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Proposed W Hotel In Uptown


W Hotel  

147 members have voted

  1. 1. What Development will Land the "W" in Houston?

    • BLVD Place
      48
    • Westcreek - Whatever it's called
      15
    • Highland Village
      17
    • Somewhere else
      31
    • Don't kid yourself. Houston can't support a "W"
      20
    • Downtown (Even though it would be financial suicide
      30


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When you say construction will start in September 2008, is that when they'll to demolish the apartments, or will the apartments have already been demolished by that point?

It seems for the longest time, rumor was that a Ritz was going into BLVD Place and a W into the Oaks District, so if the W is going in, maybe there is truth to the rumor about the Ritz.

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It is Target. And it's unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon.

Even though that Targets was upgraded not too long ago, what are the possibilities of them doing a redevelopment of the Target to make it more "urban". I have seen many Target projects in cities like Charlotte that have Target built up, and retail/residential built around it. Here is the development in Charlotte

(Houston Target location):

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Charlotte Target:

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uh, back on topic and away from this "my pee pee is bigger than yours".

i was told that the W and barney's will be a part of westcreek / river oaks district development.

construction is to begin oct '08

ohmy.gif

Wow, you are really close. The real construction date is September 2008 (though you posted waay back in July, so you are spot on). So I guess a Barney's Flagship will be coming.

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How are the parking lots around the target and the drive-thru urban? The property is surrounded by undeveloped land. One or two levels of underground parking makes it urban?

Tha Target is just a small part of the whole "Metropolitan Midtown" development in Charlotte. It isn't far away from their new light rail line either. By the way, that drive thru is next in line to be redeveloped.

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How are the parking lots around the target and the drive-thru urban? The property is surrounded by undeveloped land. One or two levels of underground parking makes it urban?

Little more info on this development...

It used to be home to the Charlottetown/Midtown Square Mall. Became very run-down and has since begun redevelopment.

Some vacant land around the new Target is what used to be pavement over the Little Sugar Creek--which had long been regarded as basically a sewer. They will be establishing a greenway alongside it that will be a link into a longer greenway that will stretch from Uptown Charlotte into South Carolina (Charlotte sits right on the state line).

There's have been other things to take place there, such as reworking the ramp and streets (Kenilworth, S. Independence) from the Belk Freeway (their version of out 45/59 loop around downtown). Also, truth be told--the LRT is a decent walk from here, but it will be much closer to the proposed Elizabeth streetcar. Also, this development took a very LOOOOONG time to get off the ground. It (and the uncovering of Little Sugar Creek) had been talked about since probably 2000, and it finally opened last year. I think the Target has a Home Depot under it as well. It's a pretty neat development, especially with the residential aspect. A pretty neat mixed-use Lowe's development complete with residential on top of it is also going in at one of the LRT stations IIRC.

Well, that's it for the dose of Charlotte.

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I'm trying to find the Westcreek/River Oaks District thread, but since this is part of the project...

It will be 34 Stories.

Gensler of Santa Monica is the design architect, BOKA Powell is the architect of record.

If I'm not mistaken, groundbreaking for the entire project is slated for this July.

Not early April fool's or anything. Just a head's up.

:ph34r:

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I'm trying to find the Westcreek/River Oaks District thread, but since this is part of the project...

It will be 34 Stories.

Gensler of Santa Monica is the design architect, BOKA Powell is the architect of record.

If I'm not mistaken, groundbreaking for the entire project is slated for this July.

Not early April fool's or anything. Just a head's up.

:ph34r:

Where did you hear this? Do you have any other information?

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This should take care of the HAIF slowdown for a few days....lol.

I like a lot a Gensler's work so hopefully this will be great.

(Hotel and residences at L.A. Live, STCL library and courtroom, United Way building off of Washington Ave. to give you an idea)

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I really wish there were some way to justify a Downtown location for W. While I agree their demographics suggest Uptown, the net result of locating there will most likely be at the expense of Hotel Derek, which is getting a bit long in the tooth, anyway. In a wildly competitive market, as I hope perhaps W will help generate, yeah -- Derek has a good chance of feeding off W when W is at capacity. That would be great for all concerned. Going head-to-head under capacity, however, Derek doesn't stand a chance. They may need to re-concept and offer lower rates to compete.

It remains to be seen how a W in Uptown will affect some of the older, established properties like The Houstonian or JW Marriott and if they will merely be taking from their own client base at St. Regis or the two Westin properties in The Galleria.

