Convention centers, hotels and other venues throughout Texas are boasting LEED certifications, sustainable strategies and meetings technology to attract groups, while event-ready museums celebrating the state’s energy heritage are also geared up for the meetings market.
Unconventionally Sound
Covering six blocks in the downtown business district, the LEED Gold-certified Austin Convention Center is a sustainability and technology champion. The gigabit-rated facility offers 369,132 total square feet of space, including five exhibit halls, 54 meeting rooms, two ballrooms and two parking garages. Green highlights include 68 percent waste diversion, 93 percent carbon footprint reduction and 26 percent better energy efficiency on a peer-comparison basis.
Boasting its own impressive green credentials is the LEED Silver-rated Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. Offering almost 100,000 square feet of space, the building realizes operational and energy efficiencies from its striking vertically stacked design. Innovations include a maintenance-free copper skin perforated for natural cooling, drawing from a nearby lake for irrigation, as well as gray-water use, drought-resistant plants and a dense canopy of trees for shade.
In April 2015, the Galveston Island Convention Center at the San Luis Resort upgraded its complimentary Wi-Fi service from a 100 Mbps circuit to 500 Mbps. Designed specifically for attendees carrying multiple Web-based devices, the boost provides simultaneous Internet access for up to 2,500 devices. Through its green initiative, the center reduces its carbon footprint via various recycling and energy-efficient programs, while encouraging planners to follow green practices.
The technologically advanced Plano Centre is recognized for its recycling initiatives and partnership with the City of Plano on environmental training and programs. Other tech and green leaders include the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine, American Bank Center in Corpus Christi and Lone Star Convention and Expo Center in Conroe.
Strong Showcases
Cultural venues celebrating the Texas energy story are ready resources for group tours, educational programs and events.
In Beaumont, birthplace of the Texas oil industry, the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum features a replica gusher shooting water high into the air. Hosting up to 500 attendees for receptions and dinner events, the venue offers reenactments, including shoot-outs and Prohibition-era-style tea parties, with a traditional driller’s lunch of red beans and rice among the catering options. Beaumont is also home to the Texas Energy Museum, featuring state-of-the art exhibits and function space.
Exhibits at Port Arthur’s Museum of the Gulf Coast include a historic cannon once used to extinguish oil tank fires. Meanwhile, Galveston offers the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum and Education Center, and Houston, dubbed “Energy Capital of the World,” offers distinctive venues such as the Petroleum Club of Houston and newly renovated Wiess Energy Hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Along with Odessa, Midland is the main group base in the oil- and natural gas-producing Permian Basin of West Texas. At the latter’s Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, groups can combine tours with private functions for up to 500 attendees. The museum, the nation’s largest museum devoted to the story of energy and petroleum, is undergoing an $18 million renovation, due for completion by spring 2016.
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Horse power, the original engine of the Texas economy, is celebrated at the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum in Amarillo, while the windmill is featured at the American Wind Power Center in Lubbock, which is adding a new 33,000-square-foot exhibit building with classroom space for meetings and seminars.
Safe Havens
Wildlife protection and conservation come first at Moody Gardens in Galveston as well as at LEED-certified nature sanctuaries, including the Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas and Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, located near Beaumont.
Along with guest comfort, the state’s leading group hotels take equal care of the environment.
Hyatt has a major presence in Texas, including Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa; Grand Hyatt San Antonio; Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa, which recently unveiled its new 20,000-square-foot ballroom; and Hyatt Regency Dallas, where groups can dine and meet in the updated GeO-Deck atop the iconic 50-story Reunion Tower.
In Texas and around the globe, Hyatt is also a green leader. Introduced in August 2014, “Hyatt 2020 Vision” articulates a brand-wide sustainability strategy. Specifics include implementing ambitious energy-efficient and waste-reduction targets, more environmentally conscious construction and renovation standards, as well as raising awareness.
“The conservation efforts undertaken by Hyatt hotels around the world since formalizing our approach several years ago have had a real impact, resulting in major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and water and energy usage by property across our portfolio,” Brigitta Witt, Hyatt’s vice president of corporate responsibility, stated in a press release.
Connected via skybridge to the George R. Brown Convention Center, the 1,200-room Hilton Americas-Houston, the city’s largest hotel, was the first in Texas to receive Green Seal certification. Offering 91,500 square feet of meeting space, including a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, the stylish property’s extensive greening program includes a comprehensive recycling program and energy-efficient lighting systems.
NYLO Dallas South Side and Omni Dallas Hotel are at the green forefront with LEED Gold certification, while Austin’s new JW Marriott opened with LEED Silver certification. Other Silver stars include the 10-acre waterpark at Grapevine’s environmentally forward Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, and the new Cambria Hotel & Suites Plano-Legacy in Plano.
