Convention Center Redevelopment, Office Building & W Hotel

[tigereye]

You heard it here first, folks! There are developers in place. It will happen. Tigereye assures us.

I'm not assuring anyone anything. I'm just saying whoever came up with this grand "4 Corners" plan is really just rehashing development plans by others. We all knew about these hotel plans long before this "grand plan" announcement. There's multiple threads on HAIF for the Chinatown & Wyndham hotels respectively.

It's like the city now coming in and taking credit for someone else's work. I can hear it now... "hey, look we magically created a Convention District in Downtown Houston" when these hotels were already in development.

Edited January 3, 2012 by tigereye

[tigereye]

Dup post ...I think the city took credit for that too.

Edited January 3, 2012 by tigereye

[Simbha]

Too bad Embassy Suites looks nothing like that.

One of the most disappointing outcomes in Downtown, period.

[ToryGattis]

Not the best timing as this op-ed just came out in the Wall Street Journal...

http://www.emailthis...lToID=916016990

• CROSS COUNTRY
  
• DECEMBER 31, 2011
  

Have We Got a Convention Center to Sell You!

From Boston to Austin, politicians spend money on fancy white elephants.

By STEVEN MALANGA

For two decades, America's convention center business has been declining, resulting in a nationwide surplus of empty meeting facilities, struggling convention halls and vacant hotel rooms. How have governments responded to this glut? By building more convention centers, of course, financed by debt backed by new taxes and fees on already struggling taxpayers.

Back in 2007, before the recession began, a report from Destination Marketing Association International described America's convention industry as a "buyer's market" suffering excess capacity. It's only gotten worse, attracting just 86 million attendees in 2010, compared to 126 million in 2000. Meanwhile, the amount of convention space angling for business has increased to 70 million square feet, up from 53 million in 2000 and 40 million two decades ago.

That's largely because governments refuse to stop making convention centers bigger and hotels even more dazzling, arguing that whatever business remains will flow to the places with the fanciest amenities. To finance these risky projects—which the private sector won't build by itself—cities float debt backed by new taxes and fees on already struggling taxpayers. As Charles Chieppo, a former board member of Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, lamented last year, "Logic rarely has a place in the convention business."

Take Illinois, an industry leader,where officials have invested heavily to keep Chicago's McCormick Place, long one of the three most-used centers in the nation, on top. They spent $1 billion in the early 1990s to build a 840,000-square foot expansion financed by fees on auto rentals, a hotel tax and a surcharge on restaurant meals in downtown Chicago. In 2007 they opened a new building, McCormick West, at a cost of an additional $900 million. The result? According to the Chicago Tribune, the center operates at 55% capacity.

Then there's Boston, perhaps the quintessential example of a city that interprets failure in the convention business as a license to spend more on it. Massachusetts officials shelled out $230 million to renovate Hynes Convention Center in the late 1980s. When the makeover produced virtually no economic bounce, officials decided that the city needed a new, $800 million center financed by a hotel occupancy excise tax, a rental-car surcharge, and the sale of taxi medallions. Opened in 2004, that new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was projected (by consultants hired by the state) to have Boston renting some 670,000 additional hotel rooms annually within five years. Instead, Beantown saw just 310,000 additional hotel room rentals in 2009.

Associated Press

Chicago political and labor leaders, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel (arms crossed), appear at the expanded McCormick Place convention center in October.

Now Massachusetts officials want to spend $2 billion to double the size of the Boston Convention Center and add a hotel. Of course, they predict that the expanded facilities would bring an additional $222 million into the local economy each year, including 140,000 hotel room rentals. Even with these bullish projections, officials claim that the hotel would need $200 million in public subsidies.

"The whole thing is a racket," Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby recently observed. "Once again the politicos will expand their empire. Once again crony capitalism will enrich a handful of wired business operators. And once again Joe and Jane Taxpayer will pay through the nose. How many times must we see this movie before we finally shut it off?"

Many times, if officials in Baltimore have their way. Several years ago they built a $300 million city-owned hotel, (the Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel) to boost the fortunes of the city's struggling convention center. Having opened in 2008, the hotel lost $11 million last year. Now the city is considering a public-private expansion plan that would add a downtown arena, an additional convention hotel, and 400,000 feet of new convention space at the cost of $400 million in public money.

