JW Marriott Hotel Downtown At 806 Main St.

[roadrunner]

Wow this would be fantastic if it actually turns out like that. The red canopies really make it slick.

[mfastx]

It would be fantastic.

It would be even more fantastic if there were really that many people walking around at street level downtown.

[Houston19514]

It would be fantastic.

It would be even more fantastic if there were really that many people walking around at street level downtown.

That is not an unrealistic portrayal of downtown. You should visit some lunchtime, especially in a non-summer month.

[editor]

Here's the text of that City of Houston PDF referenced earlier for those whose computers panic at PDFs:

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The City of Houston proposes to provide approximately $7.35 million of gap financing (Section 108/EDI funds) for the renovation of a vacant property located at 806 Main Street into a luxury hotel. In addition to the construction jobs provided for the renovation of this building, the hotel will is projected to provide over 177 permanent, on-site jobs in Houston’s core. The project will also eliminate one of the few remaining blighted areas of the Main Street District and offer much needed rooms to support the efforts of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the George R Brown Convention Center.

Once hailed as Houston’s most magnificent structure, “The Carter Building,” Houston’s first sky-scraper, was constructed in 1910 by Samuel Fain Carter, nephew of philanthropist Jesse H. Jones and stood sixteen stories tall. Houston's historic buildings were influenced by visionaries such as Mr. Jones and Mr. Carter, and the city’s growth and diversification were due, in part, to their dedication and involvement in promoting the rapidly growing city as a thriving metropolis. Later pinned the Second National Bank Building, renowned architectural firm Sanguinet and Stattsthen oversaw the massive 1925 renovation which involved adding six additional floors.

The property is located on the southwest quadrant of Main and Rusk Streets in Downtown Houston. The property sits on .03 acres and is approximately 235,000 sq feet. This twenty two story office building has been substantially vacant for the last decade, but will be redeveloped into a full-service, luxury hotel. The hotel is located on the Main Street at the intersection of the existing North/South metro rail as well as the East/West rail line currently under construction. The site is approximately 20 miles from George Bush International Airport and 16 miles from the William P Hobby Airport. The site also has easy access to local and regional highways such as Interstate 45, US Highway 59, and Interstate 10.

The newly renovated hotel will provide permanent jobs, retain and revitalize a historic structure, and add much needed hotel rooms to downtown Houston. With unmet demand for downtown hotel rooms, current market studies for the CBD indicate that the downtown market will benefit from a hotel of this caliber. Aside from transient guests, the hotel will enable the George R Brown Convention Center to win conventions it has previously forfeited for lack of quality hotel space. Lost conventions include Academy of Nurse Practitioners Annual Conference, Microsoft Tech Ed, AARP Annual Meeting, Church of God in Christ, National Safety Council Annual Meeting, and American Chemical Society Annual Conferences to name a few. The ability to book these conferences not only aids the Convention Center, but also the local downtown businesses that serve convention goers.

[Houston19514]

Is that a City of Houston press release? Whoever it is, they need to find someone who can write (and at least know the name of the city's primary airport).

[TheNiche]

Is that a City of Houston press release? Whoever it is, they need to find someone who can write (and at least know the name of the city's primary airport).

Not to mention, someone that can get their basic facts and figures straight about the project.

A 235,000-square-foot building on 0.03 acres would have a floorplate size of 1,308 square feet (barely enough for elevators and stairs) and would be 180 stories tall.

[ricco67]

Here is 806 as it stands as of today:

Not much different from the original photo.

[Nate99]

A coouple of shots from today. Looks like they have a scaffold/elevator setup on the Rusk side, perhaps to start stripping off the facade.

[Nate99]

I noticed someone doing what looked like sheetrock work on the third floor of the narrow strip of building with the yellowish panels that face Rusk. He was right above the window unit a/c in my pic above.

Is that part contiguous internally with the 806 Main building? It is a different height, but could be a section that was not raised when the original building added the additional floors way back when.

[Nate99]

I noticed someone doing what looked like sheetrock work on the third floor of the narrow strip of building with the yellowish panels that face Rusk. He was right above the window unit a/c in my pic above.

