Texas' Only Ritz-carlton Hotel And The Residences

[editor]

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2005--In a brief ceremony today, Dallas Mayor, Laura Miller; Crescent Real Estate Equities Company (NYSE:CEI) Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Goff; and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer, Ken Rehmann gathered with a crowd of guests, donned hard hats, and turned shovels of earth to celebrate the start of construction on The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas and The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. The ceremony was held on the project site located on the block bound by Pearl, McKinney, Olive and Cedar Springs in bustling Uptown.

Dallas residents have enthusiastically embraced the new project which marks Ritz-Carlton's entry into the Texas market. The project includes a 217-room Ritz-Carlton hotel and 70 luxury residences, which are substantially pre-sold, in a 21-story Robert Stern-designed tower.

"This is a great day for Dallas," exclaimed Mayor Miller. "We are so pleased to be the site of Ritz-Carlton's first Texas hotel and residences. The addition of properties of this caliber reinforces Dallas' status as a world-class city."

"We are pleased by the level of excitement this project has received," added John Goff. "For years, we contemplated the appropriate use of our land that sits adjacent to the Crescent Office Towers and Atrium. It became increasingly obvious that Dallas was ready for the quality of lifestyle that will be offered by The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. We all know that Ritz-Carlton is famous for their superior customer service, and we are excited to partner with them in this endeavor."

"Dallas has long been part of our strategic expansion plan," said Ken Rehmann. "We were just looking for the right partner and the right site. We are very pleased to be partnering with Crescent because we know they share our commitment to creating exceptional places and delivering unmatched service to their customers."

The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas will occupy the first eight floors of the building, and will include a restaurant/bar, 14,000 square feet of meeting space, a 10,000-square-foot ballroom, and a 12,000 square foot spa and fitness center. Available residences range in price from $1.3 million for a two-bedroom home to more than $6 million for a four-bedroom penthouse. Homeowners will have access to all the services of the hotel, including housekeeping, catering, room service, and concierge.

Crescent is a publicly held real estate investment trust headquartered in Fort Worth. Its portfolio of more than 75 premier office buildings totaling more than 30 million square feet is located in select markets across the United States with major concentrations in Dallas, Houston, Austin, Denver, Miami and Las Vegas. Crescent also makes strategic investments in resort residential development, as well as resorts, including Canyon Ranch.

The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas and The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas marks another step in the ongoing evolution of The Ritz-Carlton brand. Since 200l, The Ritz-Carlton has successfully opened 23 hotel and resort properties.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. currently operates 58 hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is the only service company to have twice earned the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which recognizes outstanding customer service.

The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas and The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas are slated for completion in 2007.

Renderings of the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas and The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas are available at the following link: http://www.crescent.com/newsroom/gallery.asp. Photos of today's groundbreaking ceremony are available upon request at: amata@crescent.com.

SOURCE: Crescent Real Estate Equities Company

[tierwestah]

now i'm not tryin' to throw salt but why does Dallas get the Ritz Carlton?

[Willy1]

...Dallas gets the Ritz because Dallas is the Texas city that most fits the "image" that the Ritz associates itself with. Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio are all hot, growing Texas/Sunbelt cities, but all of them lack the "prestigious" image that Dallas has continued to promote. When people in other parts of the country/world think of Texas - the often think of Dallas first, and Dallas' public image is directly associated with huge wealth and prestige. JR Ewing, in large part, branded that perception of Dallas into the minds of people all over the world. But, that's only because art imitated life in a way with that show. At the time Dallas hit the air, the urban cowboy craze was just sort of sweeping the nation. they took the urban cowboy concept and found out that many of the "cowboys" in Dallas were actually very wealthy, very powerful, business tycoons. Hollywood jumped on the chance to build on the urban cowboy thing and the result was a hit tv show. Unfortunately for Texans, they also created a long-lasting stereotype that really doesn't fit reality here in Texas. You never seen cowboy hats and suits in any of the major Texas cities... not even in FW.

