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club, with a golf course and residential community.

The Blacks have tapped Phil Price, a veteran of both the local and Napa Valley scenes, to handle winemaking operations. He’s been working since 2019 with the owner and winemaker at Salt Lick Cellars with local grapes at an off-site facility, and the family will have wine aged and ready to go at the Friday Mountain opening.

The restaurant won’t be another iteration of Terry Black’s Barbecue. There won’t be smokers on site, and Black envisions a higher-end, sit-down restaurant. He emphasized that all of the financing is coming from inside the family, with no partners or outside investors.

He emphasized that they’re “really excited,” hoping to attract a diverse clientele from weekend visitors to nearby residents.

“We’re excited to bring something really close to downtown Austin but still in the Hill Country,” he said. “It’s very much a project that there is a lot going and there is a lot to offer for all types of people.”

Courtesy of Austin Business Journal. See the full article here.