Don't get me wrong -- it's cool to have this growing and vibrant hotel district. That's how it's done in many cities that draw lots of tourists. But, seeing as how we don't do so well in the tourism department, I worry that the W will hurt properties like Derek and even their own Westin Oaks and Westin Galleria (who aren't really in the same price point, but are "competitors" nonetheless), where they could be carving out an exciting new niche in Downtown.

What do you guys think?

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Add the possible Ritz to that, too. I think a W Downtown would be better than one Uptown to maybe spread out the rooms a bit. The Ritz is best in Uptown.

I would think the opposite. W Uptown, and Ritz Downtown. Ritz downtown because Ritz being an older more well known brand is more similar to downtown, and the W being the newer more up and coming hotel relates more to what uptown is.

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I agree with citykid, Ritz seems more like a downtown hotel. But it doesn't really matter, seeing as it and the W are both likely going with Uptown. Hopefully downtown will see something like a Mandarin, Shangri-La, Penisula, or anything along those lines.

And with the Ritz, I hope it gets built at that rumored 66 stories. I'm afraid this whole credit/mortage/whatever crisis will severely shrink the Ritz. On the other hand, prices should be cheaper for all those rich South Americans and Middle Easterners. They could buy condos in the Ritz or whatever just for storage.

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The W would bring some trendy stuff to Downtown. I think DT should aim for a Mandarin, Peninsula, and Shangri-La. It also isn't out of the question to have two Ritz' or two W's. Atlanta has four W's, so Houston could support two.

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I think DT, will land the hotel, but people are going to wait and see what happens with the One Park Place location next to Discovery Green Park. With the addition of 3 new office buildings in DT Houston, I believe that you will see a major corporation relocating to DT Houston and with that, you will see that DT being a stronger location for a W Hotel or Ritz. With the addition of a possible 2nd Convention Hotel to DT, the HP, Park and the ability to have people in a walkable area, they are waiting for DT otherwise they would have chosen BLVD Place or something in the Galleria area a long time ago. Nothing has changed about the Galleria structurally or dynaically within the last few years that would attract a W Hotel in my opinion.

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The W is going into the Oaks District if you didn't know, and Ritz is rumored for BLVD Place. I don't think it is out of the question for there to be another W in Downtown though. Houston could support two (hell, if Atlanta can support four W's and 2 Ritz hotels).

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The W is going in at the Westcreek Apt complex after it gets torn down. The Ritz, if they ever finalize their design, 2 towers or 1, and get their financing organized they will put it at San Felipe and Post Oak. These are not secrets.

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That should be Houston's new motto "if Atlanta can do it, so can we!"

Unless Atlanta's economy is much stronger than Houston's (which is may be in some ways--I have no idea). Even if it isn't, IMO, Atlanta has such primacy over the Southeast that it wouldn't surprise me if Atlanta always had more developments that would be viewed questionably in Houston. I think that in the national scheme of things, Houston will play second to Dallas in the Southwest for the foreseeable future, whereas Atlanta is still basically the heart of the region in a chunk of the country that's south of D.C. and east of Texas--and will only pull further ahead despite Charlotte's and Miami's advances.

Please note that this is the opinion of a geographer and not an economist or statistician, thus I have no studies or databases or research projects to back this up.

So just because Atlanta (or Philadelphia or Austin or Nashville or Oklahoma City for that matter) does something, it doesn't mean that Houston can.

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Unless Atlanta's economy is much stronger than Houston's (which is may be in some ways--I have no idea). Even if it isn't, IMO, Atlanta has such primacy over the Southeast that it wouldn't surprise me if Atlanta always had more developments that would be viewed questionably in Houston. I think that in the national scheme of things, Houston will play second to Dallas in the Southwest for the foreseeable future, whereas Atlanta is still basically the heart of the region in a chunk of the country that's south of D.C. and east of Texas--and will only pull further ahead despite Charlotte's and Miami's advances.

Please note that this is the opinion of a geographer and not an economist or statistician, thus I have no studies or databases or research projects to back this up.

So just because Atlanta (or Philadelphia or Austin or Nashville or Oklahoma City for that matter) does something, it doesn't mean that Houston can.

Come on guys, basing a city's importance on hotel chains?!

Atlanta has two Ritz Carltons and two Ws because Starwood Hotels is based in Atlanta, simple as that.

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