The list goes on—everywhere from Columbus, Ohio, to Dallas, Austin, Phoenix and places in between. One problem is that optimistic projections about new facilities fail to account for how other cities are expanding, too. Why did Minneapolis struggle to hit projected targets after it enlarged its convention center in 2002? "Other cities expanded right along with us,'' Minneapolis's convention center director, Jeff Johnson, said this year.

The surest sign that taxpayers should be leery of such public investments is that officials have changed their sales pitch. Convention and meeting centers shouldn't be judged, they now say, by how many hotel rooms, restaurants, and local attractions they help fill. That's "narrow-minded thinking," said James Rooney of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority this year. Instead, as Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has said, expanding a convention center can "demonstrate to the world that we have unlimited confidence in our city and what it can do, not only as a convention destination but as the center of the most important trends in hospitality, science, health and education."

This new metric—a city's amorphous brand value—is little more than a convenient way to ignore the failure of publicly sponsored facilities to live up to exaggerated projections. But as far as city officials are concerned, that failure is nothing that hundreds of millions more in taxpayer dollars can't fix.

Mr. Malanga is a senior editor at City Journal. A longer version of this article appears in City Journal's Winter 2012 issue.

Edited January 3, 2012 by ToryGattis

[Houston19514]

The only real difference is the new southward expansion of GRBCC ...didn't they just build a new garage on that site?!? And for that other new garage north of GRBCC, isn't MetroRail supposed to take up half of that site as the Southeast line jogs over to Capitol/Rusk from Texas Ave?!?

There is a parking garage on one of the four blocks planned for the southward expansion of the GRBCC. That garage was built at the same time as the Hilton-Americas and the last expansion of the GRBCC -- a little more than 8 years ago. We just have a bare-bones master plan here. It is possible the existing garage will be retained and incorporated into the expanded structure.

On the north end, yes it appears that the rail line will run on that parcel. But is there any reason a parking structure cannot be built over a rail line? I can't imagine why not.

[lockmat]

In response to the wsj article, I'm curious why convention goers has nose dived; they don't tell us.

Second, I'd like to know what Reliant and GRB's numbers are. Have they increased or decreased?

Lastly, Houston First says they want at least 2,000 more hotel rooms. That would mean another "Hilton" to mirror Discovery Green and to add two more hotel towers (The Four Seasons and Magnolia hotel have 400 and 300 rooms respectively).

Is this a matter of the chicken and the egg? Or do they (hotels and convention expansion) have to come simultaneously to produce success?

grb master plan pdf: http://www.houstonfi...PlanWebsite.pdf

Houston first presser: http://www.houstonfi...plan-012612.pdf

I wonder if the blown up photo below is one of the "plans?" It looks like three resi/hotel towers in place of the big convention hotel. Does it look that way to yall?

Edited January 27, 2012 by lockmat

[ToryGattis]

In response to the wsj article, I'm curious why convention goers has nose dived; they don't tell us.

Most recently, the economy, but longer term: the Internet. Conventions are an exchange of information and networking, but now all of that information is easily available on the web - why travel and peruse a bunch of booths with marketing hype? Speakers are replaced with videos, webinars, blogs, and online reports or slide presentations. And LinkedIn and other social networks are even reducing the need for the networking. Their whole purpose hasn't been replaced by the Internet, but a lot of it has - enough to substantially reduce demand and attendance.

[lockmat]

Most recently, the economy, but longer term: the Internet. Conventions are an exchange of information and networking, but now all of that information is easily available on the web - why travel and peruse a bunch of booths with marketing hype? Speakers are replaced with videos, webinars, blogs, and online reports or slide presentations. And LinkedIn and other social networks are even reducing the need for the networking. Their whole purpose hasn't been replaced by the Internet, but a lot of it has - enough to substantially reduce demand and attendance.

I am sure you're right. The ones that have the internet have not replaced I guess are the ones that people still want and need to see and touch physically, like a gun, quilt or bridal show.

Is this a matter of the chicken and the egg? Or do they (hotels and convention expansion) have to come simultaneously to produce success?

