totheskies

Embassy Suites Downtown is now open. I walked into it last night. The attendant said they opened last week.

the little side area is still under construction though. Not sure what is going to be there. The interior was nice, but wholly unimpressive. It doesn't look like a "typical" Embassy Suites... no large open area in the middle, no spacious patios or anything like that.

I also hope UofH gets this property. What a fantastic site for a new Basketball arena.

I think WF is doing well by leading the charge for "aggressive" lighting. IMO it's better to have all of the colors at your disposal, and then tastefully use them at different times of the year. For example the red and white this month is great for Valentine's Day, and for March some green would be appropriate. I don't think those detract from our skyline in the slightest.

For some reason, my preference is for WF to have lighting above all of the other buildings. The Chase tower's lighting is ok, but it looks just as good when it's not lit up too. But for WF, lighting is a definite architectural asset to that building.

EaDo just opened a Lil Woodrows by Warehouse Live, and a few other Houston staples are on tap to come to the neighborhood. But this hotel would guarantee some more decent restaurants and a few support establishments for the hotel. I'm lovin' it.

Several more in this part of town... a couple of rather large ones down Telephone Road. It's a booming business to say the least.

After doing a couple of image searches, I propose this... Embassy Suites is a f-u-g-l-y hotel chain. I challenge persons on this forum to post an overly aesthetically pleasing Embassy Suites that is more than 10 stories tall. Do some searches!!

Looks like they're working on the Wells Fargo building's lights. Half of them were turned on tonight.

I'll throw that in as yet another building that I don't especially like, but where I can respect the intent of the lighting.

So are we pretty much in agreement that awesome lighting is awesome and that mediocre lighting incorporated as an afterthought is a tacky distraction not worth having?

We're in agreement that there are 2.5 million(ish) people in the City of Houston, and that every one of them likely has a different interpretation of what is tacky. I think the Chase building's lighting is ok, but that they should have a little it of lights down the sides as well. Something that accents the fact that the building is actually five sided.

Yay time to drudge up this thread again

The Chase building confuses the heck out of me. They have "played with" the lights a few times this season, but won't turn them on with the other buildings. They have several colors up there to choose from too. What gives????

And come on... it's now officially time to stop looking environmentally conscious and start showing some pride in the city. Granted, I see that Denver also has a conservative lighting scheme, but they have a more conservative skyline than Houston anyway, and better natural scenery to boot. We need to accent the cool architecture that we have in our skyline. At night, that is best done through lighting.

FANTASTIC NEWS!!! Should be a great venue and will help fill an important void left by the closings of both the Skybar and the Red Cat. It seems like our live music venues in Houston have been taking a BIG hit this year, but I can tell 2011 is already going to be better.

Size, primarily.

Nope. If you're going to open that can of worms, then you have to give further parameters. Size of buildings? Office pop? residential pop? Houston has a "big downtown", but only if you're measuring it by physical spaces. If you go by number of residents, it's small.

Yes, I have been to Times Square HUNDREDS of times. I went to college in New York. I lived in NYC for half a year after college and then worked there multiple times during my 12 years in Boston. I have hundreds of friends that live in the City, and NONE of them go to Times Square for anything other than work or a show.

Trust me, those people that you saw taking pictures of flashing advertisements weren't locals. The folks sitting in lawn chairs weren't there from Tribeca. Those were TOURISTS and a vast majority of them were staying in the nearby 16,000 hotel rooms. It is because of those hotel rooms and the Broadway Venues that street performers like the Naked Cowboy pop up in Times Square and not say, down on Wall Street. But those tourists don't just come for Times Square and Broadway. They also come to see the nation's largest city, the Empire State Building, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the UN, Ground Zero, SoHo, Greenwich Village, some of the nation's best museums, etc...

