As cities, businesses and venues around Texas celebrate a variety of birthdays and special occasions in this 175th anniversary year for the state, the wagon wheels of progress roll forward. Following is a roundup of new frontiers and pioneering efforts across the Lone Star State.
NORTH TEXAS METROPLEX
The Omni Dallas hotel will debut in late 2011 ahead of schedule. With 1,000-plus rooms and more than 110,000 square feet of meeting space, the amenity-rich headquarters hotel connects via sky bridge to the Dallas Convention Center.
Also scheduled for completion in late 2011, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, its center arch soaring over the Trinity River, will become the new “postcard” view for Dallas.
The Intercontinental Hotel Dallas completed its $25 million makeover of guest rooms, restaurant and meeting facilities, now offering more than 75,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space. Part of InterContinental Hotels Group’s global portfolio, Crowne Plaza flies several flags in the Metroplex, including Crowne Plaza Dallas Market Center and Crowne Plaza Suites Arlington.
Featuring 160,000 square feet of function space, including 60 meeting rooms and 42 hospitality suites, the 1,120-room Hyatt Regency Dallas has just completed the transformation of its atrium, featuring a striking new bar and restaurant. The Hyatt Regency DFW offers 811 recently refreshed rooms, 92,000 square feet of meeting space and an exceptional executive conference level.
Located midway between the airport and downtown Fort Worth in the city of Hurst, the Hurst Conference Center, which opened in September 2010, is an attractive and successful new Metroplex meetings option, offering over 50,000 square feet of flexible space and featuring an executive boardroom, outdoor verandah and divisible 14,000-square-foot ballroom.
In Fort Worth’s world-class Cultural District, the Kimbell Art Museum’s new building is scheduled for completion in 2013.
Opened in June, the new Wyndham Frisco offers 100 oversized rooms, with executive facilities including a 600-square-foot meeting room, a 12-person boardroom and free Wi-Fi throughout. Construction is under way on a new 114-suite Home2Suites by Hilton. As the new home of the Museum of the American Railroad, Frisco is planning for a soft opening in spring 2012.
Open at the Grapevine Mills mall, LEGOLAND Discovery Center Dallas/Fort Worth offers interactive fun for all ages and special party rooms for groups, while the Gaylord Texan Resort’s new Paradise Springs is a Western-themed, 10-acre resort pool and lazy river complex.
January saw the debut of the new $133 million Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. The 275,000-square-foot, multipurpose center includes a 50,000-square-foot, column-free exhibit hall (five times larger than any other Irving venue); a 20,000-square-foot ballroom; and 20,000 square feet of breakout meeting space accommodating groups of 800 to 4,000. The project’s next phase will eventually include a performance venue, hotel and entertainment complex. By late 2012, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Orange Line will connect downtown Dallas to the center, and by 2014 continue on to DFW International Airport, making mass transit available out of DFW for the first time.
Previously open only to season ticket holders, the Mesquite ProRodeo’s 8-Second Club is now open to groups and private events.
Across from Cowboys Stadium, the new 1010 Collins Entertainment & Event Center offers over 16,000 square feet of event space and an acre-plus of outdoor garden space. Expected to open later this year, UT Arlington’s new 218,000-square-foot College Park Center gives Arlington a signature facility for concerts, conferences and community events. The newly renovated Arlington Music Hall features a 1,100-seat auditorium and 3,000-square-foot event space.
The Plano hospitality community has received numerous accolades this year, including “Best Meeting & Event Venue in North Texas” for the 122,500-square-foot Plano Centre and top customer satisfaction rankings in Texas and North America for the Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center.
HOUSTON AREA
Offering 1,200 luxurious rooms and 91,500 square feet of meeting space, the Hilton Americas-Houston, the city’s largest convention hotel, is the commanding anchor of downtown’s Discovery Green park and the George R. Brown Convention Center campus.
Opened in February, the nearby 262-unit Embassy Suites Hotel also overlooks the park and convention center, offering 6,000 square feet of flexible function space and amenities including a roofscape pool and spa and a 24-hour fitness center. The hotel is registered for LEED certification.
March saw the debut of the 267-room Westin Houston Memorial City, with more than 30,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space and an 18th-floor infinity pool with panoramic views of Houston’s skyline. Opened in April, the Houston Ballet’s new 115,000-square-foot, $47 million Center for Dance is the largest professional dance company facility of its kind constructed in the U.S.