The answer to my question was right in the master plan:

There are no plans for near term expansion of the Convention Center and there are a number of things that must happen first, including a significant increase in the convention center hotel room supply, before future expansion of the GRBCC facilities can be considered. However, now is the time to establish a general direction for future growth so that if and when the time comes to expand, the GRBCC is well-positioned to pursue a design solution that is best for both the Convention Center facility and the entire east downtown area.

Of course the GRBCC wants assurance their facility will be used by having hotels in place before expansion, yet so do hotel developers. Their solution: get the taxpayers to jump start it by getting a "Hilton" deal done.

[ToryGattis]

I am sure you're right. The ones that have the internet have not replaced I guess are the ones that people still want and need to see and touch physically, like a gun, quilt or bridal show.

Yes! Exactly. And note that 2 of those 3 examples you gave are generally aimed at locals - not out of town travelers - so they don't actually generate the economic development (hotel nights and restaurant meals) that justify the subsidy of convention centers (and their hotels) in the first place.

Conventions are more paid business boondoggles now than real, productive activities, meaning that people often only go if they want to enjoy a company paid vacation in that city. This disadvantages Houston - it's not about the facility anymore, but the fun that's available nearby - because we just don't measure up against places like NYC, SF, Orlando, Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, or even San Antonio. And as the WSJ article pointed out, it's an arms-race that most cities should probably not be competing in - and unfortunately and realistically, we may fall into that camp. Note all the hedging in the GRB plan. They came up with the right dream plan if we really want to try to compete, but it all could end up being one giant black hole or white elephant, depending on the analogy you prefer...

[DrLan34]

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/03-08-12-its-full-speed-ahead-for-new-convention-center-hotel-in-houston-and-its-going-to-be-one-of-the-biggest-hotels-in-texas/

[fatesdisastr]

http://houston.cultu...otels-in-texas/

Great find, and I am stoked for more construction and build up in this part of Houston. Bring it on!

[Simbha]

Don't get me wrong - this is great news for Houston - but it seems woefully inadequate. If the city is going to rebuild its convention/tradeshow market, it needs at least 2,500 additional hotel rooms downtown - immediately.

Another thing at which I take umbrage is the heading of the CultureMap piece, "[...] it's going to be Texas big." Umm... a 1,000-room hotel isn't huge. By comparison, Dallas has four 1,000+-room hotels in or near downtown - the Sheraton (1,840 rooms), the Hilton Anatole (1,608), the Hyatt Regency (1,120), and the Omni (1,001). And, including these, there are around 30 non-resort hotels nationwidewhich are larger than even the Hilton Americas.

The number of very large (1,000+ room) hotels is not necessarily the best indicator - but this city needs far more hotel rooms around both the GRB and Reliant Park if we're going to be more than a mediocre convention town.

The funny thing about the convention business is that organizers are looking for places like Houston! The (comparably) low room rates, rental fees, and drayage/labor rates are hugely positive factors for the city in attracting professional conferences. Plus, many meeting planners have openly voiced their concern that the 'hot' areas for meetings over the past twenty years - Anaheim, Vegas and Orlando - have too many distractions for non-leisure conventions. Houston could easily position itself, like Chicago, to attract these meetings it had adequate proximate accommodations.

[DrLan34]

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2012/03/convention-hotel-plans-move-ahead/

[sargento03]

I'm with HVS Consulting here im Houston and below is our 2012 update on the Houston hotel market.

http://www.hvs.com/article/5755/hvs-market-intelligence-report-houston-hotels-in-2012/

A firmly entrenched, expansive, and consistently viable oil and gas sector has earned Houston the moniker “Energy Capital of the World.” Houston is home to 22 companies on the 2011 FORTUNE 500 list (second only to New York City), and the vast majority are energy conglomerates, including ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Halliburton, and many others (see list below). 1 Major corporations such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell, as well as oil service companies such as Schlumberger and Fluor, also have a presence in the area—in some cases, a larger presence than at their “home” locations. With oil above $75 per barrel for the entirety of 2011, these companies were able to resume high levels of hiring, training, and oil exploration. Oil prices have risen steadily in the first quarter of 2012; as of April 2nd, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude was approximately $105 per barrel. In addition to the energy industry, healthcare and shipping play a role in driving strong demand to area hotels.

