Tag: Hotels

Disaster Aftermath, Galveston, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

18 Comments

There may be a buyer for Galveston’s Flagship Hotel, reports Laura Elder in the Galveston County Daily News. The hotel suffered about $7 million in damage from Hurricane Ike last year. But Landry’s Restaurants, the current owner, has a fallback plan in case the sale doesn’t go through:

If the 225-room property at 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard doesnâ€™t sell, Landryâ€™s likely would demolish the hotel and develop a â€œpleasure pierâ€ with amusement rides, officials say. . . .

Landryâ€™s is pricing demolition for the hotel, built in 1965 as a show of confidence after Hurricane Carla, Jeff Cantwell, senior vice president for development, said.

Perched on a pier overlooking the Gulf, the Flagship fell into disrepair on its own after 1990, when The Flagship Hotel Ltd. took over management.

Landryâ€™s paid the city $500,000 for the hotel in 2004, saying it planned to spend $15 million transforming the property into an entertainment plaza with amusement rides, including a roller coaster.

Landryâ€™s attempted to move ahead, but was stymied by agreements that gave Daniel Yeh, head of The Flagship Hotel Ltd., control of the hotel until 2031.

77550, Demolitions, Disaster Aftermath, Flagship Hotel, Galveston, Hotels, Hurricane Ike, Landry's, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

Bankruptcies

06/17/09 1:49pm

The Federal Reserve’s Extended Stay in Houston

Financing, Hotels, Quicklink

4 Comments

THE FEDERAL RESERVE’S EXTENDED STAY IN HOUSTON Extended Stay Hotels, which operates 21 extended-stay hotels in Houston under the Homestead Studio Suites, StudioPLUS Deluxe Studios, Extended Stay America, and Crossland Economy Studios brands, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week. How is the Fed involved? “The Federal Reserve holds $744 million of various junior classes of debt and $153 million in the senior debt that the central bank assumed after the collapse of Bear Stearns, which held a sizable amount of the hotel chainâ€™s debt. The losses are mounting for the Fed on those Bear Stearns assets, which continue to sour. Extended Stay loans were held on the Fedâ€™s balance sheet via a company called Maiden Lane that the central bank lent $29 billion in June 2008 to purchase $30 billion of Bearsâ€™ assets.” [Deal Journal; more at Calculated Risk]

Bankruptcies, Financing, Hotels

Hotels

04/13/09 4:00pm

Out of Their League: Victory Lakes’ Battle of the Freeway Flank

League City, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Sprawl

14 Comments

Some residents of 9-year-old Victory Lakes have been demonstrating against a La Quinta Inn proposed for the commercial strip that separates the recent master-planned community from the Gulf Freeway in League City, reports Rhiannon Meyers in the Galveston County Daily News:

[Developer Roy] Mease turned what was supposed to be an upscale suburb and high-end offices into a hub for big box retailers, fast food restaurants and hotels, Victory Lakes residents claimed.

â€œIâ€™m opposed to these hotels,â€ resident John Calebrese said. â€œItâ€™s just another step in the wrong direction of the promises made to the original homeowners of Victory Lakes … (The subdivision) is nothing like what was promised.â€

But Mease said the subdivision, with its 14 big box retailers, brings in an â€œungodly amountâ€ of sales tax revenue for League City. There is no reason to oppose a hotel plotted for land far away from any Victory Lakes homes, he said.

A Hampton Inn and Candlewood Suites are already under construction. What’s wrong with La Quinta?

77573, Big Box Stores, Hotels, League City, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Sprawl, Victory Lakes

Cancellations and Delays

04/06/09 12:13pm

A Few Reservations About a Downtown Hilton Garden Inn

Downtown, Hotels, Proposed Developments

That 11-story, 240-room Hilton Garden Inn the WEDGE Group International was planning to build next to the company’s Downtown tower has been put on hold — at least until September — a source tells Swamplot. Financing apparently wasn’t the issue. Our source says that Hilton’s executive board is being cautious, and “wanted to watch the Houston market conditions to see if it would be a wise placement.”

The hotel was planned to fit directly to the north of the WEDGE tower at 1415 Louisiana and cover the blank parking-garage wall facing Clay St.

