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Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel History At 711 Polk St.


Subdude

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i didn't realize the past attempts (excerpts from the chronicle):

june 1991:

"Drago Daic Interests has acquired the old Sheraton Lincoln hotel in downtown Houston and plans to renovate and reopen the 506-room hostelry"

december 1993:

"A California investment group, in partnership with the ITT Sheraton Corp., proposes a $30 million plan to purchase and reopen downtown Houston's old Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel, which has been closed since 1986.

As planned, the property could be reported as an all-suites hotel by 1995, the group says."

july 1994:

"The old Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel is about to gain new life as a residential complex.

"It's going to be 350 luxury apartments," says Mike Wilson of Mike Wilson Marketing, which handled the recent sale of the hotel property."

january 1998:

"Rushlake has contracted to buy the Sheraton Lincoln from 711 Partnership, a Los Angeles-based investment group, Shaikh said. By redeveloping the Sheraton Lincoln and linking it to the Hyatt, Rushlake could add more than 500 rooms to the Hyatt, which already is the biggest hotel in Houston with 964 rooms."

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Wow, I didn't realize there had been that many failed redevelopment attempts. It is a difficult property to work with because it has two different floor heights and extremely narrow floor widths. At one point I happened to see the redevelopment floor plans and exterior renderings for the annex that the Hyatt was planning. It would have been nice. The main change to the exterior would have been a vertical metal "spine" on the front facade.

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Wow, I didn't realize there had been that many failed redevelopment attempts. It is a difficult property to work with because it has two different floor heights and extremely narrow floor widths. At one point I happened to see the redevelopment floor plans and exterior renderings for the annex that the Hyatt was planning. It would have been nice. The main change to the exterior would have been a vertical metal "spine" on the front facade.

A few months ago I read in the Chronicle that a company in Dallas was buying the Warwick Hotel in Houston. About that time on KTRH radio, Chris Baker wanted to know the cost of a room in the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Houston, so his producer called them and asked. They said $200 for a basic room for one night. Does anyone have a photo of it to post?

For those of you out there who have ever stayed overnight at what fulfills the definition of a "hotel," I'm curious as to how much you paid, did you get your money's worth, and would you ever do it again? One time back in 1982 in Nashville, Tennessee, I stayed at a ten-story Holiday Inn. I assume that it qualified as a "hotel" because it had many floors. For only me, it cost $48. But remember, that was in 1982 dollars. I don't know what the ratio would be between then and now.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
My oldest sister had her wedding reception there. I think I remember snooping around with my cousin and seeing some office space. I remember wondering what office space was doing in a hotel.

In any event, that has always been one of my favorite buildings downtown. It would make fantastic condos/apartments. It has always just reeked of chic, IMUO.

B)

Did your sister's marriage last or did it end in divorce? I've always thought it to be a shame to see a lot of money spent on a wedding and reception and the couple later gets divorced.

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Did your sister's marriage last or did it end in divorce? I've always thought it to be a shame to see a lot of money spent on a wedding and reception and the couple later gets divorced.

D-I-V-O-R-C-E and not a minute too soon. He only had to beat her once and she was outta there.

No reflection on the Sheraton, however.

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D-I-V-O-R-C-E and not a minute too soon. He only had to beat her once and she was outta there.

No reflection on the Sheraton, however.

No, why blame the place where the reception was held? When did that happen? The more recent photos show the building without the letters on the top. That indicates that the hotel closed down.

Wait! Are you saying that he beat her in the Sheraton? Also, did that reception cost your parents some big bucks?

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Oh for God's sake.. <_<:wacko:

Back in 1996, my ex-Significant Other's mother was arrested for credit card abuse in a Sheraton near the Astrodome. She spent three months in the Harris County Jail. She ran up an $1800 bill in the hotel. Those three months in the HCJ "paid it off."

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No, why blame the place where the reception was held? When did that happen? The more recent photos show the building without the letters on the top. That indicates that the hotel closed down.

Wait! Are you saying that he beat her in the Sheraton? Also, did that reception cost your parents some big bucks?

Ash,

He beat her about a year after the wedding. In their apartment. The hotel had NOTHING to do with it. He was a wife-beater. And yes, I'm sure my parents shelled out a boat-load to give their 1st daughter a nice reception just as I'm sure they did on their 2nd and 3rd daughters. After all that, I'm sure they were thankful I was a boy. :lol:

B)

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Ash,

He beat her about a year after the wedding. In their apartment. The hotel had NOTHING to do with it. He was a wife-beater. And yes, I'm sure my parents shelled out a boat-load to give their 1st daughter a nice reception just as I'm sure they did on their 2nd and 3rd daughters. After all that, I'm sure they were thankful I was a boy. :lol:

B)

Yes, girls do cost parents more money than boys do. Did your other two sisters have their wedding receptions at the Sheraton?

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That Astroworld Hotel suite being the most expensive in the world was a well known fact when I was a kid and visited Houston with my parents back in the 70s. I remember hearing all about that.

It's a little misleading, though. It wasn't really designed to be rented out on a per-night basis. It's the ENTIRE TOP FLOOR of that building. It was indeed, like another home for Judge Roy. He'd keep it ready for Saudi sheiks and visiting dignitaries in town for extended business.

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No, it was closed by then.

