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

[cloud713]

So the Hilton needs a Rockets bar/restaurant, and a lazy river.

How to outdo the Texas shaped lazy river though? Maybe a road map of Houston, with the 3 loops as the lazy rivers, connected together with the highways going into downtown? Downtown could be an island in the middle of it all with a performance area/stage on it, possibly revolving? Throw in some overpass styled bridges to walk over the water "roads" and you've got yourself a swimmable ode to Houston. Ok, I might of taken that a little too far..

[monarch]

^^^ actually the HILTON AMERICAS is soooooo quiet and downright boring

that a "lazy river" shall not do it justice.

it needs the RED SEA......

Edited April 14, 2016 by monarch

[Sunstar]

I like the Hilton Americas 

[Nole23]

I walked inside the Hilton Americas the Friday of Final Four week and the lobby was PACKED with people and Pappasito's was slammed as well. Hilton pioneered this area (well if you don't include the Four Seasons) so they didn't include GFR and other amenities in the development because nothing was around it except GRB and a new Toyota Center. Now that we have a convention district they have added the Starbucks, made Pappasito's accessible from the street with a patio. I love the hotel.

 

With that said, I do think the Marriott will blow it out of the water though.... lol

[cspwal]

1 hour ago, Nole23 said:

(well if you don't include the Four Seasons)

 

I don't think anyone wants to

[Nate99]

2 hours ago, Sunstar said:

I like the Hilton Americas 

 

Me too. Pappasito's downtown is perfect for the area too. Apart from being reliably good food, it is a trusted brand in a place with increasing local visitors that will reinforce folks' perception that downtown is a place worth coming back to or spending more time in pre/post game/theater/concert/etc.

 

 

[cspwal]

That is for sure something downtown needs a bit more of - chains that suburbans/tourists know the name of that aren't closed after 3 pm.  Last I checked, the Chipolte in the Post Rice wasn't open Saturday or evenings

[Sunstar]

I like to take a wait-and-see attitude. While the Marriott sounds like it will be awesome, I want to see the finished product before I start kicking the Hilton to the curb . 

 

 

[tigereye]

New rendering of Biggio's on Twitter.

 

 

[kbates2]

1 hour ago, cspwal said:

That is for sure something downtown needs a bit more of - chains that suburbans/tourists know the name of that aren't closed after 3 pm.  Last I checked, the Chipolte in the Post Rice wasn't open Saturday or evenings

 

Disagree. I think that tourists at least would be much more interested in restaurants that aren't chains.  Suburbanites also are not very likely to venture downtown to try the downtown Chipotle as opposed to their neighborhood one.  We just need more restaurants that aren't closed after 3 pm altogether.

[KinkaidAlum]

The good news about biGGios is that if it fails as a sports bar, it already has a name for what conventioneers truly want; a tittie bar. 

[cspwal]

40 minutes ago, kbates2 said:

 

Disagree. I think that tourists at least would be much more interested in restaurants that aren't chains.  Suburbanites also are not very likely to venture downtown to try the downtown Chipotle as opposed to their neighborhood one.  We just need more restaurants that aren't closed after 3 pm altogether.

 

We need both - and we NEED more restaurants staying open!  It should not be a hunt for food on a Saturday

[bobruss]

What we need are more people downtown. Not just occasional tourist and convention visitors.

During the week we have 150,000 plus people eating lunch in the tunnels or ground floor restaurants and those do very well for lunch, but after 5:00 most hop in their cars and go home.

On Fridays they go home and don't come back until Monday for the most part.

To have a really successful restaurant that serves good fresh food for all of their meals, you need a fairly regular crowd.

If every restaurant downtown was to stay open every night they would probably average about maybe 5-10 covers a night. That will not keep a restaurant open very long or the quality of food would go down due to serving the same leftovers three nights in a row, or fish that wasn't sold over the weekend becomes the special of the brunch or Mondays lunch special.

When you can't rely on night time business and weekend diners its hard to work your inventory, and really hard to schedule staff because no one wants to stand around in a

half empty restaurant and walk with $35.00 tips after paying transportation and wasting the amount of time shifts consume.

Once we reach a level of downtown residential that sustains the restaurants more will open for dinner.

That leaves a curious situation for the tunnels because they won't be participating in this nighttime dining because of the hours of the tunnels and no plans to ever keep them open at night. I think the tunnels although handy for suburbanite who could care less about downtown and can't wait to get out of it every afternoon, it really has destroyed a social street life that is sorely missing in downtown although it does seem to be getting a little better.