Houston doesn't have 16,000 hotel rooms concentrated in a small cluster. Houston doesn't have over 50 million tourists a year. Houston doesn't have 39 theater venues located in just a few square blocks. Houston isn't known for first-run stage theater either. We don't have the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. The MET isn't here nor are we home to NYU, Pace, Columbia, Fordham, CUNY, Parsons, Cooper Union, Hunter, Barnard, Baruch, Fashion Tech, Hunter, Marymount Manhattan, Juilliard, etc... (the schools just in Manhattan proper). We'll never have a Times Square. The best we could ever hope to do is be like Dallas and develop something like Victory Plaza, which, by most accounts, has been a huge FLOP.

You're so right... we don't have any of those things. But the few attractions that central Houston DOES have (Discovery Green, very good theater venues, sports, and a world-class museum district) we sure don't spread the word about them like NYC does. If we want a tourist culture in this town, we have to develop it. It doesn't just happen overnight. It didn't just happen for NYC either. You know, there are now taller buildings in the world than the Empire State Building, including one in our own country. But it's special because NYC and its promoters hold it in that regard. NYC has done the tourism thing for a long time, and places like Times Square are the result.

Speaking of Red Cat, it's gone from downtown. I saw a rent arrears lockout notice Sunday. A little research and I found they're going to open a new place in Pearland.

Where did you find this information from?? I didn't hear anything about it at the Red Cat Jazz Festival.

I have to say, it's really sad to see how little we "care" about ourselves today. How little we care about our health, building a true social environment, and our overall quality of life. It's a shame that we continually choose convenience over what is best for us. I blame myself most of all, but it is a learned behavior shared by all of American society.

Back to topic...

The downtown scene is maturing, and rightfully so. I'm glad to see a resurgence of places like the Red Cat, and also new venues like Pete's Dueling Piano, the House of Blues and Polk Street Pub. It's a more diverse crowd than your standard hip-hop club, and it can attract several age groups. This is the direction that downtown needs to go. We already have the "feeder infrastructure" in that all of our major arts venues and sports venues (Reliant of course via the rail) are located there. Downtown is right to continue pursuing a good post-event scene. Let Washington have the "major clubs" but downtown has staying power based on its other strengths.

The biggest problem continues to be "safety"... or at least the perception of it. The lighting scheme in downtown is still very poor. And the retail is so sporadic (especially between HP and the theaters) that it's just not a place that most people will walk to at night. If we really focus on a couple of corridors like Main st. and Texas, we could create a sustainable scene in downtown.

^LOL and mine to the Music building

I for one love the green lightting in Dallas... and just to be clear, it's a direct imitation of the Wedge Tower in Houston.

I like the overall design of the building... but I HATE the side the faces the park. If they had thought to build the park side the same as the opposite side, it would have turned out rather nicely.

It's a hotel... it doesn't have to re-invent the architectural wheel. Houston is lucky to have gotten some very nice projects in the past few years (Main Place, OPP, Co-Cathedral). It's ok if we intermingle with some structures that are less of a fine art and more of an applied art.

So can we begin a protest to save the old Y now????? How dare we put such an historical treasure on the chopping block!!

Maybe it could be converted into a hotel of some sort???

LOL at this point, I'm far-less concerned with the aesthetics of the Embassy Suites, and far more concerned about adding hotel rooms to the downtown market (thus bolstering our convention ability).

BTW, anyone know of plans for the lobby?? I'd like to find out.

Sounds excellent, and I'm SOO glad they're open in the evenings and Saturdays!!! I'm going to go have dinner there on Thursday to give them some evening business. Will let y'all know what I think.

Well I'll go ahead and throw in my few cents here...

The Heights is a neighborhood. It is no longer its own independent town. It is a part of the City of Houston, and has every right and responsibility as River Oaks, Fifth Ward and Idylwood.

As a part of the City of Houston, they are not subject to city-wide zoning restrictions, because Houston residents have voted them down... time and time again. Which means Wal-Mart has every right to purchase land and build whatever it wants, wherever it wants. And I'm in agreement with whoever posted earlier... if feeder road enhancements are already occurring, then its a no-brainer that this is a done deal.

