LosFeliz

I walk at the park almost daily. The freeze did a number on so many recently planted wild grasses. Hopefully the natives will recover.

I've found that most people that have traveled to Houston to visit friends or for a long weekend are actually impressed by Houston. They love the friendly people and diversity of food and drinks and I've heard several comment that the museum district and Hermann Park are quite lovely. The ones that think Houston is just one ugly eyesore tend to be people who came for work and say things like "I was in our downtown office" but when I pressed I found out they were in Westchase or Energy Corridor staying in a mid-level chain and eating at places you could find in any city. Or, even worse, the people who say "I've driven through on my way from Florida to California and saw enough." Our freeways are huge and ugly and we are one of the only cities with feeder roads. They are ugly. Not much we can do about it since Texas loves concrete and the corrupt folks who run our state love to spend to pave over everything.

Houston is hosting the Final Four again this year. It's on the rotation for Super Bowls and gets surprisingly high praise for hosting big events. And while we might not get big dollar tourists, we do get very wealthy medical tourists as well as international business travel. There's no reason why we don't have a 2-3 bigger brands like a Ritz, Fairmont, Mandarin, Waldorf, etc... I also know SEVERAL people who have traveled to Houston for our museums. These are the types that go to the Kimball in Fort Worth but skip Dallas and come to Houston for the Menial Collection and MFA but have no interest in Austin. They're a rare breed but now they at least have more options than the ZaZa which while fun, is pretty cheesy. The Colombe d'Or hotel addition is getting $700 a night these days. I'm not sure if they're getting healthy room occupancy rates, but if they are, more will come. I've lived in 4 of the 5 biggest cities. Houston is far from the ugliest. But part of the reason the perception exists is its become a sport to dump on the city. A New Yorker would punch you in the face if you called it ugly, but have you walked by an alley in the lower East Village on a hot August night where the smell of garbage and vomit can make you see haze? Have you taken a wrong turn in LA and found yourself with blocks on end of homeless camps that block sidewalks and sometimes even the roads? Have you been to Southside Chicago or Gary, Indiana? If you have and you say Houston has a decay issue...

It's a shame the Post Oak is basically a car-centered freeway trophy tower. With Fertita owning the Rockets, maybe he could build a hotel/condo tower downtown... The Live Oak. Downtown is really missing the high end hotel/condo tower. The Four Seasons doesn't cut it because those condos up top were originally corporate rentals. It seems as if the units at the Allen are selling. If you can sell multi-million dollar units next door to public housing, you could sell them downtown.

The main reason I rule out a Ritz is 531 rooms is very large. I've stayed in the Ritz in Boston and Denver. Boston has 193 rooms. Denver 202. I was curious so here's what I found; 444 rooms in Atlanta 434 in Chicago 336 in San Francisco 301 in Philadelphia 299 in St Louis 253 NY Central Park 251 in Portland (hotel opens this summer) 218 in Dallas 206 in Cleveland 202 in Denver 193 in Boston 146 in Charlotte 123 in Los Angeles No way Houston can support 531 rooms if this is what other cities have. I expect we will eventually get a Ritz but it will be a mix of condos and hotel rooms. I'd love to see it Downtown but it will most likely end up along Post Oak/Galleria area.

Here's what currently exists in the Medical Center market off the top of my head... Westin, Marriott, InterContinental, Doubletree by Hilton, Hilton, Blossom, Home2Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Spring Hill Suites, Courtyard by Marriott, Hampton Inn, and Extended Stay. What isn't in the market but is in Houston or Texas would be my guess. Hyatt. Omni. Fairmont. W. Kimpton. I'd love to see a Mandarin or Ritz but I just can't see it since this will be a work/medical conference/patient family hotel. Not enough high end leisure. If it were on the north side of the TMC I could see it because it would front Hermann Park and could be marketed as a museum district hotel as well since Houston does see some high end arts travelers.

I thought it was Poseidon as well. Immediately thought why is the Sea God featured in a restaurant called Sky? And why is a Greek God in a French-named place?

I hate this thing. If it were downtown, uptown, or TMC it would bother me much less but the Museum District has a much more human scale than those other areas filled with massive garages and wide streets. The garage mahauling of Houston spreads.

Considering the word on the street about Life Tower at that complex, this might be for the best.

I was in town last few weeks and cannot believe Lofts at the Ballpark is closed down. We went to Little Woodrow's before the UH/Rice game and rode the rail to TDECU and I had no idea. Also didn't know Lucky's had closed. It was very sad to see the shape of the land between Dynamo Stadium and the Lofts. Dead grass and trash. I'm assuming this is all a result of the TDOT? It's a damn shame that Texans keep allowing the shady organization to ruin our largest cities in the name of progress for the commuter.