Lubbock's Luxury Hotel Project Expands Size & Scope

[mrfootball]

Luxury hotel plans take sizable leap

BY CHRIS VAN WAGENEN

A-J BUSINESS EDITOR

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/01120...011207026.shtml

A luxury high-rise hotel planned for Overton Park will stand taller with an even larger conference center than was first unveiled nearly one year ago.

Those are just some of the facts expected to be revealed today by Garfield Traub Corp., the hotel's developer, and representatives of the city of Lubbock who will outline the scope of the project at a news conference.

Ray Garfield Jr., president of the Dallas-based company that is co-developing the property with Gal-Tex Hotel Corp., told The Avalanche-Journal that plans for the hotel, located at Sixth Street and Avenue X, have significantly changed since they were first unveiled.

"This has really grown in size since we first talked about ... the number of floors, the conference center footprint, it's all changed. This is now a $60 million project," he said.

In addition to an artist's renderings of the final product, some of the adjustments Garfield Traub will announce today include:

[brijonmang]

This is awesome news...a couple high rises going up right nextdoor. Things are looking up here in Lubbock, Texas.

[mrfootball]

I also recently read that they plan to expand Texas Tech to 35,000 students within the next few years to 40,000 by 2020 under Hance's expansion plans.

Also, good news for Tech on the Speaker of the House front as Craddick (TTU Alum) retains power, will likely appoint 2 area lawmakers to lead several key committees (ie appropriations). Hance is quite comfortable working the State Legislature and I think (for once) Tech will get just about everything it wants (full funding, new business school, money for the new El Paso medical school, new faculty, Honors college etc).

There's also potential for a rather significant expansion of the TTU University system.

So there are some big things afoot once again on the Texas Tech campus following the David Smith era.

[ssullivan]

Sounds like a nice project for Lubbock. Have they announced which hotel company will be managing the property?

I actually just returned to Houston from working in Lubbock this week. I just started a major project for Texas Tech, and will be in and out of Lubbock every couple of weeks for the next three years.

[mrfootball]

Developer sets March groundbreaking for hotel

ssullivan, I believe they were going to flag it with Hyatt, Hilton, Westin or similar but instead opted to privately brand it, which has enabled them to expand the scope of the project.

BTW, what project are you working on for Tech?

I think I heard that they had the following big projects planned or underway: Football Stadium expansion, new Business School, and the new Red Raider Ranch development...or is it something else???

[ssullivan]

Very interesting. I would have expected that affiliating with a major full-service hotel company like Hilton would have been a wiser move than going it as an independent, but in either case the place looks nice and will be a big improvement over the other hotel offerings the areas around downtown and the Texas Tech campus.

I'm working on the implementation of Tech's new ERP system. I work in HR and payroll consulting for the leading provider of ERP systems for the higher education market. This week was my second trip up to Tech for this project, and I must say, I'm really enjoying working with the people there. And surprisingly, Lubbock is really starting to grow on me.