Texas continues to invest heavily in wide-ranging improvements to meet rising demand from the leisure tourism market and the meetings, conventions and incentives market. Following is a roundup of noteworthy Lone Star State happenings.
North Texas Metroplex
Anticipation is already mounting for the 2011 Super Bowl, to be played at the Dallas Cowboys’ newly opened, $1.15 billion stadium in Arlington, one of the biggest developments in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. An engineering marvel supported by two quarter-mile-long steel arches (the world’s largest) and featuring a gigantic center-hung scoreboard (also the world’s largest), the stadium promises to elevate Arlington, home to popular venues like the Texas Rangers Ballpark and the original Six Flags theme park, to global prominence.
The city is upping its hotel and convention capacity, with a feasibility study finding room for over 50,000 square feet of new exhibit and breakout space at the Arlington Convention Center. This summer saw the opening of a 132-room Hilton Garden Inn and a 103-room Hampton Inn & Suites, while the Sheraton Arlington recently finished a $16 million renovation. Next year, Arlington becomes the new home of the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame, with an 18,000-square-foot event facility.
In Dallas, the Dallas City Council unanimously approved financing for the 1,106-room Omni Dallas Convention Center Hotel, scheduled to open in early 2012. Connected to the 1 million-plus-square-foot Dallas Convention Center, this long-anticipated headquarters hotel calls for more than 80,000 square feet of meeting space, several restaurants and lounges, and a signature spa. Steps from the center, a 193-room aloft opens this fall.
A planned extension will double the length of the city’s DART light rail system, connecting downtown Dallas to DFW International Airport and Love Field.
Now complete, the 811-room Hyatt Regency DFW’s six-year, $50 million transformation expanded the hotel’s meeting capacity to 92,000 square feet. The 298-room Grand Hyatt DFW, integrated into International Terminal D, is also a premier meetings choice.
Fort Worth’s Texas-themed headquarters hotel, the 614-room Omni Fort Worth, is now open. Located across from the Fort Worth Convention Center, this first-class property’s amenities include nearly 68,000 square feet of meeting space, three restaurants, a ballroom and a spa. Other recent openings include the 430-room Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel and Spa, and the 132-room Holiday Inn Express Fort Worth Downtown.
Already boasting 1,511 rooms and 400,000 square feet of convention space, the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center on Lake Grapevine will become the state’s largest hotel when the addition of 200,000 square feet of meeting space and 500 guest rooms is finished next year.
Irving’s new 100,000-square-foot Convention Center at Las Colinas opens in late 2010; a proposed second phase will include an entertainment venue and a full-service hotel. The 431-room Four Seasons Resort and Club Las Colinas completed a $60 million expansion, while in the lifestyle category, the recently opened, 136-room aloft Las Colinas will soon be joined by the 123-room Element Irving and a 200-room NYLO hotel, featuring meeting space that will include a 3,000-square-foot urban loft ballroom.
Plano also recently unveiled a 136-room aloft, while Frisco is adding Fieldhouse USA, a new 144,000-square-foot indoor sports facility.
In Mesquite, the new owners of The Mesquite Championship Rodeo have added meetings-ready suites, while the Mesquite Convention Center begins renovations this fall.
Bryan-College Station has two new hotels: a Residence Inn by Marriott and the Best Western Atrea at Old Town Center, featuring more than 4,000 square feet of conference space.
Renovation work continues on the Waco Convention Center, while the Texas Sports Hall of Fame is expanding by approximately 30,000 square feet.
Houston Area
The story in "H Town" is of hotel makeovers, starting with the $2.5 million renovation of the chic 314-room Hotel Derek. The Houstonian Hotel, Club and Spa finished its $7.1 million guest room revamp. The Hyatt Regency Houston’s $40 million transformation includes the renovation of all 947 guest rooms, a redesigned LobbiBar, more than 64,000 square feet of refreshed meeting space and the first Shula’s Steak House in Texas. The AAA Five Diamond St. Regis Houston completed a $15 million refurbishment of its 232 guest rooms and suites.