Job Growth and Office Space Expansions

Houston’s workforce grew by 94,700 non-agricultural jobs between January of 2011 and January of 2012, a 3.75% increase from the prior year. 2 This growth placed the city first in the nation among metropolitan areas with a workforce of at least one million. The Greater Houston Partnership reported that Houston was the first metro area in the nation to surpass its pre-recession employment levels in the fall of 2011. As of January of 2012, the unemployment rate for the Houston metropolitan area stood at 7.6% (compared with 8.3% for the nation), and approximately 85,000 new jobs are forecast for 2012.

Houston’s office market is expanding to accommodate the surge in jobs. As of year-end 2011, the Houston office market offered 190.7 million square feet of commercial space. 3 Office vacancy rates in the city now stand at approximately 15%. Over one million additional square feet of office space is under construction throughout the city, primarily in the Galleria and West Houston submarkets. Absorption levels are expected to keep pace with those of 2011, potentially resulting in even lower vacancy rates for 2012.

New Convention District

Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center, located Downtown, hosted 218 events in 2011, with a record-breaking attendance of more than 930,000 delegates. Earlier this year, officials released a master plan detailing a vision for a new convention district. The plan proposes three additional hotels within walking distance of the convention center, followed by an expansion of the existing facility. According to the master plan, Houston’s convention market needs another 2,000 hotel rooms to remain competitive with other convention destination cities such as New Orleans, San Antonio, and Denver. This plan is already moving forward; as of March 2012, Houston First Corporation, the entity responsible for managing the convention center and attracting development around it, officially began the search for a developer of a 1,000-room convention hotel through a Request for Qualifications (RFQ).

 

CONVENTION CENTER-AREA MASTER PLAN CONVENTION CENTER DISTRICT RENDERING

 

Hotel Submarkets in Houston

A variety of submarkets, each oriented toward the capture of select segments of lodging demand, encapsulate Greater Houston’s hotel industry. The most prominent of these submarkets are described in brief below:

Downtown/Central Business District: Houston’s Central Business District greatly benefits from the presence of companies in the energy sector; the more than 40 million square feet of office space in the CBD boasts the highest overall rental rate and lowest vacancy in Houston. The convention center, the Theater District, and sports and entertainment venues such as the Toyota Center and Minute Maid Park bring large amounts of meeting and leisure demand to hotels in the Downtown/CBD submarket. The 1.8 million square feet of commercial space added to Houston’s CBD in 2010/11 should greatly benefit area hotels as companies continue to move in.

Medical Center: 33.8 million gross square feet of patient care, education, and research space distributed across 162 buildings make the Texas Medical Center (TMC) the largest of its kind in the world, and the TMC continues to grow at a remarkable pace. Planned projects include new hospitals, clinics, research space, and other office space developed by TMC institutions and buttressed by city, county, state, and federal investments in infrastructure. The center’s projected growth to approximately 41 million gross square feet by 2014 would make this submarket a near match in terms of commercial square footage with Downtown.

Galleria: With nearly 32 million square feet of office space and the 7th largest mall in the nation, Houston’s Galleria district is one of the best-performing hotel submarkets in the city. The Galleria attracts national and international visitors, including many from Latin America. Hotels in this submarket achieve occupancy levels that typically exceed those of the city as a whole given strong, commercially driven weekday occupancy supported by healthy tourism levels on the weekend. Two new office buildings, totaling 682,000 square feet, are under construction in this submarket along the proposed Post Oak light rail line.

Houston Intercontinental Airport: The airport submarket has traditionally been one of the strongest in Houston, but significant supply increases before and during the recent recession negatively impacted existing hotels. Occupancy levels began recovering in 2011, but average rate growth in this submarket has lagged behind.

The Woodlands: Limited increases in hotel supply in this emerging office and medical submarket have kept hotel occupancies and rates strong. Just south of The Woodlands, ExxonMobil, a major demand generator for hotels throughout the city, continues with the construction of a three-million-square-foot home campus across 389 acres. It is uncertain at present whether the home campus will only consolidate Houston-area employees or also receive employees from ExxonMobil’s Fairfax, Virginia and Dallas, Texas operations.