[quietstorm]

5 hours ago, kbates2 said:

 

Disagree. I think that tourists at least would be much more interested in restaurants that aren't chains.  Suburbanites also are not very likely to venture downtown to try the downtown Chipotle as opposed to their neighborhood one.  We just need more restaurants that aren't closed after 3 pm altogether.

I think it's a combo of both.

[H-TownChris2]

 

Marriott Marquis by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

Marriott Marquis by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

Marriott Marquis by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

Marriott Marquis by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

MM by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

Edited April 17, 2016 by H-TownChris2

[monarch]

^^^ outstanding effort today chris, but oh boy... that HUGE / STRANGE white wall.  did you acquire any details surrounding its purpose?

[cloud713]

Maybe its to block the "pre-function area"? Not quite sure what goes on there, but thats whats behind the wall.

[H-TownChris2]

14 hours ago, monarch said:

^^^ outstanding effort today chris, but oh boy... that HUGE / STRANGE white wall.  did you acquire any details surrounding its purpose?

No I didn't, sorry. But I'll try to obtain some info the next time I go!

[Dakota79]

I wish the sun had been shining - but that was too much to ask this weekend.  None the less, this area is full of life, and the hotel isn't even open yet. Plus the GRB looks fantastic.

[cloud713]

As the great BigFootSocks once said.. "Holy HDR Batman".

[Montrose1100]

Too bad it doesn't have more than two wings, would really complete the Vegas look.

[Urbannizer]

Marriott Marquis will open November 3rd

[H-TownChris2]

When all around town to get some pics, tested my new lens today, I absolutely love it!

IMG_4781 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4841 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4842 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4843 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4844 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4848 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4851 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4853 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4868 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4905 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

 

Skybridge:

IMG_4847 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

 

[samagon]

On 4/14/2016 at 2:48 PM, bobruss said:

That leaves a curious situation for the tunnels because they won't be participating in this nighttime dining because of the hours of the tunnels and no plans to ever keep them open at night. I think the tunnels although handy for suburbanite who could care less about downtown and can't wait to get out of it every afternoon, it really has destroyed a social street life that is sorely missing in downtown although it does seem to be getting a little better.

 

Granted, I've yet to experience summer working downtown I've had maybe 1 day out of 20 where the weather sucks enough that I don't want to walk around outside.

 

Also, I overheard some ladies in the elevator one day, one of them lamented the fact that while Chase tower is isolated in the tunnels there are only 4 options for lunch and she is ready for more options again. her friend reminded her she could go outside, and her response was "oh yeah, I always forget I can do that"

 

I couldn't tell whether she was serious, or not. I hope she was just being really sarcastic to her friend, but probably not.

[Nucleareaction]

On 5/2/2016 at 4:17 PM, samagon said:

 

Granted, I've yet to experience summer working downtown I've had maybe 1 day out of 20 where the weather sucks enough that I don't want to walk around outside.

 

Also, I overheard some ladies in the elevator one day, one of them lamented the fact that while Chase tower is isolated in the tunnels there are only 4 options for lunch and she is ready for more options again. her friend reminded her she could go outside, and her response was "oh yeah, I always forget I can do that"

 

I couldn't tell whether she was serious, or not. I hope she was just being really sarcastic to her friend, but probably not.

 

I'm guessing not. I work out on the west side, lots of isolated offices and strip centers in between. Walking back to work from lunch other day, I saw an suv pull out of the parking lot across the street, and drive right into the parking lot of the strip center. A distance 500 feet is being generous.

[Montrose1100]

Edited May 7, 2016 by Montrose1100
The Blue is going away eventually right?

[Luminare]

On 5/6/2016 at 1:54 AM, Montrose1100 said:

 

Yeah the blue to me is either insulation or a kind of waterproof membrane so it won't stay that way. they will put on top whatever cladding. per the renderings I'm guessing steel, but they could also easily put stone.

[Triton]

Marriott Marquis by Marc longoria, on Flickr

 

Houston First by Marc longoria, on Flickr

[H-TownChris2]

IMG_4970 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4973 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_4997 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

IMG_5026 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

[HoustonMidtown]

Walker St getting torn up....

Edited May 14, 2016 by HoustonMidtown