For many, Houston brings to mind Tex-Mex, a bold attitude and this year in particular, football. This month, Houston is hosting Super Bowl LI at its NRG Stadium, home to NFL’s Houston Texans. Many of the festivities are planned for the 12-acre Discovery Green Park, which spans the size of 13 football fields. The urban park is hosting a 10-day free festival, Super Bowl LIVE, featuring a concert every night and Future Flight, a virtual reality experience that takes you to Mars and drops you back on earth at the 50-yard-line at the Super Bowl.
“Discovery Green Park just ties everything together,” said Kevin Cooper, senior director of media relations, Houston Super Bowl Host Committee, Houston. “Houston is a global city, one of the best cities in America and Super Bowl LI is going to help us tell that story to a broader audience.”
According to Visit Houston, the city is expecting a net economic impact of roughly $350 million and about 150,000 out-of-town visitors for the Super Bowl and the events leading up to it, with more than 1 million expected to attend the 10-day festival.
On the Avenue
To help accommodate all the visitors, the city recently completed a massive revitalization to its downtown convention district. This neighborhood, now dubbed Avenida Houston, borders one of America’s largest meeting places, the George R. Brown Convention Center (GRB).
“We have completely reinvented our downtown convention campus into an environment that meeting planners are loving,” said Mike Waterman, president of Visit Houston. “We have dramatically reimagined the convention center itself, turning it from a closed-off big box on the edge of downtown into an inviting space with glass walls that allows attendees to see our amazing skyline. We have infused the space with multiple art installations by local artists and we’re bringing five new restaurants that reflect local flavor to the new pedestrian promenade we’ve created in front of the building.”
David Valenti, managing partner of DMC Destination Houston, The Woodlands, Texas, agreed.
“Downtown used to be essentially ‘deadsville’ after 5 p.m., but it’s now an area with great nightlife, private venues and groups of restaurants ideal for meeting and event groups,” he said.
Critical to the renewal of the city’s downtown core is the addition of the Marriott Marquis Houston. Opened in November 2016 and connected to the GRB via skybridge, this 1,000-room sparkling new hotel features more than 100,000 square feet of flexible meeting space that includes the largest ballroom in Houston—a Texas-size 39,000 square feet. In addition, the hotel also offers a unique 3,500-square-foot, open-air event pavilion on the sixth-floor terrace.
The Marriott Marquis Houston joins the existing 1,200-room Hilton Americas Houston, which also connects directly to the GRB. Together, they pack quite a punch.
“With two mega-properties on either side of a convention center like the GRB, with its very good exhibit and meeting space, Houston is a slam dunk for the bigger tradeshows,” said Drew Guntert, CEM, operations manager for the American Association of Professional Landmen (NAPE), based in Fort Worth, Texas.
The NAPE Summit has been meeting in Houston annually since 1993, with the event attracting more than 15,000 attendees from 35 different countries and 700 exhibitors.
“Houston has always had great hotels,” Guntert said, “but it seems like the opening of the Marriott Marquis and the new restaurants and other developments around the GRB are exactly what was needed to continue the city’s positive growth.”
Since 1905, the Austin-based Texas Library Association (TLA) has held its annual event, with 7,500 attendees, every four or five years in Houston at the GRB, using many of the hotels in the Avenida district, Executive Director Pat Smith said.
“And we are very excited to use the new Marriott Marquis when we meet again in Houston in 2020,” she added.
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Culinary Center
Avenida Houston was planning to welcome several new restaurants by Super Bowl LI, including Brasserie du Parc, Bud’s Pitmaster BBQ, Grotto Downtown and Kulture, as well as Biggio’s, Cueva wine bar, Walker Street Kitchen and Xochi by award-winning chef Hugo Ortega, all at the Marriott Marquis.
“Houston is quite the foodie Town,” said Kara Dao, director of event operations, Breakbulk Events and Media, organizer of an annual Houston event with over 5,000 attendees. “Houston is home to many fine executive chef-owned restaurants; you will find just about any cuisine you desire in Houston and it will all be good.”
Looking to celebrate the closing of this year’s Breakbulk event with a casual dinner and drinks, Dao chose Irma’s, downtown by Minute Maid Park, home to MLB’s Houston Astros. Recognized by the Food Network as among the “Best of Houston,” Irma’s is the offspring of 2008 James Beard Award-winner chef Irma Gonzalez Galvan.
“Not only was the food phenomenal but the margaritas were amazing,” Dao said.
Irma’s features 16 new items each day, depending on the chef’s culinary inclinations and the availability of fresh local ingredients.
“This means you are always getting the freshest food available,” Dao said.
TLA’s annual “Evening with the Authors” event was held last year at Houston Public Library’s historic Julia Ideson Building. Located just a mile from the GRB, more than 120 attendees participated. Their delightful dining experience featured a three-course dinner with a choice of seared bistro filet or bronzed salmon filet, provided by Melange Catering & Special Events.
“The reviews were glowing,” Smith said.
Sporting Options
While Houston hosts many major sporting events in addition to the Super Bowl, sports are also integral to many group and event activities, from teambuilding to incentives.
“Houston is very outdoorsy and sports oriented,” said DMC Destination Houston’s Valenti, whose company organizes sailing regattas, rodeos, golf tournaments and more for groups and conventions. Other than directly participating, attendees can also enjoy pro sports as a spectator, including soccer, baseball and basketball.
“Three of the newest sports complexes—Minute Maid Park, Toyota Center [NBA’s Houston Rockets], BBVA Compass Stadium [MLS’s Houston Dynamo]—are right in the Avenida district,” he said.
A Valenti favorite is to take groups for real Texas BBQ at a local restaurant, such as The Armadillo Palace, a Texas ranch house just a 10-minute drive from downtown. With 17,000 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor space, the venue is ideal for group functions.
“This gives folks a true taste of Texas,” he said, adding that a popular option includes busing groups after dinner to one of the downtown venues to watch “a real” Texas team play.
“We took one group to an NBA All-Star game and also provided them with a city tour, golf tournament and other memorabilia to commemorate the event and location,” he said. “They loved it.”