Bay Area Houston’s newest meeting and event venue, Carothers Coastal Gardens, is a Spanish-style facility set on eight acres on Galveston Bay, with room for 90 guests indoors and another 100 outdoors. Across from the Johnson Space Center, the waterfront 243-room Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake recently completed a space-themed renovation of its meeting space and lobby.
SAN ANTONIO
The city’s $384.5 million project to lengthen the River Walk from three to 15 miles continues, following the completion of Museum Reach, which now connects downtown with museums, cultural districts and the historic Pearl Brewery. With sections being opened as completed, Mission Reach, which joins the original River Walk with four of the city’s Spanish Colonial missions to the south, is expected to wrap in 2013.
The Lila Cockrell Theatre reopened in January following an extensive $26 million refurbishment. Ideal for general assemblies, corporate presentations, performing arts events and concerts, this sumptuous space boasts three levels of seating for a total capacity of 2,400 people.
Opened in November 2010, the $134 million Terminal B at San Antonio International Airport adds convenience and caps off several years of airport renovations.
AUSTIN AREA
Plans have been announced for a convention-style, 1,003-room Marriott Marquis with 103,000 square feet of meeting and event space at Congress Avenue and 2nd Street, a few blocks from the Austin Convention Center. Construction is slated to start in early 2012, with completion set for 2015.
The newly renovated Arthouse at the Jones Center is a chic new venue in town.
Now under construction some two miles from Austin Bergstrom International Airport, Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is the nation’s first purpose-built Grand Prix facility. Scheduled to open in spring 2012, the 3.4-mile track will host the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix from 2012 through 2021, along with other major race events. The multipurpose facility incorporates a 40,000-square-foot conference center, 14 executive suites and meeting rooms, and a major outdoor live music venue.
With 70 guest rooms overlooking the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve in Hill Country, the luxurious Travaasa spa and resort is an environmentally sensitive destination hotel with meetings programs, including leadership training and development.
TEXAS GULF COAST
New Beaumont hotels include the 81-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites Northwest, a new InterContinental Hotels Group prototype that is part of Holiday Inn’s $1 billion brand relaunch program, and a small meetings-capable, 80-room Homewood Suites. The new Compro Event Center can host events of up to 1,000 guests, while the city’s new downtown multipurpose event center is expected to open this fall.
On Galveston Island, a new beachfront Four Points by Sheraton opened this spring with a ballroom; Hotel Galvez has updated all guest rooms and unveiled a new outdoor event space; and Moody Gardens Hotel & Convention Center upgraded its hotel pool and opened its new Rainforest Pyramid in May after a $25 million renovation.
The 821-room Omni Corpus Christi Hotel has enhanced guest rooms in the Bayfront Tower and refreshed some of its 38,000 square feet of meeting space.
South Padre Island is considering expanding its convention center, while the meetings-capable Pearl South Padre features 251 newly renovated Gulf-facing rooms.
In Port Arthur, Beau Reve (“Beautiful Dream”) is an elegant new dining and event option for groups.
SOUTH TEXAS
Housed in the oldest adobe structure in South Texas, McAllen’s celebrated Quinta Mazatlan nature center, with space for small meetings, is adding a LEED-certified glass house to its facilities. The former private estate, which is McAllen’s wing of the World Birding Center, offers acres of shaded outdoor areas for events, with many customizable opportunities for groups.
Located primarily along 17th Street and its cross streets, McAllen’s burgeoning Entertainment District features three dozen restaurants, nightclubs and lounges, all of which are 24 months old or less.
CENTRAL AND WEST TEXAS
Destined to become the brightest cultural star in West Texas when it opens this November, Midland’s new $81 million Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center is a stunning 108,000-square-foot facility that includes the 1,800-seat Main Hall and Rea-Greathouse Hall, with multipurpose space for groups of up to 200. Music legend Rod Stewart kicks off the inaugural Grand Gala Celebration Nov. 1.
Opened in 1927, the Ritz Theatre was Midland’s first modern movie house and showplace. The historic venue is being transformed into the multiuse Ritz Cultural Center.
El Paso is continuing its downtown revitalization, which began in 2006 with the renovation of the 1930s Spanish-revival Plaza Theatre, home of the world’s largest classic-film festival every August. The ongoing renaissance includes the recently renovated Doubletree El Paso Downtown/City Center, within strolling distance of the Judson F. Williams Convention Center.
