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  #1  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 5:56 PM
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Cool AUSTIN | JW Marriott Convention Center Hotel | 408 FT | 34 Floors | Complete

1,003 rooms.
27 to 30 floors
103,000 square feet of banquet and meeting space.

It would be Austin's largest hotel. It would be one of the tallest hotels in the city, maybe the tallest.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...waivers_f.html
Quote:
Developer revives Congress Avenue convention hotel

By Shonda Novak | Friday, June 17, 2011, 12:51 PM

White Lodging Services Corp. intends to start construction in about nine months on a 1,003-room Marriott Marquis convention hotel on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin, and the city will consider waiving up to $4.3 million in development-related fees for the project, which had been shelved during the recession.

“We’re really excited about it,” said Deno Yiankes, president and CEO of investment and development for Indiana-based White Lodging. “To be this close and hopefully be in a position to start this is very exciting, not only for us but for the city.” The hotel would be the city’s largest.

Yiankes said the building’s height is still to be determined, but it could rise between 27 and 30 stories. The hotel would have about 103,000 feet of banquet and meeting space, and would take about 32 months to build, he said.
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  #2  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 5:57 PM
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http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...-downtown.html
Quote:
Plans back on for 1,000-room downtown Marriott

Austin Business Journal
Date: Friday, June 17, 2011, 1:47pm CDT - Last Modified: Friday, June 17, 2011, 2:03pm CDT

Plans to build Austin's largest downtown hotel are apparently back on the table, according to reports on Friday.

White Lodging Corp. said last year it would shelve plans for a 1,000-room, $185-million Marriott hotel on Congress Avenue and Second Street. But an Austin American-Statesman report quoted officials saying construction will begin in about nine months.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 5:57 PM
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Rendering:


White Lodging Services - http://www.whitelodging.com/
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  #4  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 5:57 PM
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http://www.statesman.com/opinion/mar...t-1556003.html
Quote:
Marriott deal is worth the wait
Editorial Board


Published: 6:48 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Austin needs the rooms, jobs and income the planned Marriott Marquis hotel project would generate. And the proposed deal does not require the city to put up tax dollars as incentives. It's a good deal with minimal risk to taxpayers. Nonetheless, Mayor Lee Leffingwell is right to ask that today's scheduled City Council vote be delayed by a week.

White Lodging Services Corp. had postponed plans for the hotel, on Congress Avenue between Second and Third streets, since 2008 as the economy plummeted. Some might remember that the site was home to the beloved Las Manitas restaurant, which closed its doors and has not reopened. White Lodging wants to start construction in nine months, and a delay will not upset that timetable. An extra week would help Austin residents get a better idea of what the project is and what it is not.

The hotel project is not another deal in which the city is giving away financial incentives in the way of public dollars or tax abatements to private companies that move to Austin. What the city is doing in this case is waiving $4.3 million in development-related fees to White Lodging. So the city won't be putting up public dollars, but rather waiving fees it otherwise would have collected.
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  #5  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 5:57 PM
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http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...roposed_m.html
Quote:
Council kicks convention hotel incentives to special June 28 meeting

By Shonda Novak | Thursday, June 23, 2011, 12:59 PM

The Austin City Council today postponed until next week a vote on $4.3 million in fee waivers for a development firm to build a 1,003-room convention hotel on Congress Avenue.

The proposal now has been set for a special meeting next Wednesday — the first one for newly elected Council Member Kathie Tovo, who will be sworn in Tuesday.

But Heather Way, an affordable housing advocate, said she has made a request that the vote be postponed.

Way contends that the zoning request is a way for developers to bypass an interim city ordinance that in part aims to increase the stock of more moderately priced housing downtown. The ordinance requires developers seeking additional height and square footage in their proposed projects to include public benefits, such as affordable housing, or pay a fee in lieu into a city affordable housing fund, or for other community benefits.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jun 29, 2011, 10:55 PM
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http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...ess+Journal%29

Quote:
Council approves $4.3M incentives for downtown 1,000-room hotel
Austin Business Journal - by Cody Lyon, Staff Writer
Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 1:25pm CDT - Last Modified: Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 1:28pm CDT


A planned 1,000-room Marriott Hotelon Congress Avenue inched closer to fruition Wednesday after city council members approved fee waiving $4.3 million in development fees.

The council passed the measure during a special meeting called to discuss the incentive deal, plus an agreement with Formula One race organizers. The project resurfaced this month after developer White Lodging Corp. shelved plans last year in the wake of recession.

During the council hearing Wednesday, Deno Yiankes, president and investments CEO with developer White Lodging, said his company is currently search for a marketing director for the project.

“We will go full speed ahead, $100 million in internal equity is committed,” he said. The company previously said the project would cost a total $185 million.

