Hotel Double Whammy
As Exxon, Anadarko, and many others complete their development in The Woodlands, more business travelers will be heading that way. That means demand for new hotels. (And if you opened a store for listening to air travel complaints, you'd clean up.) Developer Thind Hotels has heard the call, and is gearing up two hotels in the area.
The Mathis Group prez Joe Mathis (he's the project manager, pictured with Arnold Palmer) and GC Arch-Con VP Michael Vaughn say the properties, a Holiday Inn and a Staybridge Suites, will be built simultaneously on a 10-acre parcel at Tamina Road and David Memorial Drive. The team will have three acres to spare for future development. To cater to energy companies, both properties will have higher-quality finishes and amenities than is typical for the brands. The Holiday Inn will be six stories and include 152 rooms; its special amenities include a firepit. (S'mores on a business trip? It truly is the 21st century.)
The 120-key Staybridge (rendered here) will be four stories. It caters to long-term stays, and Michael says it’ll feature a movie lounge. (Do residents get a choice? Can we suggest Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo?) To create a vibrant environment, residents will get two free drink coupons to the communal bar area. Michael tells us the Holiday Inn will break ground next month and the Staybridge will follow 60 days later, but the two will deliver at the same time next summer. That makes the last days of construction (especially moving in the furniture and those last minute touches) very tricky to coordinate.
Michael (whose division has seven hotels under construction now in Houston—these two will make nine) foresees a strong hospitality construction market for the next few years. He says many of the projects breaking ground now were designed three to five years ago. (Many are being built a story or two shorter than originally planned.) Above, avid fisherman Michael shows off a 52-pound wahoo he caught in the Gulf. (Its nose touches the ground.) Joe is known for managing construction of the Embassy Suites Houston Downtown, and he’s currently working on the Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites Downtown.
