Marriott Marquis: GRB Convention Center Hotel At 1777 Walker St.

[bluecar(a.f.f.)]

Thanks, Nate99

[Houston19514]

Just to clarify, Trammel Crow is not involved with the new hotel.

[Subdude]

Note two convention center hotel topics merged.

[Nole23]

"An agreement to build a second convention center hotel downtown has been finalized, city officials announced today.

 

Documents were executed with Houston-based Rida Development Corp., which will build the 1,000-room hotel, a Marriott Marquis just west of the George R. Brown Convention Center. The city approved the project late last year.

 

“With this agreement, Rida can now begin work in earnest,” Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement. “It’s an exciting project that will help increase our convention business and generate more activity in downtown Houston.”

 

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/04/all-systems-go-for-downtown-hotel/

[lockmat]

What kind of brand is their Marquis anyway? It is not even listed on their website.

[livincinco]

Its considered part of the Marriott brand and I believe that they use it to designate their largest hotels. There aren't a lot of them.

[lockmat]

Its considered part of the Marriott brand and I believe that they use it to designate their largest hotels. There aren't a lot of them.

Okay. I knew it was a Marriott but you still answered my question. It's just strange Marriott doesn't have Marquis listed as one of their brands on their website.

[livincinco]

Okay. I knew it was a Marriott but you still answered my question. It's just strange Marriott doesn't have Marquis listed as one of their brands on their website.

I meant that it's a part of the Marriott Brand of the Marriott corporation although it does look like they've opened a JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai so it appears that they are looking at it as a cross brand identification.

[Houston19514]

I meant that it's a part of the Marriott Brand of the Marriott corporation although it does look like they've opened a JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai so it appears that they are looking at it as a cross brand identification.

 

I think you are correct in that the Marriott Marquis hotels are the larger (and perhaps nicer) Marriotts.    I noticed the JW Marriott Marquis hotels too (there is also one in MIami).  I presume those are also larger than the typical JW Marriott.

[TowerSpotter]

Did they take off the nice roof top thing?

[fatesdisastr]

To me it just looks like the top is smaller than in the previous rendering

[swtsig]

Flashy rendering before approval > slightly scaled down rendering immediately after approval

Amazing how that happens.

[largeTEXAS]

It also appears all the retail kiosks down the middle of Avenida de las Americas have disappeared.

[cfewell22]

Houston can never have anything nice. By the time this gets built it will look nothing like the original renderings. 

[ClutchCity]

Houston can never have anything nice. By the time this gets built it will look nothing like the original renderings. 

 

As long as it still has the Texas shaped lazy river it'll be alright. Any idea what that thing is on the top? Rooftop restaurant?

[intencity77]

They really chopped off that crown and to think that was one of the most striking things about the hotel, along with the Texas shaped pool area. It now looks shorter making the building as a whole appear less significant than the original rendering. Is it possible in this town to build something according to the initial rendering or does every project have to be scaled down in some fashion?

[jt16]

My guess is initial renderings are intended to drum up investor interest, and final renderings more accurately reflect economic reality. 

[Mister X]

It's still nice. Not as nice. But still nice. Just say a silent prayer that they don't change the Texas shaped lazy river into a Rhode Island shaped kiddy pool.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Mister X

[wernicke]

Another boring building... Hopefully by the end the entrance isn't facing away from Discovery Green a la the POS city-subsidized Embassy Suites.

[talltexan83]

I know it may have been addressed in other topics, but is the parking lot in front of Embassy Suites (facing Discovery Green) a seperate parcel not owned by the hotel?  Hopefully it will be developed into something in the near future and lessen the visual impact of the ES.

[lockmat]

To me it just looks like the top is smaller than in the previous rendering

It looks virtually the same to me too.

[scarface]

I'm also worried about the retail kiosks that LargeTX mentioned of. They don't appear to be in the latest rendering.

[TowerSpotter]

Here's another rendering of the bottom

[lockmat]

Does anyone care to share a link of these rendering?

[The Pragmatist]

https://www.facebook.com/GRBHouston/photos_stream

[shasta]

https://www.facebook.com/GRBHouston/photos_stream

 

The problem with the City of Houston is that they have no checks and balances regarding projects that fall under the city's incentive programs.

 

They hand out incentives for developers, based on an initial scheme, and then the developer pulls out a portion of the project, or cheapens the design, and they still get the same incentive.

 

This has already happened twice, that I know of:

 

1) Houston Pavilions.....The developer promised a residential component and then pulled back...they still received the incentives

 

2) Embassy Suites....The developer took advantage of the downtown Hotel incentive plan and then substantially altered (cheapened) the design

 

 

Let's hope the same fate doesn't happen to this high profile project but if developers have found a way around the system it just might be happening again.

[totheskies]

The problem with the City of Houston is that they have no checks and balances regarding projects that fall under the city's incentive programs.

They hand out incentives for developers, based on an initial scheme, and then the developer pulls out a portion of the project, or cheapens the design, and they still get the same incentive.

This has already happened twice, that I know of:

1) Houston Pavilions.....The developer promised a residential component and then pulled back...they still received the incentives

2) Embassy Suites....The developer took advantage of the downtown Hotel incentive plan and then substantially altered (cheapened) the design

Let's hope the same fate doesn't happen to this high profile project but if developers have found a way around the system it just might be happening again.

That's a really valid point Shasta, and I've often thought about going to City Council's public session and raising this issue. Even if nothing gets done about it, someone needs to put points like this into public record. Then WHEN the next project gets built far below the original concept, we can look at our city government and say "I told you so!"

[Mister X]

I think people are forgetting that HAIFers don't dictate what is good or bad or beautiful or ugly. Someone out there may actually prefer the new look(s). It isn't automatically or necessarily all about going cheap or scaled down, there is a possibility (however small or unlikely) that someone actually thinks they are improving the structure.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Mister X

[rsb320]

Remember this is Hines.  They don't cheapen their projects.  Look around at all the treasures that Hines developed in this city.  Still, this is a very valid point, especially for investors from other places.

[kbates2]

This is RITA not Hines.