Back on topic... Houston is larger than Dallas, but isn't as wealthy and doesn't have the public perception as a wealthy city that Dallas has. I know Houston is a wealthy city - but Dallas is one of the country's, if not the world's, wealthiest cities. Fort Worth has promoted itself too much as "Cowtown", even though the cattle industry in FW now isn't anything like it once was. FW, although also extremely wealthy, is too down to Earth to attract such upscale projects like The Ritz. FW prides itself, in a lot of ways, as being the Anti-Dallas; the opposite side of the metroplex with an opposite attitude. That's part of the reason FW is one of the fastest growing large cities in America. Austin is just too Earthy and non-traditional for The Ritz and the economy in Austin isn't what it was a few years ago. Austin has passed it's prime and is beginning to slow down in growth. Plus it's probably too small of a market to attract top tier projects such as The Ritz. San Antonio, while being a very large city, doesn't have the cosmopolitan feel that Dallas and Houston have. Nor, does San Antonio have the amount of wealth found in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.

Basically, it boils down to public image. Places like The Ritz only build in cities that fit their corporate image. If another Texas city were to get a Ritz it would more than likely be Houston.

[RedScare]

http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/MPINewsRelease.htm

http://wealth.mongabay.com/tables/100_inco...odes-20000.html

Both of these sites suggest that Houston is, in fact, a slightly wealthier city than Dallas. Houston was home to a Ritz-Carlton up until a few years ago, when the Ritz management pulled out due to a dispute with the hotel owners. The hotel is now the St. Regis.

The Ritz does not own hotels, by and large. They run them for the hotel owner. The biggest reason that the Ritz is coming to Dallas is that a hotel owner has, or will have, a building that fits the Ritz' style. If and when a Houston hotelier has or develops a building that fits in with the image the Ritz wants to project, the Ritz will return to Houston.

I would suggest that the Ritz' business model places more emphasis on the number of well-heeled travelers it will attract, than the "image" of a city. If the Ritz-Carlton Lampasas was a money-maker, they'd probably have one.

[J.A.S.O.N.]

I read Willy1's post and I could tell this was going to be a large thread.

*sits back and grabs popcorn*

[RedScare]

yeah, and it hasn't even been up 2 hours yet.

[Willy1]

I'm not here to start a flame war. I don't live in Dallas, so I don't have any sort of favoritisim toward that city. I may have given the impression that Dallas was wealthier, or whatever. In fact, I was merely talking about "public image" and "perceptions" of the cities in Texas. I also mentioned San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Austin, but somehow it has instantly turned into another Dallas vs Houston thing... It's not. I wasn't aware that Houston had a Ritz... Like I said, if any other city in Texas were to have one, it would be Houston... I agree - if the Ritz thought that they could make money in Lampasas then there would be some luxery resport/high rise being built there. After all, one of the trendiest most upscale restaraunts - The Reata in Fort Worth - started in Alpine, then opened in Fort Worth... and for a while had a restaraunt on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. They even had an oning on the BH location that said "Reata - Alpine, Fort Worth, Beverly Hills". I laughed out loud when I was walking down Rodeo Drive and saw that....

I looked at the links... the first one refers to Dallas-Fort Worth... You can't count that as a true representation of Dallas' wealth because there are a lot of lower income suburbs lumped into the Dallas metro area.... The Ritz isn't moving to Dallas because the fine people of Mesquite or Euless, just as an example, will be staying there when they pick which Dallas hotel to stay in on New Years Eve... The second link merely lists a bunch of zip codes and the avg income/returns from a sample of tax returns from that zip code. For example, Corpus Christie is listed as the wealthiest in the State... Does anyone here really believe Corpus is the wealthiest city in Texas based on the 31 tax returns they just happen to use for that chart? I don't think so. Plus, in Fort Worth, for example there is a small city called Westover Hills - it's not Fort Worth, it's incorporated as it's own township... and it's the wealthiest city in Tarrant County. Not to mention on that chart, the combined Adjusted Gross Income for all of Texas is $351+ million. Given that Alice Walton, the 4th richest person on Earth, lives in Fort Worth and is worth over $20 Billion all by herself, I seriously doubt the chart is a true representation of anything... I certainly don't see her tax return on that chart. Any of these types of charts are disputable... For example on the following link, Arlinton, Austin, and then Fort Worth are ranked as the 3 richest Texas cities based on median income. Dallas and Houston are both way down the list... I don't think that's an accurate measure either... Especially since this list ranks Arlington as the 5 wealthiest in the nation. Who believe that one? Anyone been to Arlington lately? It's not exactly Monte Carlo. Heck, Arlington isn't even as nice as Plano. http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Ran...002/R07T160.htm