Is that part contiguous internally with the 806 Main building? It is a different height, but could be a section that was not raised when the original building added the additional floors way back when.

Partially answering my question, they extended the scaffolvator all the way across to the other building.

[Purdueenginerd]

The proper/construction industry term for that type of scaffolding is a mast climber just for everyone's knowledge... Very cool pictures though, I'm looking forward to this project developing.

"scaffolvator" though I like that, I'm gonna have to remember that.

[Nate99]

A couple more. They are definitely stripping the cladding. The windows are out of the upper floors too.

[Houston19514]

The proper/construction industry term for that type of scaffolding is a mast climber just for everyone's knowledge... Very cool pictures though, I'm looking forward to this project developing.

"scaffolvator" though I like that, I'm gonna have to remember that.

Yeah, scaffolvator is way better than mast climber. ;-)

[Nate99]

[Nate99]

You can see some of the stone work being uncovered on the upper floors now. I'm still interested to see how they are going to get the black gunk that is on the brick behind the white-ish panels off or if they'll paint over it.

[flatline]

Sorry for the poor picture quality. These are 15 floors up on the north side.

[Nate99]

I also noted that it looks like they have a mockup of a finished hotel room in the area that I noted the sheetrock work being done earlier.

[fatesdisastr]

I also noted that it looks like they have a mockup of a finished hotel room in the area that I noted the sheetrock work being done earlier.

What?

[Nate99]

What?

In the section of building with the different facade facing Rusk, I noticed that they were doing some interior work on a 3rd or 4th floor area, which I noted in a previous post.

I walked by later, and you can see furniture and fixtures and a finished interior where they were working. I am guessing that they were putting together what the rooms will look like as an example, or to work through options when they start to outfit the guest rooms.

I could be wrong though.

[flatline]

I was at the Embassy Suites in Fort Worth this week, which is also a Pearl Hospitality hotel. The manager said that there is, in fact, a mock-up room that they are showing to potential investors.

[HoustonBoy]

Downtown Houston could benefit so much by this! Now all we need is more business and residents!

[DrLan34]

I saw them working on this at about 1030pm tonight

Edited November 29, 2012 by DrLan34

[HoustonBoy]

Some should post daily pictures!

[fatesdisastr]

Some should post daily pictures!

It is my opinion that daily pictures is a little too much. Once a week would be more realistic and nice. With school almost out, I'll have more time to go around getting some shots myself.

[HoustonBoy]

It is my opinion that daily pictures is a little too much. Once a week would be more realistic and nice. With school almost out, I'll have more time to go around getting some shots myself.

Yeah you're right. Tell me one thing though, how is downtown? I live in the suburbs and I've never really been to downtown and I've lived here my whole life! I've been to NYC downtown more than Houston's! Are there a lot of people roaming the streets, and shops?

[Texasota]

Um...how to answer that question....

[mfastx]

Yeah you're right. Tell me one thing though, how is downtown? I live in the suburbs and I've never really been to downtown and I've lived here my whole life! I've been to NYC downtown more than Houston's! Are there a lot of people roaming the streets, and shops?

Not really. Except for weekdays, downtown is usually pretty quiet, to put it nicely. There have been some major improvements though in the last decade or so and hopefully the improvements continue to happen.

[fatesdisastr]

Yeah you're right. Tell me one thing though, how is downtown? I live in the suburbs and I've never really been to downtown and I've lived here my whole life! I've been to NYC downtown more than Houston's! Are there a lot of people roaming the streets, and shops?

You should make your way downtown sometime soon. Check out Discovery Green, some of the places in Houston Pavilions, Warren's, etc.

[arrodiii]

You should make your way [to] Warren's...

I concur

[kylejack]

I saw a bunch of suits monitoring the progress this morning.

[TxDave]

When is the expected completion?

Looking forward to a chance to stay there

[fatesdisastr]

Not many people see the back of this building but I figured I would give a visual from this past Thursday.

[brijonmang]

Not many people see the back of this building but I figured I would give a visual from this past Thursday.

Very cool photo. Thanks for sharing!

[downtownian]

Thanks for the back shot - here's a view from the front of the building as of 13-Jan. Agree that daily updates are a little much - it really doesn't change that much on a daily basis although there are crews there around the clock.