Downtown Wallflower: A New Hilton Garden Inn? [Swamplot]

Rendering of Proposed Hilton Garden Inn: Mitchell Carlson Stone

77002, Downtown, Hotels, Proposed Developments

Demolitions

03/13/09 11:45am

This Time with Fair Warning: Galleria Bank Collapse

Galleria, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

5 Comments

This weekend’s Galleria-area bank implosion won’t be televised nationally, but you should be able to watch it happen live if you wake up early enough on Sunday. Preparations for the dynamite-fueled takedown of the Compass Bank building at 2200 Post Oak are just about complete.

A notice sent out last month to area businesses by Cherry Demolition says the implosion is scheduled for approximately 7:45 am on March 15th — which happens to be the 2,053rd anniversary, give or take a calendar adjustment, of the Julius Caesar demo. A few details:

Adjacent streets will be closed at approximately 6:00 am and re-open at 9:15 am. Streets to be closed are Guilford and Post Oak Boulevard between Westheimer and Ambassador Way.

So where’s the best vantage point for viewing this cathartic form of timely public theater gonna be?

77056, Condos, Demolitions, Galleria, Hotels, Implosions, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Uptown

Comments

03/12/09 8:45pm

Comment of the Day: Downtown Hilton Garden Inn Furniture Plan

Downtown, Financing, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: DOWNTOWN HILTON GARDEN INN FURNITURE PLAN “Financing? WEDGEâ€™s principal can find the money for this project in his couch cushions. According to ArabianBusiness.com, Issam Fares is currently the 32nd richest Arab on the planet with a net worth of $2.4 Billion.” [Bernard, commenting on Downtown Wallflower: A New Hilton Garden Inn?]

77002, Comments, Downtown, Financing, Hotels, Proposed Developments

Downtown

03/11/09 10:39am

Downtown Wallflower: A New Hilton Garden Inn?

Hotels, Parking, Proposed Developments

6 Comments

Schemers at over- capitalized WEDGE Group International appear to have hatched a complicated plot to cover up that 11-story blank parking-garage wall at the base of the company’s Downtown tower at 1415 Louisiana. The plan: slide a new building of equivalent height — say, a Hilton Garden Inn — right next to the tower’s north base, then add a suburban-style porte-cochere entrance along Clay St.

HAIF user lockmat unearthed this small rendering of the hotel (above), which was hiding in plain view on the WEDGE Real Estate Holdings website. It shows how the completed wallcovering would look from Louisiana St., just north of Clay — if WEDGE’s separate 12-story Clay Garage wasn’t there to block the view. The tall buildings shown in the background are the WEDGE tower and the ExxonMobil building just behind it to the left.

How far along are these plans?

77002, Downtown, Hotels, Parking-Garages, Proposed Developments

Apartments

10/24/08 3:49pm

Hanover Uptown Apartment Tower: Officially on Hold

Financing, Galleria, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

Proposed 37-Story Hanover Apartment Tower at Boulevard Place, Uptown, Houston From Jennifer Dawson in today’s Houston Business Journal comes confirmation of part of Swamplot’s report earlier this week on the two highrises planned for Boulevard Place. The Hanover Company’s planned 37-story apartment tower isn’t moving forward anytime soon:

Construction was supposed to start this month, but thatâ€™s not going to happen because itâ€™s too difficult to get a construction loan right now, says Hanover President John Nash.

He says it would be impossible to predict when the credit market would allow the project to move forward, but it could be delayed as much as a year.

Tight money postpones plans for residential tower [Houston Business Journal]
Putting Off the Ritz: Boulevard Place Towers Stalled [Swamplot]
Hanover Apartment Tower at Boulevard Place: 37 Stories [Swamplot]

Tower rendering: Solomon Cordwell Buenz, via the Houston Chronicle

77056, Apartments, BLVD Place, Condos, Financing, Galleria, Hotels, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Uptown

Apartments

10/21/08 11:22am

Putting Off the Ritz: Boulevard Place Towers Stalled

Financing, Galleria, Hotels, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

Aerial View of BLVD Place, Showing Proposed Ritz Carlton and Hanover Apartment Towers

Remember the two 30-plus-story towers planned for Boulevard Place on Post Oak — the Ritz Carlton Hotel and the Hanover apartment tower? How have they been surviving the rumbling credit crunch?

A HAIF user last week

got slight confirmation that both the hanover tower and the ritz are going to be delayed at least slightly… they still expected both to happen, but they will be phased in.

Then yesterday came another comment:

i can confirm this in regards to hanover.

dont expect their tower to be built anytime soon.. i would consider it postponed indefinitely rather than slightly.

Followed by this:

As a sub on this project I will also confirm this. We have been told at least 6 months of delays.