If you look at the number of millionaires/billionaires and where they live then DFW is by far the wealthiest area in Texas.... and is in fact, the 4th wealthiest in the country. However, does the number of millionaires/billionaires really reflect the wealth of a region? I don't think so...

http://www.forbes.com/static_html/rich400/.../indexFla.shtml

[slfunk]

...Dallas gets the Ritz because Dallas is the Texas city that most fits the "image" that the Ritz associates itself with. Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio are all hot, growing Texas/Sunbelt cities, .....

Basically, it boils down to public image. Places like The Ritz only build in cities that fit their corporate image. If another Texas city were to get a Ritz it would more than likely be Houston.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe Willy1 has a good point. Houston has a beautiful skyline, one that makes many of us Dallasites envious, and looking forward to the day we get new more modern skyscrapers. I think another big part to this is Cresent is huge power house nation wide for developing, has been working on this deal for several years. The location of this building it is currently being built on was not the first location. A few years back they looked at putting it in the high end area of Turtle Creek, but that fell through. Over the past few years, the uptown area has really been taking on its own unique character. One that is hard to find anywhere else in Texas, kinda like the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Where a few years ago uptown was really in its infancy. It was a success, but people still had strong reservations about it. Now rents are easily reaching 1.50 and some parts 2.00 per sq ft. When I first moved here 2 and half years ago there were some art galleries clustered with Antique shops. Now there is a whole private art gallery distrit that is emerging. I.E. George Micheal's long time partner just open a gallery called "Goss" off of Cedar Springs and Fairmont. This being among several well known artists who have been collaborating or setting up lone shops/galleries. Then you have the Arts District which is seeking to complete its master plan here by 2009, with its full funding of 275 million wrapping up to build three new perfomance halls. These include the Winspear Opera House, Wyly multi-purpose performoning center, and Dallas Perfomnace hall. Trammel Crow is also building a new office building flanked with an urban village at the end of Flora street creating a terminous for the Arts District, where 7-11 is moving its new headquarters.

The site sitting right in front of the Cresent Complex has now become a very high profile piece of property. It was rumored that the Cresent would never build there to protect its view of downtown, but that is one prime piece of real estate. With almost no more land left to build on in uptown, it sits as a transition point. When coming down Pearl from downtown passing by Cathedral de Santiago, Nasher Sculpture Garden, and Meyerson Symphony Center into uptown you are looking straight at the Cresent and soon the new Ritz-Carlton. The people residing in the Ritz well have amazing views looking over the new park that will cover Woodall Rogers, views of the Arts District, adjacent to the Federal Reserve with its own galleries, and all be in walking distance of the private art galleries, and fine dining.

In Houston's case, I read an article in the Houston Business Journal regarding high end hotels coming to Houston. Now this is only one source and third hand at that. There is a developer/developers looking at possibly building the second Texas "W" in Houston and/or toying with the Ritz. the Ritz would not comment because they don't talk about "rumors" but only done deals. The "W" mentioned something to the fact that Houston is city that meets its market niche when looking for cities to expand into. The developer also mentioned that if the Ritz where to come to Houston it would probably be another five years before the deal is complete and building can start because that is how long it takes to finalize such a deal. The "W" would not take as long. There were also some other hotels mentioned in that article.

[HtownKid]

Well Damn Dallas is on a role first the W Hotel now a Ritz Carlton

[Gary]

Geeeeeeeez!