New hotels are also popping up. A 262-room Embassy Suites is scheduled to open in 2011 adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center and overlooking Discovery Green. In the hip new CityCentre development, the 245-room Hotel Sorella opened in August next to the new Norris Conference Center.
Meanwhile, REV Houston is a new electric, zero-emission taxi providing local service, and in an important development for this expansive city, 30 additional miles of light rail are planned for 2012.
San Antonio
Scheduled to lift total room inventory past 40,000, some 20 new hotels with more than 3,500 additional rooms are scheduled to open in 2009. New arrivals include a 260-room Embassy Suites and a 220-room Courtyard by Marriott.
The River Walk’s first expansion phase is now complete, doubling the signature attraction’s length to four miles. By 2014, the $279 million San Antonio River Improvements Project will extend the River Walk another nine miles to San Antonio’s museums, the historic Pearl Brewery and cultural attractions to the north, and to the 18th century Spanish Colonial mission complex to the south.
Adaptable for indoor or outdoor use, the new 10,000-square-foot Rogers-Wiseman Pavilion at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa can accommodate receptions of up to 1,000 people and brings the property’s total flexible meeting space to 43,000 square feet. Next year sees the opening of the 1,002-room JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, featuring two championship golf courses, a 26,000-square-foot spa and more than 140,000 square feet of meeting space.
San Antonio International Airport’s new terminal also opens in 2010, plus roadway and infrastructure improvements.
Austin Area
Several large-scale hotel projects promise to transform downtown Austin, including a 250-room W Hotel; a 340-room Westin Hotel with 14,000 square feet of meeting space; the 243-room 21C Museum Hotel, doubling as a public art museum; and Westin’s planned 300-room hotel in the Warehouse Ditrict, with 15,000 square feet of meeting space. Marriott will construct a 1,000-room headquarters hotel for the Austin Convention Center, with two ballrooms included in 50,000 square feet of meeting space. Redevelopment of Austin’s Seaholm Power Plant includes an upscale, 160-room meetings hotel, and Hyatt Place is planning a business-friendly hotel at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
In nearby Fredericksburg, this December marks the opening of the $14 million, 40,000-square-foot expansion of the National Museum of the Pacific War.
Texas Gulf Coast
With true Texas heart, the state’s beach cities and communities have rebounded from Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Dolly, getting straight back to business. Galveston reports that three-quarters of its downtown businesses have reopened. The first floor of the historic Tremont House has been completely restored, with the hotel’s meeting space now totaling 14,700 square feet. A meetings-ready, 81-room Holiday Inn Express opened in May, with a new Country Inn & Suites in the works.
Following the reopening of the Sheraton South Padre Island Beach Hotel, the Isla Grand and the Suites at Sun Chase are finalizing renovations, and the 45,000-square-foot South Padre Island Convention Centre remains operational while completing renovations.
In Beaumont, the newly renovated, 253-room Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Beaumont Plaza offers more than 22,000 square feet of meeting space, while Corpus Christi recently debuted a 93-room Comfort Suites and an 84-room Holiday Inn Express, both with meeting space.
South Texas
With 800 new guest rooms added over the past five years, Laredo continues to boost its meetings-ready inventory with additions by Comfort Suites, Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta Inn, Red Roof Inn and Staybridge Suites.
McAllen has announced plans for two new convention hotels to be located in the mixed-use Palms Crossing Center surrounding the McAllen Convention Center.
Central and West Texas
In July, Lubbock enhanced its appeal with the unveiling of the upscale 304-room Overton Hotel & Conference Center, with 47,000 square feet of meeting space.
Courtyard by Marriott has two upcoming West Texas debuts: a 94-room property in Wichita Falls later this year and a 100-room property in Amarillo next year. Also in Wichita Falls, Wellington Conference Center, with a 4,600-square-foot ballroom, two boardrooms and other function space,
debuted this summer.
Odessa recently unveiled a Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites with 1,440 square feet of meeting space, while in San Angelo, a makeover of the renamed McNease Convention Center has added 6,700 square feet of space, including breakout rooms and an upper-level reception area.