But they still look great on ~~paper~~screen!

77056, Apartments, BLVD Place, Condos, Financing, Galleria, Hotels, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Uptown

Downtown

09/03/08 11:55am

Discovery Tower Discovery Green Discoveries

New Construction, Office Buildings, Parks, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Aerial View of Discovery Green and Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

Never mind the virtual obstacles: The website for Discovery Tower has a new promotional video that pays silent homage to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Also: more fancy renderings of the office building, now under construction.

More interesting to Discovery Green fans, though, will be a few new aerial renderings that depict the Downtown park in urban glory, surrounded by a crowd of real, planned, imagined, and soon-to-be-axed new projects. But . . . uh, which is which?

That orangish tower perched on Discovery Green’s southwest corner: the stalled 22-story Embassy Suites hotel. That sorta-identical but mirrored Hilton Americas on the north side of the park? The Convention Center Hotel Part Two!

So . . . what’s going on behind Discovery Tower?

77002, 77010, Discovery Green, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Hotels, New Construction, Office Buildings, Parks, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Hotels

07/14/08 2:02pm

1634 Westheimer: New Bunkhouse Hotel in Montrose

Mixed Use, Montrose, Proposed Developments

3 Comments

Drawing Showing Planned Hotel at 1634 Westheimer, Montrose, Houston

Concept drawings for the new “boutique” hotel on Westheimer mentioned here on Friday are out! A tipster sends us to a HAIF post pointing to the Bunkhouse Management website, where Liz Lambert and company — the team behind Austin’s too-cool slow-mo Hotel San Jose rehab and Jo’s Coffee — have posted sketches of a 5-story, 75-room hotel complex planned for 1634 Westheimer, between Dunlavy and Mandell.

Yes, that’s the long-vacant failed-condo site next to Buffalo Exchange, across the street from the Leopard Lounge. Bunkhouse describes the site as a “blank slate,” but they’re likely to find a number of poured-then-abandoned piers on the property.

Bunkhouse’s plans show a restaurant, patio, and retail space fronting Westheimer. The hotel, wrapping around a pool, is in back, reachable from the front patio and a car entrance along one-block-long Kuester St., on the east side of the property.

Below: More drawings, including a site plan.

77006, Hotels, Lower Westheimer, Mixed Use, Montrose, Proposed Developments

Hotels

07/11/08 10:27am

Boutique Hotels Coming to Washington Ave. and Lower Westheimer?

Montrose, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Washington Corridor

2 Comments

BOUTIQUE HOTELS COMING TO WASHINGTON AVE. AND LOWER WESTHEIMER? They’re not saying much, but two separate potential developers have targeted Inner Loop sites. No “immediate plans,” of course: “Liz Lambert, the businesswoman behind the hip Hotel San JosÃ© in Austin, has a site on lower Westheimer earmarked for a possible hotel. . . . Sergio Ortiz, owner of Houston-based Orion Hotels Inc., is working on the development of a boutique hotel on Washington Avenue, one of the hottest emerging strips in the Bayou City.” [Houston Business Journal]

77006, 77007, Hotels, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Washington Corridor

Buying and Selling

07/07/08 2:00pm

Heaven on Earth Being Reincarnated

Commercial Real Estate, Downtown, Hotels, Renovations

3 Comments

Former Holiday Inn, Days Inn, and Heaven on Earth Inn, St. Joseph Parkway at Travis, Downtown Houston

“A group of doctors and entrepreneurs” calling itself New Era Hospitality is the mystery buyer of the long-abandoned 31-story former Days Inn-former Holiday Inn-former Heaven on Earth Plaza Hotel on St. Joseph Parkway between Travis and Milam, reports Nancy Sarnoff in the Chronicle:

. . . demolition has already started on the interiors, which are being gutted and will be replaced with 340 modern suites, 60 standard guest rooms, 32,000 square feet of meeting space and a swimming pool and bar on top of the attached garage.

That’s down from 600 rooms in the original structure. New Era is hoping either Sheraton, Marriott, or . . . Holiday Inn (again!) will operate the property when it’s finished, in January 2010.

Hotel owners look for brand [Houston Chronicle]
Heaven on Earth Sells Again [Swamplot]

Photo: arch-ive.org

77002, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Downtown, Hotels, Renovations, Vacant Buildings

Commercial Real Estate

06/10/08 8:42am

Energy Plaza Embassy Suites: Hotel Mini-Mac