Energy Corridor: Over the last five years, Houston’s Energy Corridor has been a premier office and hotel submarket, and growth has been evident within both sectors. Despite increases in supply, overall hotel occupancy has been healthy, and a lack of proposed supply should benefit existing hotels in 2012. Demand in this submarket could be affected by the relocation of ExxonMobil to its new facility near The Woodlands, but the impact may be lessened if current trends in office space absorption keep up.

Hotel Supply and Demand

Houston’s citywide hotel occupancy remained near or above 65% from 2005 through 2008 4, driven by hurricane-related demand, as well as several years of a booming economy. These strong levels drove average rate increases of approximately 25% (from nearly $80 to $100) during this same time frame, leading to the entrance of nearly 8,000 new hotel rooms in 2009/10 5. Unfortunately, fallout from the Great Recession, coupled with this tremendous increase in supply, brought occupancy and average rate down by 10% or more in 2009/10. Recovery became evident in late 2010, and hotels came through 2011 relatively healthy, with occupancy nearing 60% and rate between $90 and $92 6.

Year-to-date, the rate of growth has kept pace with performance in 2011. With only limited increases in supply expected in the near future, HVS forecasts the lodging market in Houston will recover to an occupancy level of 62%, with average rate growth of 5%, in 2012; as such, existing hotels (or new projects that have been able to obtain financing) are well positioned to benefit from the city’s economic recovery in the coming years.

Conclusion

The recent recession had a negative effect on Houston’s economy and lodging market, but both have come up strong. The latest performance trends show that Houston hotels are on an overall course of recovery, but performance is still far removed from the peaks achieved prior to the recession, suggesting Houston’s hotel industry still has room for growth. With so much job creation in the past two years, and the prospect of tens of thousands of new jobs; millions of square feet of commercial space; and the well-established healthcare, shipping, and energy sectors fueling future growth, Houston hotels seem to be on not only solid but fertile ground.

Since 2007, Luigi Major has completed over 50 consulting and valuation assignments for hotels in the Houston area and currently oversees hotel assignments in the region through our satellite office in Houston. The Houston office will host an upcoming HVS Regional Hotel Valuation Summit on April 26, 2012. To learn more and register for free, please visit www.hvs.com/events.

[LarryDierker]

^^ so are we getting a hotel?

[Subdude]

Does the "district" in Covention Center District have any distinct legal meaning, or is it more because downtown planners love the idea of lots of districts?

[sargento03]

^^ so are we getting a hotel?

When I met with them, they said they had over 100 interested developers at the initial RFQ event. They plan on narrowing that down to about 30 and then do a RFP. But given the initial interest they feel it is pretty certain they can get another 1000-room hotel at the north corner of the CC.

[Pleak]

Kinda of off topic, but post #21 is one of the reasons I finally broke down and joined HAIF. Lots of information that I am interested in and would not have the time or connections to find.

Such as:

Downtown - 40 million+ sq ft

Med Center - 33.8 million sq ft

Galleria - 32 million sq ft

What I found interesting was I knew the Medical Center was big - but did not know how big and that it will almost rival downtown in Sq. footage in a few years. With the number of buildings being built there, I totally believe it can catch up to downtown.

And I really had no idea there was that much sq. footage in the Galleria submarket.

Basically Houston has three downtowns (which I already knew) that are not that far apart in size.

[samagon]

Yes! Exactly. And note that 2 of those 3 examples you gave are generally aimed at locals - not out of town travelers - so they don't actually generate the economic development (hotel nights and restaurant meals) that justify the subsidy of convention centers (and their hotels) in the first place.