Maybe the Sheraton-Lincoln's management heard about what happened to your oldest sister and they thought that the building might have had some kind of a curse. So rather than risk having one of your other sisters or other women experience what your older sister did, a decision was made to close down the Sheraton-Lincoln so that no more wedding receptions could be held there.

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Maybe the Sheraton-Lincoln's management heard about what happened to your oldest sister and they thought that the building might have had some kind of a curse. So rather than risk having one of your other sisters or other women experience what your older sister did, a decision was made to close down the Sheraton-Lincoln so that no more wedding receptions could be held there.

Yes. that is EXACTLY what happened. Once the news was out world-wide, the Sheraton people paniced thinking my sister's ex-husband beat her 2 years later because of their reception at the hotel. It was amazing that my sister had the power to shutter an entire Sheraton property but there you have it. It gave her a whole new life.

Yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

:lol:

BTW, my sister will be appearing live in the RamaRoom all week...try the fried twinkies.

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Yes. that is EXACTLY what happened. Once the news was out world-wide, the Sheraton people paniced thinking my sister's ex-husband beat her 2 years later because of their reception at the hotel. It was amazing that my sister had the power to shutter an entire Sheraton property but there you have it. It gave her a whole new life.

Yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

:lol:

BTW, my sister will be appearing live in the RamaRoom all week...try the fried twinkies.

Yes, my dad something similar, but not on as big of a scale that your sister did. When we lived in Houston, we went to the Santa Rosa Theatre. During the movie, my dad passed some silent intestinal gas. He said that he remembers hearing the teenagers coughing and shuffling their feet. Then last year FoxMulder took a photo of that closed-down theatre and e-mailed it to me. Later I e-mailed it to Subdude and he posted it under that topic.

I printed that photo and showed it to my dad. He said that what he did was what caused the Santa Rosa to close down. As he pointed to the photo, he said: "See? A picture is worth a thousand words." Your sister had a bigger impact because the Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel was much larger than the Santa Rosa Theatre. But I don't know if the Santa Rosa's closing gave my dad a whole new life.

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  • 7 months later...

I believe so.

There was considerable work done to the area I think because the front of the hotel was fenced off for several months until just recently. So I don't know what was done.

I have been curious as hell about it, though.

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This is the one across from the Hyatt Regency - wasn't it a Sheraton? :rolleyes:

It was not in operation for a very long time, not sure if legal wranglings or just the fact that downtown was in such a slump. I had such a 60's dated look and that ugly olive green faded color. Looked like a big refrigerator. Yucko. Should have been placed on the haif forum section of "tear downs".

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It was not in operation for a very long time, not sure if legal wranglings or just the fact that downtown was in such a slump. I had such a 60's dated look and that ugly olive green faded color. Looked like a big refrigerator. Yucko. Should have been placed on the haif forum section of "tear downs".

My high school prom was held there, and I went to a couple of conventions there.

I'd like to see pictures of it NOW - but guess there aren't any.

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My high school prom was held there, and I went to a couple of conventions there.

I'd like to see pictures of it NOW - but guess there aren't any.

i have some - not of the interior, but the garage and exterior. i'll dig em up when i get back (from chicago of all places :P)

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I went ahead and combined a couple topics on the old Sheraton.

It was not in operation for a very long time, not sure if legal wranglings or just the fact that downtown was in such a slump. I had such a 60's dated look and that ugly olive green faded color. Looked like a big refrigerator. Yucko. Should have been placed on the haif forum section of "tear downs".

But I love this building!

The interior was indeed gutted down to the frame for asbestos remediation.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Back when I was in high school back in the 1970s, I remember reading in the Guiness Book of World Records what was then the most expensive hotel room. A suite in the AstroWorld Hotel which rented for $2500 a night. I don't know if the AstroWorld Hotel is still there anymore.

But, as all of you know, today there are many hotels which far exceed $2500 a night. On TV there was a show about that televangelist named Benny Hinn. It showed hotels that he stayed at which cost $10,000 a night. But of course, God told him to stay there.

I just found a website called "cheapticket.com." Oh, did I find a bargain! I can get a room at the St. Regis Hotel in Houston for only $367 a night! I'm gonna stay there for a few weeks. Before today I never heard of the St. Regis. Maybe someone can tell me what to expect.

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  • 1 month later...

I work for the Doubletree Downtown in Sales, we heard in a meeting yesterday that the former Sheraton-Lincoln was just purchased by Dallas based Omni Hotels and should become the next hotel to hit downtown Houston.

Sheraton4.jpg

Sheraton3.jpg

Sheraton1.jpg

Rooftop pool

Sheraton2.jpg

This has always been one of my favorite buildings downtown. When it opened in 1962 it was the first downtown hotel since 1929, so it was a big enough deal that the Chronicle ran a special supplement about it. Famous guests included Jack Ruby and the Beatles during their only visit to Houston in 1965.

Beatles press conference from the Sheraton-Lincoln:

19650819_10.jpg

Fans spying:

volc.jpg

The hotel closed in 1986 but the office section of the building remained open for a while after that. The Hyatt Regency bought the building for expansion in 1998 and planned to connect it to the Hyatt with a skybridge. They got as far as gutting the Sheraton interior to remove asbestos, but the expansion fell through because of the weak economy. It has been a vacant shell ever since.

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