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


Subdude

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I thought someone said there was like a 900 space parking garage in the Marquis?

cloud, if i'm not mistaken, there will be a 1900 space parking garage directly across the lane from the MM.  this new parking edifice shall also be attached to the GRB convention center via cross walk.  you may want to take another look at the MM renders / concepts for  clarification.....

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I was curious about the plans for the hotel along Crawford St. I was walking by today, and it appears that the new hotel is being built beyond where the old sidewalks used to be.  So are they going to eventually take out a lane of traffic on Crawford when the put in the new sidewalks?

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I was curious about the plans for the hotel along Crawford St. I was walking by today, and it appears that the new hotel is being built beyond where the old sidewalks used to be.  So are they going to eventually take out a lane of traffic on Crawford when the put in the new sidewalks?

 

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I was curious about the plans for the hotel along Crawford St. I was walking by today, and it appears that the new hotel is being built beyond where the old sidewalks used to be. So are they going to eventually take out a lane of traffic on Crawford when the put in the new sidewalks?

That's interesting. I have not noticed this. I will try to take a look this weekend!

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One thing I did not really think about until now is how this building will sort of "tame" the scale of the GRB. I won't look so much like a giant slab all out on its own (which was far worse before the Hilton/TC).

 

Add in the building to the north, the Hampton Inn and the Hess garage block condo tower and I'm really going to enjoy wandering around that area down in the canyon with the park in the middle. This is cool.

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Discovery Green may be the best thing to ever happen to downtown in the history of Houston. The views from there will be phenomenal. I believe that future conventioneers will leave Houston thoroughly impressed with our downtown.

I still think something is missing in the entertainment department. Hopefully that comes next. I also wish we had a sizeable 4 year university downtown, Midtown. the museum district and UH are extremely accessible to downtown but think they would have a huge impact if they were accessible by foot or just a few blocks away.

A bigger aquarium downtown would be nice too.

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Of course something is missing in the entertainment department. We still don't have that freaking TopGolf on the roof of the GRB!!! Heh. On the real though, we do need more entertainment options. Like a Marqee or Main Event type of development.

As for universities downtown we already have UHD and South Texas School of Law(?). Not sure there is enough adjacent/vacant land around the CBD for a full blown university. Not unless the Post Office site fizzles out as a TCR station.

And yeah. They need to expand The Aquarium somehow.

Edited by cloud713
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i don't know what Marquee is, but a big suburban entertainment-plex like Main Event makes absolutely no sense downtown. For one thing, there just isn't room for something like that. For another, downtown will never be family-oriented enough to support that sort of thing. 

 

What downtown does have (theater, a movie theater, sports, bars, Lucky Strike, a weird "aquarium," parks, etc) is honestly way more than most neighborhoods can boast.

 

Not to say I wouldn't be in favor of even more. Maybe another movie theater, some smaller music venues, stuff like that.

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my bad, Marq*E. i agree, a suburban entertainment destination isn't the most ideal draw for downtown, but it was more to give an idea of the type of attractions (maybe geared more towards the young professional crowd with just a lesser amount geared towards family oriented stuff, since as you mention, the demographics of the area aren't really family friendly, but we still want to appeal to tourists), and at the time i couldn't think of any better/more urban examples. i guess the question here is, are we trying to make downtown a destination, or do we just want it to be another average neighborhood? its not just about the people living downtown, its about making downtown an attraction in itself. i don't think many tourist travel to Houston to visit the tourist Mecca that is the Heights. or any other random ITL neighborhood with average amenities. not that they come to Houston to visit places like the MarqE or Main Event. its just something entertaining for the whole family, for those staying at the hotels downtown or living in the inner city. as for not being able to support that type of thing or not being room, GreenStreet is basically an urban format MarqE. with that said i guess they could push what little retail remains out onto Dallas St and make GS more of an entertainment destination.

on a side note. anyone ever been to a WonderWorks? a surprisingly fun filled learning experience for the whole family.

http://www.marqehouston.com

http://www.wonderworksonline.com

Edited by cloud713
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I believe that the success of Discovery Green disproves the assertion that DT isn't 'family oriented'. Many of the scheduled events in addition to the water features, seasonal ice skating and play areas are definitely child/family focused and packed with children and families on weekdays (school field trips) and weekends.