[downtownian]

Does anyone know the expected completion / opening date? Pearl Real Estate lists 2013 on their website (http://www.pearl-realestate.com/portfolio.html) but Central Houston estimates fall 2014 in their Q4 2012 downtown real estate update (http://downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2013-01-02/Downtown_Real_Estate_Update_2012-4Q-2.pdf).

 

Here's a construction photo update. Not a lot has changed week-over-week.

 

 

Also, this is interesting: the adjacent building on Rusk looks like it has rooms in it. Not sure if its connected to the hotel or not.

 

[fatesdisastr]

Does anyone know the expected completion / opening date? Pearl Real Estate lists 2013 on their website (http://www.pearl-realestate.com/portfolio.html) but Central Houston estimates fall 2014 in their Q4 2012 downtown real estate update (http://downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2013-01-02/Downtown_Real_Estate_Update_2012-4Q-2.pdf).

 

I would be surprised if this hotel is up and running in 2013. I understand that removing the skin is a tedious process and takes a lot of time, and for that reason I just don't think guests will be moving in in the next 11 months. I'll believe the 3Q 2014 date.

[KinkaidAlum]

That's a different building. There's also an adjoining building on Main that looks similar but is vacant. I've long thought that both would make awesome condos. The buildings are so thin that I've thought you could put one unit per floor although I have no idea of what the floor plates look like.

[Nate99]

I would be surprised if this hotel is up and running in 2013. I understand that removing the skin is a tedious process and takes a lot of time, and for that reason I just don't think guests will be moving in in the next 11 months. I'll believe the 3Q 2014 date.

 

Much of the exterior brick looks to be coated with something fairly heavy, like asphalt. Not sure how or if they will be taking that off. 

 

Exterior progress is slow. I still walk by there fairly often, but since it has not changed much, I haven't taken any new pictures. 

[flatline]

Anybody have any info and/or wild speculation as to what the parking plan is for the hotel?

[Houston19514]

somewhat wild speculation... .valet only.  hotel will rent spaces in some nearby garage.

[Nate99]

somewhat wild speculation... .valet only.  hotel will rent spaces in some nearby garage.

 

That's basically the Magnolia's setup. I would imagine the same. 

 

The new garage with Jimmy Johns in it is on the same block. 

[Nate99]

They continue to make progress...

 

[Urbannizer]

Taken yesterday:

 

[Jax]

[flatline]

Windows are being installed in the upper floors on the North side:

 

 

[kylejack]

Taken yesterday:

 

 

On the bottom left in this picture, through the branches, you can see where they've painted 5 different paint swatches, different colors of brown. I'm assuming they're planning to paint the concrete columns one of those colors. There is lots of nice brickwork underneath, but they seem to have ruined some of it with the concrete, so seems like they had to improvise a little.

[Nate99]

On the bottom left in this picture, through the branches, you can see where they've painted 5 different paint swatches, different colors of brown. I'm assuming they're planning to paint the concrete columns one of those colors. There is lots of nice brickwork underneath, but they seem to have ruined some of it with the concrete, so seems like they had to improvise a little.

 

Whatever was under the facade skin on the brick looked really thick, like tar. I doubt it would come off easily. Some of the texture should still show through it after paint. 

[j_cuevas713]

Whatever was under the facade skin on the brick looked really thick, like tar. I doubt it would come off easily. Some of the texture should still show through it after paint.

I did work removing this thick black tar from the old historic courthouse downtown. They usually use an acid to burn the tar away and clean uo the area. From there I could seem them painting it after its cleaned up.

[Purdueenginerd]

I did work removing this thick black tar from the old historic courthouse downtown. They usually use an acid to burn the tar away and clean uo the area. From there I could seem them painting it after its cleaned up.

 

Interesting. I guess abrasive sand blasting isn't an option due to the historical preservation? 

[j_cuevas713]

Interesting. I guess abrasive sand blasting isn't an option due to the historical preservation?

Yea a lot of the work is going to be done section by little section until all of that black tar is removed. Very time consuming, literally toothbrush work. I highly doubt any sort of sandblasting due to its historical significance.