Three Generations. One Standard.
It started the way many good things do. Not with a grand plan, but with people who simply knew how to take care of others.
The family behind The Sanford House has been in hospitality for three generations. It began with Sharon and Leonard Bergstrom who ran the Triangle Motel in Nebraska, instilling in their children an understanding of what it means to make someone feel genuinely at home. After careers in healthcare and construction, they wanted to get back to hospitality. Partnering with their daughter, Dr. Joan Bergstrom, The Sanford House came to life. They weren't building a business so much as they were building a place. Something personal, something theirs.
Arlington was still becoming what it is today. The stadiums hadn't arrived yet. The land at 506 N Center Street was full of possibility, and the family saw it. They built the original courtyard pavilion with their own hands alongside a local contractor. They opened their doors and started welcoming people in.
The grandchildren who used to run up and down the stairs during family visits eventually grew up. One of them, Valerie, never really left. She's worked nearly every role the property has: housekeeping, groundwork, events, the front desk, the restaurant. She came back after college, earned her MBA, and became General Manager of the property her grandparents built. Now Valerie’s own children can be found in the dining room eating or running up and down those same stairs.
That's not a detail we mention to be charming. It's the whole point.
The Sanford House has never been run by people who see hospitality as a transaction. The team that serves you today has largely been here for years, through growth, through a global pandemic that shut the world down, and through the kind of challenges that reveal what an organization is actually made of. When things got hard, the staff came back. That says everything about the culture this team has built together.
What started as a mom and pop dream is now Arlington's destination for fine dining, weddings, celebrations, spa experiences, and overnight stays.
Restaurant506 draws guests from across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The courtyard pavilion that was built by hand now hosts weddings of up to 200 people. The rooms that once held visiting grandchildren now hold guests who return year after year because they've never found anywhere quite like it.
The property has grown. The mission hasn't. The same thing the grandparents practiced in Nebraska is the same thing the family continues to deliver in Arlington: tremendous, sincere hospitality. It’s the same thing you'll feel the moment you walk through the door.
What does tremendous, sincere hospitality mean to us? You can learn more here.