Conventions are more paid business boondoggles now than real, productive activities, meaning that people often only go if they want to enjoy a company paid vacation in that city. This disadvantages Houston - it's not about the facility anymore, but the fun that's available nearby - because we just don't measure up against places like NYC, SF, Orlando, Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, or even San Antonio. And as the WSJ article pointed out, it's an arms-race that most cities should probably not be competing in - and unfortunately and realistically, we may fall into that camp. Note all the hedging in the GRB plan. They came up with the right dream plan if we really want to try to compete, but it all could end up being one giant black hole or white elephant, depending on the analogy you prefer...

agree and disagree.

in the early 2000s people didn't know how to handle conventions, or expos. people were opting for the connected online world, over going to a convention. Look at E3 for example, they even stopped doing it for a period of time, but what has been found is that there is still need, and the need is more focused.

conventions like comicon, they're getting even bigger, unconventional conventions, like SXSW, they're expanding. the market is there, it's bigger than ever imo. while webinars, online training and online communities have resulted in less overall need for certain aspects of conventions, the need has shifted.

panels and forums of discussion in person have become a lot more desirable, going from a kenote speech to smaller panels of discussion. they're catching back up.

[cloud713]

does anyone know when the GRB expansion is supposed to be implemented? im sure its a ways off, but with the Marriott Marquis coming they will finally get that big hotel boost theyve been waiting for to bring in the bigger events, so one would think the expansion wouldnt be too far behind the new hotel?

is it possible ground floor retail is being considered along the front of GRB in the master plan? i know there is supposed to be some in the new Marriott Marquis and in the new GRB garage but other than that and One Park Place there really isnt any GFR around Discovery Green that i know of.

also, my initial motive for starting this thread... i brought it up in another thread when someone mentioned DG not being completely surrounded by tall buildings not giving it a "square" feeling.. does anyone think GRB is structurally strong enough to support any highrises built on top of it? i know they want even more hotels in the long term, besides just the Marriott Marquis, so what better place for another hotel than directly on top of the convention center? it doesnt get any more convenient then that. the convention center is already 5 blocks long. the expansion will add another 5 blocks to the site. imagine a large scale mixed use campus built on top of the GRB. it could have multiple highrises ranging from residential tower to hotel to office buildings and entertainment venues. think about it, if you count the roof space of GRB, there isnt as much potential neighboring real estate anywhere else in the downtown area. it will be over 10 city blocks after the expansion. i wish the planners of the GRB master plan had that kind of vision.

maybe an urban oasis? i know the park is right next door, but like some kind of botanical gardens or something to compliment the park.

at the very least it would be cool if they utilized some of the roof for a TopGolf. all these new downtown residents are going to need things to do besides nightlife and shopping. plus, how cool would it be to hit some golf balls in downtown?

[cloud713]

heres a few examples i sketched up of what they could do with the space..

downtown sports complex

some free soccer fields and tennis  courts for the public, anchored by a TopGolf





a mixed use development

[cloud713]

The footprint of GRB is over 14 acres. The Top Golf in Spring is on just over 10 acres (counting the surface parking lot).. you could easily fit a TopGolf on one half of the roof, leaving the rest of the space for the public sports complex, and possibly a miniature golf course at the TopGolf (i think that would be something neat/touristy to do in downtown to help with the "destination" image). The new expansion to GRB will add another 8 or so acres (my guesstimate.. its 4 square blocks and the connecting section across Polk though) to the footprint, for even more sports/entertainment facilities on the roof.

I wasnt sure if this would be possible at first without structural reinforcement, but when i was looking through the GRB 2025 master plan PDF i noticed a few key bits of information. When considering the new expansion, one option was to add another floor of convention space on the roof. Another option called for a roof top parking lot. Surely the weight of another entire floor of convention space, or hundreds/possibly thousands of multi-ton vehicles on the roof of the building is much greater than a TopGolf facility and a few soccer fields, tennis courts, and a baseball field, ect.

(am i the only one that has this enthusiasm for one day smashing golf balls on the roof of the GRB while getting hammered with my buddies, overlooking Discovery Green and the downtown skyline? i think it would be an even more popular location than the ones in the suburbs.)

[Subdude]

I'm sure they're not contemplating ground floor retail for the convention center.  

 

Just for my education, are these Top Golf places outdoor driving ranges with nets to catch the balls?

 

 

[cloud713]

Yes. Driving ranges with targets in the ground. They have bars and a restaurant too and sometimes batting cages and putt putt golf. They are very popular so it would serve as an anchor to turn the area into a destination. The public sports complex is just icing on the cake for local residents.



http://topgolf.com/houstonnorth/

Edited December 10, 2013 by cloud713

[HoustonIsHome]

Awesome idea Cloud.

