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

[KinkaidAlum]

Looks to be around 30-33 floors. However, it doesn't look large enough to be a 1,000 room hotel so the massing must not be right. I like the sleek look, and hope they go taller rather than fatter like the Hilton...

[Subdude]

I know it's only a preliminary rendering, but I would've preferred the NW/SE Tower orientation mirroring Hilton Americas, not the NE/SW orientation depicted.

Agreed about the orientation. The effect would be much better with buildings encircling Discovery Green. Do you suppose they even gave that a thought?

[tigereye]

Looks to be around 30-33 floors. However, it doesn't look large enough to be a 1,000 room hotel so the massing must not be right. I like the sleek look, and hope they go taller rather than fatter like the Hilton...

Yeah, I question the massing. This site is too narrow for a building that wide in its NE/SW orientation to fit ...unless this hotel spans over Rusk to Capitol.

[LTAWACS]

I too hope that it'll look like this when it is completed. But I'm willing to bet that it'll be a short, fat, and squat little building.

[Mister X]

Agreed about the orientation. The effect would be much better with buildings encircling Discovery Green. Do you suppose they even gave that a thought?

It's exquisite.

One positive to draw on from the orientation of this hotel is that it would allow another tower behind the hotel to also have views of Discovery Green. Another tower behind this hotel could also lend to an 'encircling' effect - which I agree would be a good thing.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Mister X

[brijonmang]

It's exquisite.

One positive to draw on from the orientation of this hotel is that it would allow another tower behind the hotel to also have views of Discovery Green. Another tower behind this hotel could also lend to an 'encircling' effect - which I agree would be a good thing.

Agreed. Most of the people staying here would miss out on the views to DG but you would still get the downtown views and the other side would look out towards BBVA Stadium...nothing spectacular but it's a start. Hopefully the area around that stadium will start seeing more new development too.

Is that tower between this hotel and Hess/Discovery Tower just there for kicks or am I missing something?

[htownproud]

Assuming the pool is on the lower shelf, it will not get sun until after noon. That would not be ideal, but I suppose most conventioners don't care about that.

[Houston19514]

Yeah, I question the massing. This site is too narrow for a building that wide in its NE/SW orientation to fit ...unless this hotel spans over Rusk to Capitol.

After poring over the rendering a little longer, I'm not so sure about that. The block is about 250 feet deep. Standard good hotel rooms are, what, about 15'x25', I think. I count 15 rooms along the east side of the hotel, plus 4 in the south end. The four South-end rooms take 25 feet of the length. So that leaves 225 feet of the block for the 15 east and west-facing rooms... exactly 15 feet for each room. Rough measurements, obviously, but sounds like it should be able to fit.

I count 28 floors starting at what is obviously the pool level. With 34 rooms per floor that would give us 952 rooms. I think it works.

I'm eager for more detail of their plans. I was hoping the development might include some condos as well, similar to the new Omni in downtown Fort Worth (and for that matter, similar to our own 4 Seasons).

Would love to see the losing proposals as well.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Houston19514

[totheskies]

happy about the ground floor retail too. however, what retail, other than restaurants, might be feasible in this location? you can't bank on convention business alone. there aren't enough residents or out of town shoppers for clothing. chain stores not dependent on the success of one location perhaps?

Besides restaurants, the next best thing to have is Touristy stuff... knick-knacks, sports gear, and "I'm in Houston" souvenirs. That will ensure a steady flow of conventioners, and maybe some Discovery Green visitors. After that, I'd go for a CVS/Walgreens/Rite-Aid that's ACTUALLY open 24hrs. Put those in right next to the Convention center, and you can't go wrong.

[wxman]

I caution everybody to take a look at the fabulous renderings of High Street, BLVD Place and most famously the Embassy Suites downtown that turned out to be one ugly ass building despite what the renderings showed. I LOVE this building but I was always cautioned growing up to believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.

[Mister X]

Buzz Killington strikes again.

[Subdude]

I think he's right though. Renderings always look spectacular, but the final product frequently comes out quite differently. Economics, practical considerations, and all that. I suspect this is still at the "artist's conception" stage.

[swtsig]

while i really do like the rendering, anyone who doesn't look at it (or any rendering) w heaping spoonful of skepticism is naive at best.

[Pleak]

I wonder if someone could figure out a way to calculate a "rendering coefficient". i.e. how close a final product turns out in relation to its original rendering that was used to sell the development. I think that would be an interesting metric on judging design firms.

[Mister X]

If there is one thing I have learned at HAIF, it is that renderings ARE a binding, legal contract that are enforceable in a court of law. In fact, once anything is posted on the internet, this includes both renderings and casual comments by totally anonymous, uncredited, non-professionals, it is obligated to be built exactly as the rendering, drawing, sketch or doodle implies or the offending poster can be sentenced to die by lethal injection or firing squad. These internet rendering laws are so strict that if even so much as one hair on one of those people's heads in that rendering above is not styled EXACTLY like what is seen in the rendering, the entire city of Houston can legally be nuked off the face of planet earth.

