By L.M. SIXEL
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Houston celebrated with fireworks when it kicked off the expansion of the George R. Brown Convention Center and construction of the attached 1,200-room Hilton Americas-Houston hotel four years ago.
The 700,000-square-foot addition, which nearly doubled the center's exhibit space, would finally make Houston a player in the lucrative convention industry. That, in turn, would create jobs and generate other economic benefits, city leaders promised at the groundbreaking.
But was the city's investment in the center really worth it