IMO the residents are going about this the wrong way. Why not work with Wal-Mart to try and build something like a Marketside store or Neighborhood Market. Since they're already planning a Wal-Mart for I-10 at Silber, this could be a very reasonable request. Wal-Mart may be willing to go with a smaller store model that will cater to the surroundings a bit more. Err well, what y'all think the surroundings are. Last time I checked, the Heights still looked pretty suburban.

Yeah, once again... it's not the original design. But you know what?? It's being built and is going to add 300 hotel rooms to the downtown inventory. It hasn't been cancelled. That's a lot more than some metros can hope for right now. So I am thankful.

Indeed, good luck to Mr. Gertner. I have no doubt that he'll find a good location for the Skybar, or whatever new concept he comes up with. I'm going to go to the closing party on Saturday for sure though. Should be fun.

From Facebook newsfeed...

JazzHouston [News] via Scott Gertner :

hey guys, Skybar will be closing July 3rd due to the building closing it's doors. it's been 11 years of great fun, great friends, great fans. come visit this week to say goodbye! BTW, i'm currently looking at new locations, bigger to fit more patrons. thank you for making the skybar a legendary live entertai...nment location.

So what's going to happen to this building? Being demolished?

I agree, I work for a hotel consulting firm and do quite a few assignments in the Houston area. Most houston submarkets are not hurting for hotel rooms. Houston has had one of the biggest increases in supply compared to other US cities during this downturn (all those little Holiday Inn Expresses that no one ever sees or thinks of). I believe the number is like 7% increase, but can double check.

Personally, I'd like to see less hotel rooms, higher occupancies, so that rates can begin to increase... and most may disagree, but i'll explain why. Houston has some of the cheapest room rates. I've seen the Four Seasons offer rates as low as $129 on the weekends, which is bordeline depressing. Until Houston sees some rate increases, we will never get new and sexy hotels, because it is financially unfeasible to build a new four seasons that will be forced to offer $129 rates. (my firm actually completed the study for this Embassy Suites -not me- and I don't remember, but did this property had some incentive from the city??)

I just finished doing an appraisal of a limited-service hotel in the medical center (one of the best performing markets) and this limited-service hotel had an average rate of $115 (actually very good for that type of property)....so considering building costs and earning potential, most people end up building the limited-service properties.

I've had calls from hotel brands (sorry can't disclose a lot of info), telling me that they've had a developer approach them wanting to build that hotel company's signature brand (think competitors to Four Seasons, St. Regis, etc.) in the Houston area, and they wanted to get my thoughts on the market. I love this city and tell them all the plusses, but as soon as we talk about numbers and what other properties are doing, the conversation ends. Numbers don't lie, the city's top two hotels (four seasons and st. regis) have an ADR (average daily rate) slightly above $200. They know what is going to costs them to build that signature property and the ADR that is needed to support those construction costs, which is way above $200. Some Marriotts and Westins in other US cities do better than that. :-(

Just to clarify, because I know this question always pops up: ADR is not to be confused with the rate you see on the hotel's website, also known as the rack rate. Many people ask: how is it that the XYZ Luxury Hotel has an ADR of $200 but when I go on their website their cheapest room is at $400? This is because XYZ Hotel, like all other hotels, set up contracts with their top accounts. They end up offering major companies rates of $130, because by doing so they guarantee themselves that business, which can be many many room nights in a year. Thus, they end up with a lower ADR at the end of the year.

Wow thanks for the expert opinion from an industry insider!!

I suspect that much of the issue lies within Houston's layout which affects our hotel needs. The issue isn't that there is a lack for number of rooms total, but number of rooms in an area like the CBD. As long as the number of CBD visitors continues to increase, then we have a reason to want more hotels in the area. I agree... the city may be saturated for hotel rooms, but there are a disproportionate number of rooms within the CBD.

I'm of the opinion that the CBD rooms could also be more expensive, but precedent is helping to keep the prices low.