[tamtagon]

Houston has a beautiful skyline, one that makes many of us Dallasites envious,

Over the past few years, the uptown area has really been taking on its own unique character.  One that is hard to find anywhere else in Texas....several well known artists who have been collaborating or setting up lone shops/galleries....Then you have the Arts District which is seeking to complete its master plan here by 2009....The people residing in the Ritz well have amazing views

I think Houston's downtown skyline joins with skyline clusters on the west side to deliver a more impressive city feel than currently exists in Dallas. Outside of downtown Dallas (and a couple in Fort Worth which dont really count toward the 'Dallas city feel'), the visual component of a really tall building, over 500', is absent in the highrise clusters of North Dallas, along the Stemmons Corridor and along Central expressway. Tall buildings create an intangible emotional impression, and Houston cashes in on that.

Really nice description slfunk. Uptown is turning into a very pleasant cityscape, and ya, the area along Lower McKinney, Turtle Creek Blvd and the Arts District slice of the CBD has become an ideal location for posh digs like the Ritz and W Hotels to schooch in together with The Crescent, and The Mansion of Turtle Creek. Thousands of folks with lots of disposable income are moving into Uptown, and the residential developments keep coming. Over the next four to five years, masterplan developments Citiplace/West Village and Victory will combine to increase by a third (-that's a rough guess) the currently existing residential inventory in Uptown. The individual developments in the works today will come close to matching the residential inventory increase of the two big masterplans as all undeveloped land disappears in Uptown before the end of the decade. After that, Uptown will most likely see the redevelopment of its older garden apartments into highrise apts/condos with the maximum possible inventory. It's going to get really crowded with a lot of folks who have plenty of spending money. This new urban population in Dallas is the group which will put life back into the CBD.

[tamtagon]

There is a developer/developers looking at possibly building the second Texas "W" in Houston and/or toying with the Ritz.

No telling what the brand mix will be, but it's a pretty sure bet that these high end hoteliers will operate in Houston. A catastrophy like Enron will delay many things and can leave an impression lasting much longer than the reality; that's probably why "small time" operations like ZaZa are making plans in Houston, before the likes of The W and Ritz. The giant Port of Houston also brings to the Gulf Coast metro a blue collar sensibility - that just might be the source of some misconceptions (among residents and otherwise) that Houston is less than sophisticated. Working people get their hands dirty in Houston. Nevertheless, a market as big as Houston, expanding as quickly as Houston wont be overlooked, there's too much money to be made.

As the entire Southcentral region grows in population and business activity, I've gotta go with Dallas for a more thorough and worldly representation of activities and events and all the well known brands which profit from consumer activities. There are two primary reasons: the size of the Dallas Regional Trading Area, and the inability of outlaying submarkets to compete. As the Metroplex population nears 9 million by 2020, the population within the Dallas Regional Trading Area is expected to double from 12 to 24 million by 2020. Roughly, the Dallas Regional Trading Area geographically extends to and includes the submarkets: Shreveport, Tulsa, OKC, Amarillo, Midland-Odessa, El Paso, Killeen Temple and everything in between BUT NOT Bryan College Station, Lufkin and Beaumont. Half of Texas and most of Oklahoma travel to Dallas to shop for what they cannot get at home. This has resulted in no less than 30% more retail activity in the Metroplex than any other metro area for a thousand miles. Not matched in Atlanta or Houston, only exceeded by Chicago, the influence of the Dallas market place is expanding beyond a regional level and will become more similarly scaled to the Chicago market place. Dallas is the first place most high profile, visible products and/or services providers will consider as time goes on.

[tcole]

the Dallas Regional Trading Area geographically extends to and includes the submarkets: Shreveport, Tulsa, OKC, Amarillo, Midland-Odessa, El Paso, Killeen Temple and everything in between BUT NOT Bryan College Station, Lufkin and Beaumont. Half of Texas and most of Oklahoma travel to Dallas to shop for what they cannot get at home. This has resulted in no less than 30% more retail activity in the Metroplex than any other metro area for a thousand miles. Not matched in Atlanta or Houston, only exceeded by Chicago, the influence of the Dallas market place is expanding beyond a regional level and will become more similarly scaled to the Chicago market place. Dallas is the first place most high profile, visible products and/or services providers will consider as time goes on.

