With Downtown Marriott Dead, Land Owners Seek New Hotel Developer
July 06, 2010 22:05 Filed in: News
Last month, the Austin City Council enacted a zoning change and turned over a public alley in the most effort to lure a major convention hotel to Block 18 --- the Congress Avenue block that used to house Las Manitas and which was at one point going to be taken over by a very large Marriott hotel.
The Congress Avenue Marriott -- a 1,000 room hotel complex on 2nd and Congress avenue -- was one of the most controversial, and one of the least popular downtown projects. The project is best known for displacing Las Manitas and other local businesses. Before being cancelled, the last two versions of the project were criticized for bland institutional architecture and a lack of ground-floor retail on a key block connecting the convention center area to the second street district. The original plan for the project included 1,000 rooms across 3 separate Marriott-branded hotels in one convoluted multi-facted building. The second version of the project included two hotels in one building. Version 3.0 included just one Marriott hotel with 1,000 rooms. The budget at one point reached $250 million before the project was shelved.
Now, the City is trying new tactics to lure developers to build a new convention hotel on one of the few remaining lots large enough to support such a project. A 700-1,000 room hotel will allow the city to book larger conferences and events -- bringing valuable tourism dollars and jobs to Austin. There is a shortage of rooms downtown and a large convention hotel can make a big difference. The last big hotel, the Hilton, was essentially developed by the City to lure more events downtown. The latest efforts are designed to get private developers to take the lead in building the next big hotel on Block 18.
In the latest moves, the CIty has awarded Tm Finley, the owner of Block 18, with a CURE designation which allows the developer to increase height and density on the site and provides exemptions from some building codes. The designation is available to sites that provide strong economic benefits to the City.
According to the Austin Business Journal, "the site is zoned for Central Business District development, which allows for an 8-to-1, floor-to-area ratio. The land owners are applying for a 16-to-1 ratio, which theoretically allows 160,000 square feet of gross floor area on a 10,000-square-foot piece of land. A 1,000-room hotel would create 600 full time jobs and equate to more than $2 million in property tax and more than $4 million annually in bed tax for the city, according to 2006 projections related to the initial project."
The Congress Avenue Marriott -- a 1,000 room hotel complex on 2nd and Congress avenue -- was one of the most controversial, and one of the least popular downtown projects. The project is best known for displacing Las Manitas and other local businesses. Before being cancelled, the last two versions of the project were criticized for bland institutional architecture and a lack of ground-floor retail on a key block connecting the convention center area to the second street district. The original plan for the project included 1,000 rooms across 3 separate Marriott-branded hotels in one convoluted multi-facted building. The second version of the project included two hotels in one building. Version 3.0 included just one Marriott hotel with 1,000 rooms. The budget at one point reached $250 million before the project was shelved.
Now, the City is trying new tactics to lure developers to build a new convention hotel on one of the few remaining lots large enough to support such a project. A 700-1,000 room hotel will allow the city to book larger conferences and events -- bringing valuable tourism dollars and jobs to Austin. There is a shortage of rooms downtown and a large convention hotel can make a big difference. The last big hotel, the Hilton, was essentially developed by the City to lure more events downtown. The latest efforts are designed to get private developers to take the lead in building the next big hotel on Block 18.
In the latest moves, the CIty has awarded Tm Finley, the owner of Block 18, with a CURE designation which allows the developer to increase height and density on the site and provides exemptions from some building codes. The designation is available to sites that provide strong economic benefits to the City.
According to the Austin Business Journal, "the site is zoned for Central Business District development, which allows for an 8-to-1, floor-to-area ratio. The land owners are applying for a 16-to-1 ratio, which theoretically allows 160,000 square feet of gross floor area on a 10,000-square-foot piece of land. A 1,000-room hotel would create 600 full time jobs and equate to more than $2 million in property tax and more than $4 million annually in bed tax for the city, according to 2006 projections related to the initial project."