This is a proven fact and so there is no need to debate this issue any further.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Mister X

[barracuda]

I caution everybody to take a look at the fabulous renderings of High Street, BLVD Place and most famously the Embassy Suites downtown that turned out to be one ugly ass building despite what the renderings showed. I LOVE this building but I was always cautioned growing up to believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.

It would funny if the develop put a cheap, ugly beige dome on top of this building, similar to the one on Embassy Suites, just to mess with people. I could see this becoming a trend.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2010/07/05/tidbits3.html

[Pleak]

Or one like the big air freshener on top of the Memorial Hermann building at Gessner & I-10.

[totheskies]

This is a top priority for Downtown Houston and the whole city. Even if the hotel doesn't look exactly like the rendering, there's no way they would "skimp" on a project this substantial. We didn't skimp on One Park Place or BG Group Place either.

[wxman]

This is a top priority for Downtown Houston and the whole city. Even if the hotel doesn't look exactly like the rendering, there's no way they would "skimp" on a project this substantial. We didn't skimp on One Park Place or BG Group Place either.

I agree. The fact of the matter is, this is going to be a substantial building. A 1,000 room hotel will not be skimpy or small by any stretch of the imagination. Even a dinky 250-ish room Embassy Suites turned out to be 20 stories.

[swtsig]

If there is one thing I have learned at HAIF, it is that renderings ARE a binding, legal contract that are enforceable in a court of law. In fact, once anything is posted on the internet, this includes both renderings and casual comments by totally anonymous, uncredited, non-professionals, it is obligated to be built exactly as the rendering, drawing, sketch or doodle implies or the offending poster can be sentenced to die by lethal injection or firing squad. These internet rendering laws are so strict that if even so much as one hair on one of those people's heads in that rendering above is not styled EXACTLY like what is seen in the rendering, the entire city of Houston can legally be nuked off the face of planet earth.

This is a proven fact and so there is no need to debate this issue any further.

predictable post is predictable.

[Pleak]

I agree. The fact of the matter is, this is going to be a substantial building. A 1,000 room hotel will not be skimpy or small by any stretch of the imagination. Even a dinky 250-ish room Embassy Suites turned out to be 20 stories.

It would be really cool if a straight extrapolation of those numbers would mean we were going to get an 80-story hotel. Unreasonable, but cool.

[Purdueenginerd]

It would be really cool if a straight extrapolation of those numbers would mean we were going to get an 80-story hotel. Unreasonable, but cool.

Thats not THAT far fetched.. Peachtree hotel in Atlanta is 70 floors with a 1000 rooms.

[Pleak]

Thats not THAT far fetched.. Peachtree hotel in Atlanta is 70 floors with a 1000 rooms.

I was looking at it more from a cost point of view. Comparitive cheap price of land in Houston vs. cost of a super-tall tower (which 70-80 floors is pushing). Nowadays, Houston has become extremely practical and I think more land (which we still have an abundance of) would be used over extra height.

Unfortunately - for the tall building nerd in me.

[TheNiche]

Agreed about the orientation. The effect would be much better with buildings encircling Discovery Green. Do you suppose they even gave that a thought?

I know that I wouldn't want highrises all rising right along the boundaries of Discovery Green. A few gaps above lowrise buildings will let through some light and prevent a sense of claustrophobia. It also opens up view corridors to existing or future development, just so as though one can still see the forest from the trees.

In response to your question, though, I doubt that they've given this any thought. They're surely more interested in the experience of people inside the building than outside it.

I like this rendering. I hope that it gets built as such.

[Mister X]

predictable post is predictable.

Oh. A predicted post predicting prediction. How predictable.

[VelvetJ]

I love the rendering and would love to see the actual building look like that. I am also aware of the fact that Downtown Houston is not Downtown Chicago and the chances of this becoming a beige precast underachievement are much greater here. I will keep a unenthused finger crossed.

[totheskies]

The rendering appears to be 1000 rooms. I counted and it's 20 by 25 starting at the 3rd story.

[j_cuevas713]

I love this project but damn, start date is 2014? Kind of a long ways from now.

[Houston19514]

The rendering appears to be 1000 rooms. I counted and it's 20 by 25 starting at the 3rd story.

What are you saying?

I love this project but damn, start date is 2014? Kind of a long ways from now.

Where did you see a 2014 start date?

[DrLan34]

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-26-12-new-convention-center-hotel-is-full-speed-ahead-see-its-striking-planned-look/

The new convention center hotel will be built directly north of Discovery Green — mirroring Hilton Americas-Houston, the 1,200-room hotel connected to the convention center by two skywalks — on a 6.7-acre space that is currently a surface parking lot.

Houston First says that it will construct a 1,800-space parking garage on the north side of the George R. Brown with first-floor retail space. The process for that garage, which will serve both the general public and convention hotel visitors, is expected to begin later this year.