Its ideas life this we need to draw people/ give people a reason to go downtown.

[Houston19514]

I'm sure they're not contemplating ground floor retail for the convention center.

Just for my education, are these Top Golf places outdoor driving ranges with nets to catch the balls?

Actually, they are very much contemplating/exploring adding some ground floor retail to tbe front of the GRB.

[Houston19514]

I wasnt sure if this would be possible at first without structural reinforcement, but when i was looking through the GRB 2025 master plan PDF i noticed a few key bits of information. When considering the new expansion, one option was to add another floor of convention space on the roof. Another option called for a roof top parking lot. Surely the weight of another entire floor of convention space, or hundreds/possibly thousands of multi-ton vehicles on the roof of the building is much greater than a TopGolf facility and a few soccer fields, tennis courts, and a baseball field, ect.

 

 

I believe those options arose during the "brain-storming" phase and apparently were fairly quickly dismissed.  One suspects they were dismissed early on because they were not actually feasible.

[cloud713]

I believe those options arose during the "brain-storming" phase and apparently were fairly quickly dismissed. One suspects they were dismissed early on because they were not actually feasible.

True. I figured it had more to do with them wanting the exhibition space on the ground floor, not 4 stories up. And a ramp for cars to get 100' up just to park on the roof seems a little impractical.

[Mab]

Quote

 

 

Houston may be getting more than a Super Bowl by the time 2017 comes around.

Representatives of Houston First Corp. are proposing to transform the George R. Brown Convention Center and adjacent Discovery Green into a landscaped and more pedestrian-friendly city center, with more retail and less car traffic.

The renovation would bring more restaurants and a coffeehouse to the area and significantly curtail the street in front of the convention center to create a larger walkable area.

It would be the area's biggest makeover since Discovery Green opened five years ago and leave its mark on the eastern edge of downtown long after the Super Bowl LI teams and their fans have departed for home.

The project would be completed in spring 2016. It would be funded entirely by Houston First, said Ric Campo, who chairs the quasi-governmental agency that manages the convention center and other city-owned buildings in the area. He also is chairman of the Super Bowl 2017 host committee.

The street in front of the convention center, Avenida de las Americas, would go to about three lanes, from eight, and all lanes would close for special events. The eliminated lanes would be transformed into a landscaped pedestrian area with a row of trees and tables for sidewalk dining.

On the block north of the convention center would be a 2,000-car parking garage and office space. Above it, a pad site would be built for a future hotel.

The redesigned convention center would get a front entrance offering more transparency including panoramic views of downtown, said Marie Hoke, principal at WHR Architects, the project's lead architect.

Houston First initiated the proposal.

Campo said the project is still in the concept stage and no price tag has been determined. He said the Houston First board of directors has sole authority to approve or reject the project.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Big-changes-could-be-coming-to-downtown-5190503.php#/1

 

Webcam:

 

http://oxblue.com/open/HoustonFirst/GeorgeRBrownConventionCenter

 

[Houston19514]

^ Very exciting.  Knew this was coming.  Exciting to see some preliminary renderings.

[xsatyr]

[Montrose1100]

Glad to see they are keeping some of the elements of the original design. Looks amazing! Only complaint is the mini big tex.

[aarosurf]

Looks great, wish we could bury part of 59 to connect EADO and this area.

[Moore713]

While I feel its a little victory parkish , I like the overall idea,  but if they are serious about doing this they will need to move fast.. The last thing we need is for a project of this scale to fall behind so close to the super bowl... that would be more embrassing that Dallas storm...Could you image  the streets tore up , The convention center tore up and then Hundreds of thousands of people from out of town flooding in.. Houston would never live it down

[Houston19514]

While I feel its a little victory parkish , I like the overall idea,  but if they are serious about doing this they will need to move fast.. The last thing we need is for a project of this scale to fall behind so close to the super bowl... that would be more embrassing that Dallas storm...Could you image  the streets tore up , The convention center tore up and then Hundreds of thousands of people from out of town flooding in.. Houston would never live it down

 

There is simply NO WAY that will happen.