I'll have to quibble with that last bit tamtagon - the bit about Houston not drawing trade from an equivalent dollar segment as Dallas. I agree that D draws from Waco to OKC, and West Texas to N. Louisiana, but Houston holds the trump card on Dallas - it draws from Monterrey, La Ciudad, Guadalajara, Merida, Saltillo, Torreon, etc. (as well as SAT, Austin and all of South Texas and Southern Louisiana) Get the picture? From a dollar standpoint, that market (the one south of the border) is actually much larger.

As to the Ritz; Marriott considered taking over (actually co-developing) what is now Hotel Icon as a Ritz Carlton property. In fact, they have been eager to get back into the Houston market since they voided their management contract with a particular Saudi property owner due to tax and management fee delinquency in 97. RC actually "lost" a number of what it considered its premier locations with that "deal" including Houston, Aspen, and The Kohala Coast and just recently got back into Aspen with its Bachelor's Gulch property at Highlands.

Willy, you are correct in your assertion that most of the drive behind RC's and W's move is perception of Dallas (although not in spite of Houston) - whereas I would assume that they are having to stretch their pro-formas for those two projects given Dallas' 60% hotel occupancy rates. As to actual wealth, I would say that from an income perspective, Houston is going to be higher although probably closer to even on a per capita basis (excluding Tarrant Co.) due to Houston's larger "blue collar" populace. From a net worth perspective, Houston is without a doubt wealthier than Dallas (again without factoring Tarrant County) although individual accounts will be higher in Dallas - think Perot, Cuban, et.al. Lastly, Alice doesn't live here anymore - in Fort Worth, and her income may not be that "great" given her net worth as a good chunk of that is locked into WMT stock and not subject to income reporting thus explaining the seemingly "low" total income tax figure you cited for Texas.

[citykid09]

I heard a new Ritz Carlton might be going into the new Pavillion on PostOak developmnet.

[Ethanra]

First of all I think constant bickering between Dallas and Houston people is funny. Both cities are brilliant cities in their own way. But I did read some where while doing a paper for a class that Houston does have more millionaires per capita then any othe cities in the U.S. Also it is on the pace to be the wealthiest city in the world by the year 2015.

One more thing, I do have friends in the FW and Dallas and both say Dallas people do not like to be include in with FW people. They act like FW is a cow town or not "cool" enough. Dallas people sure are quick though to include FW when it comes to population, # of building, or money. IMO Dallas has a lot of great things but is basically one big suburb and is one of the most over rated cities in the U.S.

[Willy1]

First of all I think constant bickering between Dallas and Houston people is funny.

[yall_are_nutty]

The whole premise of willy's argument is that dallas is getting a ritz and houston is not because dallas has the reputation as a trendier wealthier city.

uh, so since houston had the very first ritz carlton (before dallas even sniffed one) that means a few years ago the perception was that houston was a wealthier trendier city?

lame argument. lame thread.

[yall_are_nutty]

also, not that anyone in houston gives a rats ass, but the per capita income in 2001 was 10.8% greater in houston than dfw according to the federal reserve.

[rantanamo]

The part of town its being built in has the highest land prices in the state and is on the southern end of the Platinum Corridor, which is the largest collection of the upper-middle class to wealthy in the state. Basically you have mcmansions, mansions, estates, luxury shopping and highrises, 4 and 5 star hotels for about 30 miles due north along Preston and the Dallas North Tollway.

[RedScare]

Texas Five-5 Star Hotels

Austin Texas Five-5 Star Hotels

Inter-Continental Stephen F. Austin

Dallas Five-5 Star Hotels

Four Seasons Dallas - Irving (Las Colinas)

The Mansion on Turtle Creek - Dallas (Turtle Creek)

Houston Five-5 Star Hotels

Four Seasons Houston

Omni Houston Hotel

The St. Regis Houston

The Warwick

[Willy1]

The whole premise of willy's argument is that dallas is getting a ritz and houston is not because dallas has the reputation as a trendier wealthier city.

uh, so since houston had the very first ritz carlton (before dallas even sniffed one) that means a few years ago the perception was that houston was a wealthier trendier city? 