...
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  #7  
Old Posted Jun 30, 2011, 4:35 AM
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I'm thinking the view of Frost is safe. I set up my LEGO model today and got some updated photos. I actually think I had my mock model of the hotel set too far west in the model. I'm thinking it'll be a little farther east than my model was, meaning that the view of Frost from Congress should be safe, even if the hotel ended up being over 400 feet tall. Looking at that rendering, the hotel seems to barely be making it to 300 feet actually. 301 Congress, the office building north of the hotel, is 306 feet tall, and in the rendering there it appears slightly taller than the hotel, and is behind it.
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  #8  
Old Posted Jun 30, 2011, 10:36 PM
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This project is a monstrosity and should not be allowed to go forward as planned. I think the city should tell White Lodging if they want to build a convention center hotel, they need to make more of an effort than using the cheapest methods and the most generic form of design before just plain ugliness. I say the Mayor needs to inform them that if they cant come up with a comparable proposal like the Manchester Convention Center hotel, then they should not build it. That location is more deserving of the Manchester than what White Lodging is proposing.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jun 30, 2011, 10:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdawgboy View Post
This project is a monstrosity and should not be allowed to go forward as planned. I think the city should tell White Lodging if they want to build a convention center hotel, they need to make more of an effort than using the cheapest methods and the most generic form of design before just plain ugliness. I say the Mayor needs to inform them that if they cant come up with a comparable proposal like the Manchester Convention Center hotel, then they should not build it. That location is more deserving of the Manchester than what White Lodging is proposing.
Long gone are the days where we wanted any highrises to be built in Austin. Now we are hating on stuff less than 40 storys and getting picky on construction materials.
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  #10  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 2:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdawgboy View Post
This project is a monstrosity and should not be allowed to go forward as planned. I think the city should tell White Lodging if they want to build a convention center hotel, they need to make more of an effort than using the cheapest methods and the most generic form of design before just plain ugliness. I say the Mayor needs to inform them that if they cant come up with a comparable proposal like the Manchester Convention Center hotel, then they should not build it. That location is more deserving of the Manchester than what White Lodging is proposing.
Before I saw the Manchester proposal, this White Lodge proposal seemed ok, now I agree with Jdawgboy. Its in White Lodging's best interest, also, to try to come close to Manchester's better design because if both get built, I would think more people would choose the better looking tower to stay in.
And yeah, we're spoiled after years of living with a substandard skyline for a city this size, we deserve better architecture, material, taller heights. I think we need at least 4 more 600 - 800 footers, half a dozen 400 -500 footers, and eight 200 - 350 footers for fill ins. And I don't object to the use of reflective glass. Check out the JW Marriot in Indianapolis.
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  #11  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 2:57 AM
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I can already picture all the hype that will fill this forum once a 900 or even a 1000 footer is announced in the future.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 2:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
Before I saw the Manchester proposal, this White Lodge proposal seemed ok, now I agree with Jdawgboy. Its in White Lodging's best interest, also, to try to come close to Manchester's better design because if both get built, I would think more people would choose the better looking tower to stay in.
And yeah, we're spoiled after years of living with a substandard skyline for a city this size, we deserve better architecture, material, taller heights. I think we need at least 4 more 600 - 800 footers, half a dozen 400 -500 footers, and eight 200 - 350 footers for fill ins. And I don't object to the use of reflective glass. Check out the JW Marriot in Indianapolis.
The JW Marriott is an amazing design.
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  #13  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 3:59 AM
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Originally Posted by wwmiv View Post
The JW Marriott is an amazing design.
The JW in Indy is a decent design. The Marriott in Austin is not a JW. It is a lesser brand. While I like the Congress side profile, the tower is the usual GENERIC White lodging tower.... same as I have stayed in in Louisville .... white prefab concrete with small windows. Very basic. That is what will be the dominate part of the skyline.... the generic tower. So.... yeah.... I want them to do much better on the tower. ( yeah , yeah, to all the nay sayers..... I am not putting up the money... but I have to look at it from my condo.... so I'm gonna bitch.!)
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  #14  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 4:04 AM
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Originally Posted by MichaelB View Post
The JW in Indy is a decent design. The Marriott in Austin is not a JW. It is a lesser brand. While I like the Congress side profile, the tower is the usual GENERIC White lodging tower.... same as I have stayed in in Louisville .... white prefab concrete with small windows. Very basic. That is what will be the dominate part of the skyline.... the generic tower. So.... yeah.... I want them to do much better on the tower. ( yeah , yeah, to all the nay sayers..... I am not putting up the money... but I have to look at it from my condo.... so I'm gonna bitch.!)
I know that the Austin hotel is not a JW (unfortunately), but that doesn't mean that they can't change the design.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 4:05 AM
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Austin should automatically reject any proposal under 1,000'!
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  #16  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 4:13 AM
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Austin should automatically reject any proposal under 1,000'!
No. We'll have three hotels over 800 rooms if the Marriott and the Manchester project are both built. Mega hotels are great, but the market will inevitably bring us many more mid-sized hotels (200-800 rooms) than large ones (800+). We don't want to oversaturate the market like San Antonio has.
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  #17  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 4:27 AM
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I think Dale was saying 1000 feet not 1000 rooms. I like the reflective glass on the JW Marriot, I know WL is not at the same quality level, but the blue reflective glass on that JWM is spectacular and some of that architectural element here would be nice.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 10:46 AM
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Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
I think Dale was saying 1000 feet not 1000 rooms. I like the reflective glass on the JW Marriot, I know WL is not at the same quality level, but the blue reflective glass on that JWM is spectacular and some of that architectural element here would be nice.
Honestly, I don't think I noticed the ' after the 1000 earlier.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 4:45 PM
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Actually, I was just kidding. You Austinites are a spoiled bunch.

Here in Orlando we're excited about a nine-story hotel that's about to go up.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2011, 4:57 PM
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Lol, we have become a bit spoiled. I was looking at a thing of Kevin's model and you can't even see our old sky line from 10 years ago before Frost was built. It is amazing.

Although you folks over in Orlando did almost get a HSR. I think it is safe to say 98% of the forum was highly jealous of y'all for the HSR. But then your goofy gov when and screwed the pooch on that one.
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