 

What I love about DG is the multigenerational appeal of the place.  There is something for everyone and speaks to one of Houston's strengths....its diversity.  IMO, Discovery Green is vibrant because it doesn't cater to one single group (e.g, young professionals).

Edited by quietstorm
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my bad, Marq*E. i agree, a suburban entertainment destination isn't the most ideal draw for downtown, but it was more to give an idea of the type of attractions (maybe geared more towards the young professional crowd with just a lesser amount geared towards family oriented stuff, since as you mention, the demographics of the area aren't really family friendly, but we still want to appeal to tourists), and at the time i couldn't think of any better/more urban examples. i guess the question here is, are we trying to make downtown a destination, or do we just want it to be another average neighborhood? its not just about the people living downtown, its about making downtown an attraction in itself. i don't think many tourist travel to Houston to visit the tourist Mecca that is the Heights. or any other random ITL neighborhood with average amenities. not that they come to Houston to visit places like the MarqE or Main Event. its just something entertaining for the whole family, for those staying at the hotels downtown or living in the inner city. as for not being able to support that type of thing or not being room, GreenStreet is basically an urban format MarqE. with that said i guess they could push what little retail remains out onto Dallas St and make GS more of an entertainment destination.

on a side note. anyone ever been to a WonderWorks? a surprisingly fun filled learning experience for the whole family.

http://www.marqehouston.com

http://www.wonderworksonline.com

Downtown has options geared towards to the young professional crowd. Awesome restaurants and bars! :P

Edit: sorry cloud I'm not exclusively picking on you.

Edited by Montrose1100
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UHD is a 4 year college and rumored to be adding housing soon.

 

When the new light rail lines open, I'd expect a small bump in the number of UH and TSU kids who hit up downtown. Rice is just too small to make much of an impact, especially considering how few Rice students venture outside the hedge bubble.

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ha, no worries Montrose. 

while the restaurants and bars are great, i was thinking more entertainment/relaxation options, to get away from the office or whatever, like maybe a small (indoor?) Pitch and Putt course with a few holes going back and forth across part of a block, an underground Gun Range (connected to the tunnel system would be legit, depending on the location of said development), a smaller scale Dave & Busters type arcade bar concept, but instead of winning crappy prizes, you can exchange your tickets for drinks (please don't steal this idea, lol. hell, if anyone can make it happen I'm down to go in on it with them. i realize it could be a pretty legit bar concept in practically any semi urban environment, heh). then obviously something like a small scale modern movie theater.

eh. Texasota. IMO Sunset Coffee Building was downtowns one chance at having any sort of a real museum. unless its arts or something, but i quite like the way our Museum District is clustered currently.

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I like our cluster of museums too, and they are easily accessible via PT, but I just wish it was closer.

As for UHD, it is an open admissions college where very few attendees graduate in 4 yrs, there are no legitimate teams and no on campus residents. In other words it is very transient. It is like any other commercial building downtown and when I mentioned a 4 yrs college downtown I was thinking more of atmosphere than merely getting a degree.

Bars we are good on. Restaurants in many areas are still required. After two pm many areas are dead zones for food.

But yeah, we need more for the everyday, man, woman or child.

take ATL for example. They are a smaller metro, smaller downtown, far less downtown work force but in downtown or the environs there is the Georgia dome, huge Georgia aquarium, Olympic park and MLK museum, and a huge university presence.

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I think a satellite museum for the MFAH would be great downtown in the theater district, or over by the convention center.

Perhaps in the first floor of the Stream Essex building if that ever gets built.

It would be a great tease for the main Museum and give convention visitors easy access to a sampling of the arts.

I also think that they could share with the Menil and the Natural Science Museum and have a rotating schedule dividing up the year

between them for rotating shows.

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Speaking of exhibitions there is a group show opening tomorrow night at Williams Tower featuring some of Houston best.

I'm included and I'd love to see some Haifers there. I'll be showing a large new work on paper intitled

"Sprawl".

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Speaking of exhibitions there is a group show opening tomorrow night at Williams Tower featuring some of Houston best.

I'm included and I'd love to see some Haifers there. I'll be showing a large new work on paper intitled

"Sprawl".

 

WOW awesome and congrats....i can walk across the street to it! can you give me more details? time/where to check in etc?

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