lame argument.  lame thread.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WRONG! I said that the reason Dallas is getting The Ritz is because of the perception of Dallas' wealth and the image that the city has makes it a good fit for The Ritz. I never said "and Houston isn't". In fact, if people would stop putting words in my mouth and actually read my thread as simply adding information and not picking a fight, then they would realize that I also said that if another city in Texas were to get a Ritz it would be Houston! How is that translated to "and Houston is not"? I didn't know that Houston had already had a Ritz... but I'm not surprised by that. I was merely responding to the question put forth by someone else in this thread: Why is Dallas getting The Ritz and not Houston? I was not the one who turned this into a Dallas vs. Houston thing... $%#! I don't even live in Dallas!!!!! THAT'S RIGHT --- I AM NOT FROM DALLAS!!!!!! I was merely trying to answer a question as to why Dallas would be chosen as a city for The Ritz to build in. Apparently - based on the number of locked threads on this message board - some members of this site are extremely defensive and uptight about anything positive being said about any city other than Houston or at least Dallas!

I think it's sad that there is so much insecurity in this site that you can't let Dallas have the credit it deserves. I have heard a lot of grumbling on here about how "Dallas thinks it's so much better than anywhere else", etc. I find that comical now given the fact that so many of the Dallas-Fort Worth threads on HAIF have to be locked because the members on here are so obssessed with bashing anything that even resembles a pro-Dallas comment. It has been my experience on this site that y'all are the one's who are so bad about thinking you're better than anywhere else. The insecurity in here is so bad that ridiculous claims about Houston are made without even attempting to substantiate the claims with some sort of resource to support the claims being made. So, I give up on trying to have any real conversations based on any sort of reality in the HAIF... So, to make y'all all feel better and to go along with all the delusions of grandure in here... here you go.

* Houston is the biggest city in Texas and by 2007 it will be the largest city on Earth, in both population and land mass.

* Houston is prettier than any other city in Texas, and on Earth for that matter. Seattle, Honolulu, and San Franscisco only wish they were as pretty as Houston.

* Houston's buildings are cooler than the buildings in Dallas - or New York, Chicago or Hong Kong for that matter.

* By 2010, Houston will be so big that people in Chicago will be driving into downtown Houston for work every morning.

* The port of Houston really includes all of the Gulf of Mexico.

* Houston Intercontental is 100 times larger than DFW Airport - which is the worlds worst airport, for the record.

* Contenental Airlines - despite a deceptive advertising claim by American Airlines - is actually the worlds largest airline. And, they make more money than any other airline - especially that hack of an airline; Southwest Airlines.

* Darth Vader - the worlds' most powerful Sith Lord, is from Houston originally - Westhiemer I believe. That wimpy, pretentious Count Dukoo - who had his head cut off by Darth Vader - is from Highland Park... but he had to rent because he didn't really make enough money to live there.

* Everyone in Houston makes at least 10% more money every year than Bill Gates, but they just don't like to let anyone know about it because in 1986 it actually became illegal to be pretentious in Harris County and if you're caught pretending to be something you're not, you're immediately deported to Dallas... By the way, when we say "Dallas" we mean the small North Texas city - not the DFW metro area that has millions fewer people than Houston proper even though they all got together to conspire to create a fake metro area so that Houston would look bad.

* Houston is both the newest and oldest city on Earth...

* Houston is WAY more cosmopolitain and trendy than Dallas - or NYC, LA, Milan, Rome, Paris, London, or any other city that doesn't have oil refineries on the outskirts of town.

* The Houston Architecure Forum is way friendlier, way bigger, way more impressive in any possible way than the Dallas forum.

* The city of Houston will soon become so rich and powerful that it will probably break off from the United States to become it's own nation - and of course will replace the United States as the worlds richest and most powerful nation.

* Houston is so cool that the Earth actually rotates around Houston, and even though it's only a few hundred miles to the north, Dallas spends most of the year in complete darkness.

* Our mosquitos are 3 times bigger than the ones in Dallas. Dallas mosquitoes suck!

* The Urban Cowboy starring John Travolta and Debra Winger won more oscars than any other movie in film history... and it made more money than all the Star Wars movie combined.

