Hoteliers Lobbing Power Plays in Houston
By Amy Wolff Sorter
January 31, 2007 - GlobeSt.com
HOUSTON-In two unrelated deals, one partnership
has acquired a luxury hotel while Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide Inc. is preparing to develop two hotels and refurbish
and re-brand another. The hotel plays are situated about 25 miles
apart on the north and west sides of the metro.
On the north side of town, a joint venture between Washington, DC-headquartered
Carlyle Group and Davidson Hotel Co. in Memphis has acquired the
Houston Sofitel Hotel from Accor Worldwide of France. The plan is
to operate the 334-room hotel under the Crowne Plaza name, an InterContinental
Hotels Group plc brand. Located at 425 N. Sam Houston Parkway E.,
the hotel will undergo a $12-million renovation as it transitions
to the Crowne Plaza Houston North Greenspoint.
On the west side, White Plains, NY-based Starwood has unveiled
plans to build two hotels and renovate one in the 200-acre, mixed-use
Memorial City at Interstate 10 and Gessner Road. Renovations will
shortly begin on the 170-room Radisson Suite Hotel Houston West
at 10655 Katy Freeway. It too will get a name change: the Four Points
by Sheraton Houston Memorial City. The renovation will be completed
in the summer.
Starwood will begin ground-up construction on the sister properties
as soon as the Four Points retooling is done. The hotelier will
build a 250-room Westin Houston Memorial City and 155-room Sheraton
Houston Memorial City. The hotels will open by midyear 2009. Starwood
is holding a long-term management agreement for the Memorial City
trio.
|