Glad to see they are keeping some of the elements of the original design. Looks amazing! Only complaint is the mini big tex.

 

LOL  Hadn't noticed the mini big tex.  That's a seriously bad idea and needs to be eliminated.

[downtownian]

I hope they budgeted $55mm for the Jeff Koons Balloon Dog in the first picture.

[ClutchCity]

Some very interesting information regarding the parking garage north of the convention center in the article, "On the block north of the convention center would be a 2,000-car parking garage and office space. Above it, a pad site would be built for a future hotel."

While it will probably only be enough office space for Houston First Corp to house some of their operations, it is nice that the included it in the plan. Icing on the cake that they are going to build it to accommodate a hotel addition once the market dictates we need hotels completely encompassing GRB. Interesting that TC didn't do something similar with the 16 story parking garage they're currently constructing. Regardless, the Convention District is the most exciting part of downtown with new development popping up almost every week it seems!

Edited January 31, 2014 by ClutchCity

[Moore713]

There is simply NO WAY that will happen.

 

LOL  Hadn't noticed the mini big tex.  That's a seriously bad idea and needs to be eliminated.

 

Thuink the biig Tex is just one of those artist things that get thrown in

[lockmat]

Very cool, I like it a lot. I'm glad they didn't change the character of the GRB because I actually do like it. Hope this happens...soon. It's be nice if they could fit it into the final four plans at least.

[Nole23]

Oh wow this is awesome. Can't wait!

[H-Town Man]

Did the article mention anything about the hotel being on track? It looks like the Chronicle has figured out a way to elude my google searches.

[Moore713]

Did the article mention anything about the hotel being on track? It looks like the Chronicle has figured out a way to elude my google searches.

Yes, they will set aside a track of land for a future hotel

[Triton]

Besides the large transformation for Avenida de las Americas that this Houston Chron article mentioned, it would appear that we are getting a bit more:

 

 

On the block north of the convention center would be a 2,000-car parking garage and office space. Above it, a pad site would be built for a future hotel.

I think we knew about that parking garage... but we didn't know about the future office and hotel, right?

 

 

Highrise shown in this photo:

 

 

 

Thread for discussion of convention center transformation: http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/29618-big-changes-could-be-coming-to-downtown-convention-center/

 

Feel free to merge this thread if need be.

[Moore713]

The GRB 2025 plan called for a another hotel but this was across the highway and would have been linled the the center via a sky bridge wonder if they changed their mind on that

[lockmat]

Applications for this project are due tomorrow. This is run by private company men. It will be done by the final four.

Also, the hotel is planned to be 14-20 stories and the garage part facing the street will look like an office building, not a garage.

http://www.houstonfirst.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XpmDYlgGQj0%3d&tabid=373&mid=1174

[lockmat]

Yep, the hotel on the garage site is new.

[Urbannizer]

Threads merged. Since the project does include a hotel, I've pulled this one into the Going Up section.

[H-Town Man]

Did the article mention anything about the hotel being on track? It looks like the Chronicle has figured out a way to elude my google searches.

I mean, did the article say anything about the RIDA hotel?

[Houston19514]

I mean, did the article say anything about the RIDA hotel?

 

I haven't been able to see the whole article either, so I have no idea if it mentioned the RIDA hotel (Marriott Marquis), but it is definitely on track.

 

(The full article will probably be available tomorrow via Google.)

Edited January 31, 2014 by Houston19514

[Triton]

 

Currently, buses and cabs pull up to the front of convention center along Avenida de las Americas. But with the proposed project, buses would pull up to parking areas on the north and south ends of the convention centers and cabs would pick up and drop off in front of the Hilton Americas and the Marriott Marquis to be built nearby.

Big league TV screens

The Marriott Marquis will have a street-level sports bar with some of the largest TV screens for sports viewing in the city, said Ira Mitzner, president of RIDA Development Corp., the hotel's developer.

Mitzner described the overall plan as "transformational" that "will create a great friendly walking district" that intersperses event and hotel space with parks, sporting venues, retail and, eventually, the Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage.

 

Edit: That is the only mention of RIDA in the article.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Triton