* The restaraunt chain "Houston's" is the most successful restaraunt chain in the history of the world.

* God is building a 2000 foot 5 star hotel and condo tower in downtown Houston and he's going to actually move Heaven into the penthouse... He was going to build it in Dallas, but he couldn't find a good deal on a Hummer to lease and he knows how important it is to drive the right leased vehicle in Dallas. Besides, Houston is so much bigger and cooler, in case I forgot to mention that before.

* Next year, they are going to start construction on "New Houston" on the moon and there will be daily shuttles from NASA to the "New Houston". This is necessary because by 2009, Houston will actually outgrow Earth and the moon is the only place to go. By the way, Donald Trump is already building Trump Space Tower in New Houston and it will be the tallest building in the Milky Way.

* The Houston City council has decied to annex everything between Houston's CBD and the Red River. Dallas is to be referred to from this day forward as "Far North Houston".

* Last year the name "Houston" replaced the name "Dallas" as the most popular boys name - EVER!

* Yoda learned to use THE FORCE at the University of Houston, and then went on to become a Master Jedi at Rice. It should be mentioned that he was the captain of the fencing team while at UH. He now lives in River Oaks, next door to the house where they filmed the other most sucessful movie ever made; Terms of Endearment.

* A homless guy that lives under i-45 in Houston collected enough money last week - mainly from rich Houstonians throwing Million Dollar Bills at him from their car windows - to actually buy Dallas County. He's planning on shutting it down and starting over with something better like a landfill or nuclear waste site.

* Williams Tower is so tall that it actually affects global wind patterns and the oceanic tides. Al Quida was going to blow it up, but they couldn't bring themselves to hurt such a beautiful structure. In fact, they've decided to put the Williams Tower on the cover of the new Taliban Phone Book.

* Downtown Houston is so tall that the moon is actually being slowly pulled into Earth's orbit by the gravitational pull created by the immense urban density of downtown Houston.

* Houston is so dense and urban that if the comet that killed the dinasaurs hit Houston, it would just bounce back off into space.

I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg on all things great and factual about Houston's superiority in the universe! Please forgive me for not listing them all. I am after all, not from Houston so hopefully you will forgive me - or at least overlook me...

[Ethanra]

Bro, calm down. I just said more millionaires per capital, not the top 400 wealthiest people. Look at SF they have more people in the top 400 but look at SF unemployment rate and the economy of SF, its not that great. If you want to throw some fact act that has not a thing of what i posted, how about the number of fortune 500 companies in Houston and the number in Dallas.

[The Great Hizzy!]

LMAO! LMGDAO!

Good lord...

There are a buttload of factors as to why Ritz might have chosen to build a new hotel in Dallas rather than reopen one in Houston. Maybe they were able to work out a favorable deal at a favorable location faster in Big D. Maybe some clown on Dallas' city council worked out some under-the-table deal better than some Houston councilperson. Who the hell really knows?

Be honest with yourself, do you really think bright, commercially savvy people who are responsible for investing tens of millions of dollars into the expansion of their project is going to quibble over what city has two or three more billionaires? Do you think they're going to say, "Whoa! Dallas' residential population consists of 18.3% college graduates where as Houston only has 16.8%. Let's make sure we open a Ritz in Dallas, damnit! (reverse the numbers and it's just as ridiculous)"

I would fire every turd in a tie or power skirt if they thought like that. And so would the president & CEO of Ritz hotels.

The moral: calm down. It may be something as simple as someone liking how the North-Central Expressway looks compared to, say, the Katy Freeway. Who the hell knows...

[Willy1]

LOL... Y'all please don't read my previous post... er... I mean rant as being super serious. I hope y'all can tell that was attempting to make some people laugh and to diffuse the "Houston vs Dallas" debate. I was just frustrated because anytime anything posted about Dallas that isn't a complete bashfest, then it's immediately refuted with why Houston "out does" Dallas on some level...

I agree... The Ritz isn't looking at little statistics to determine whether or not they were going to build in Houston or Dallas. In fact, they probably never even had the "should we build in Dallas or Houston" conversation in the planning meeting because they probably just said "hey we have an opportunity in Dallas" without Houston ever entering the conversation. And, when time comes for them to return to Houston, I seriously doubt there will be a "But wait... how will this impact the people of Dallas?"

My rant was merely aimed at those who feel the need to elevate Houston above any other city on Earth anytime they feel like Houston is being one-up'd by another city - esp, Dallas. Those people need to get over it because every city has it's pluses and minuses and every city is unique. Comparing cities is like comparing snow flakes... no two are alike and each one has it's positive and negative... Dallas and Houston are both among the wealthies cities in the world... which one is actually wealthier is a dumb conversation, because both are flourishing and both will continue to grow and evolve into bigger and better cities.

So, I hope that everyone takes my "rant" in the spirit it was intended... to bring laughter. Have a great day...

[713 To 214]

Willy, I get your point, and your rant in post #22 is absolutely the funniest thing I've heard all month. The reason it's so funny is because it's so true. Houstonians (I am a former Houstonian myself) DO have such a big insecurity about Houston compared to all things Dallas, or the nation and world for that matter. If you visit the Dallas (DFW) Forum you will rarely see negative posts, if any, about Houston. They seem to have better things to discuss.

Unfortunately, the flame wars in this forum will continue into the infinite future, and gigabytes worth of space that could have been taken up with comments and renderings about Houston's projected future will instead be used up by pathetic comments about how "Houston isn't as bad as everyone else thinks," and how "we can prove it!"

As far as why the Ritz is opening its 1st and only hotel & Residences in Dallas, some insight can be obtained from Ritz 's Executive Vice President of Operations and CFO, Ken Rehmann, when he says "Dallas has long been part of our strategic expansion plan, We were just looking for the right location for it." (http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article16707.html

http://www.worldleisurejobs.com/newsdetail.cfm?codeID=11151 ) or Ritz's COO and President, Simon Cooper when he said "We are delighted to add a location in Dallas, one of the most frequently visited cities for corporate business travelers and groups, as well as leisure guests. We believe there will be a strong market for The Ritz-Carlton as the city's economy continues its recovery and adds even more commercial business in the years ahead." or when Cooper further stated "The Uptown area is at the heart of Dallas' downtown commercial district and a very strategic location for this hotel." (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/corporate/press_room/releases/dallas.html)

As far as the Ritz coming back to Houston, according to Mr. Rehmann, "This will be the only Ritz-Carlton in Texas." (http://www.hotelonline.com/News/2005_May_26/k.DAR.1117204644.html)

[yall_are_nutty]

willy, go back and read your very first and second sentence. it's clear you were stating that dallas has a wealthy prestigious, whatever image and houston does not. you started this not vice versa. weird stuff man. wierd.

[SpaceCity]

My Dad can beat up your Dad.

That's my perception, at least.

[Houston19514]

As far as the Ritz coming back to Houston, according to Mr. Rehmann, "This will be the only Ritz-Carlton in Texas." (http://www.hotelonline.com/News/2005_May_26/k.DAR.1117204644.html)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL So, do you really think Mr. Rehmann meant that "this will be the only Ritz-Carlton in Texas". . . for all time? Or do you suppose he MIGHT have meant "this will be the only Ritz-Carlton in Texas" at the time of its opening. ???

It seems rather obvious that he most probably meant the latter.

[713 To 214]

LOL  So, do you really think Mr. Rehmann meant that "this will be the only Ritz-Carlton in Texas". . .  for all time?  Or do you suppose he MIGHT have meant "this will be the only Ritz-Carlton in Texas" at the time of its opening.  ??? 

It seems rather obvious that he most probably meant the latter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If it were so obvious, you wouldn't have to use words like "might" and "probably." However, If you're really that interested to know, call or email Ritz to find out. It's pretty simple.

[YakuzaIce]

Well I have to agree with his interpretation. I was thinking the same thing when I read it. Perhaps in the original portugese (that was portugese right) I know a little, but not enough to read it, but maybe it came out differently than it does in English.

Also Houston19514's capitalization of might seemed to imply sarcasm. But I guess I should just wait to see what he meant.