Well, maybe Crow has a few congressman, er tricks up his sleeve and can orchestrate a brew-ha in the House. Hensarling maybe?Originally Posted by mjblazin
The same federal government that has, rightly or wrongly, bailed out the financial sector, and that will bailout the auto industry....riiiiiight.
Tighten the female dog!
Well, maybe Crow has a few congressman, er tricks up his sleeve and can orchestrate a brew-ha in the House. Hensarling maybe?
Just got an email from Philip Jones looking for a crowd to show at Wednesday's City Council meeting to show support of the Hotel. Latest "guaranteed maximum price" or GMP for this hotel is 356m.
It's a different issue, not the size of the money, but its application. It's no different than if Dallas used the money to give to a factory an incentive to leave Chicago and "provide jobs," new mantra, to Dallas. The Feds won't want the requesters stabbing each other; it weakens support for the program.
You're killing me Smalls. This is Congress we are talking about here. Facts don't matter as much as politics.
Tighten the female dog!
Where does Omni proclaim the Omni Mandalay as their "signature property"?
Omni has always maintained a higher level of commitment and verbal promotion of the Mandalay than many of their other properties, mainly due to to the closeness to their corp office. Unfortunately for the Mandalay the capital improvements weren't always pushed as much as the idea that the Mandalay was one if not their star property.
In other words, you have no particular evidence at all. FWIW, there is nothing at all on their website to that effect.
It's on Wikipedia, for what that's worth.
Looks like our friend aygriffith has been active on Wikipedia ;-)
If the Omni company itself has any idea of the Omni at Las Colinas or the Dallas Omni having any "flagship" or "signature" status, they are certainly doing everything they can to keep it a closely-guarded secret. And aygriffith's own post regarding their lack of capital improvements at the Las Colinas facility strongly suggests the inaccuracy of his claim of "signature" status. If the company really thinks of that as their "signature" or "flagship" hotel, they are not likely to skimp on keeping it top-notch.
Last edited by Tucy; 14 December 2008 at 11:30 AM.
Jack Matthews Hints at His Vision for the City's Convention Center Hotel
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfa...evelopment.php
Fri Dec 12, 2008 at 05:07:47 PM
Sam Merten
Last week, Jack Matthews watched the council's Economic Development Committee support a maximum price of $356 million for the convention center hotel.
For all those pro-hotel peeps convinced I can't find anything positive about the city's convention center hotel project, clearly you missed my post applauding the surprise selection of Matthews Southwest as the developer of the project back in June. Heck, even the Build the Hotel committee has it posted on its Web site.
And while I still think the city is making the best of a bad situation by using Matthews as the developer, I'm extremely concerned that the council is moving forward on the hotel without knowing what the ancillary development plan will look like, which I touched on briefly last month. As mentioned here a few months ago, Matthews has until June to submit his proposal to the council, but that didn't stop us from probing Jack Matthews about what he's planning to build around the hotel.
One of the major selling points for the hotel project was that it would spur surrounding development, and Matthews was selected based largely on his plan to supplement the hotel with such development, which will include an entertainment venue and residential component. Originally, Matthews told us he was hoping to find $100 million in equity for the ancillary plan, but now he says it's down to $80 million.
Several meetings are planned for January, Matthews says, as he continues to work with companies such as AEG regarding the entertainment possibilities. He also says he has been looking at three convention cities to find out what has been successful in other places. Matthews wouldn't reveal which cities he has been visiting, only telling us that Las Vegas wasn't one of them. "I'd hate to give the flavor of it away."
He did say two of the cities offered "brand-new, happening things," while the other has "a unique thing" that would tie into "a piece we already have here." Matthews says he's trying to find the balance of finding developments that would appeal both to locals and conventioneers, along with offering staying power.
"If you do a restaurant and a bar, those things usually work for three, four or five years until you have to turn them around," he says. "The trick is to get some pieces you don't need to turn, and that's what we're trying to do."
Matthews says the scope of the residential component is still being determined, but he hopes to build as much as possible to support the surrounding development. The design will likely be in the form of towers, he says, and he's negotiating with the city on how it can connect some of the downtown assets. "The big trick in Dallas is you have so many things going on," he says, "but they're not connected to each other."
Matthews stresses that he hasn't forgotten about the ancillary development, but investors need to see that the hotel will be built before making firm commitments. He says there is no rush because while the hotel will be completed a little less than three years from today (assuming construction begins as planned April 1 and the May 9 referendum fails), the surrounding development can be built in half the time.
Construction on the hotel is indeed to begin on April Fool's Day, Matthews confirms, and he says he will begin testing the site in March. When asked if the parking structure would be demolished prior to April, Matthews says "it may happen earlier." --Sam Merten
As a matter of fact, the Omni Hotels website looks like an out-dated piece of crap. http://www.omnihotels.com/
it looks like a hotel web site to me.
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Compared to...
Choice Hotels International (Clarion, Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn etc...)
Hilton Hotels International
InterContinental Hotels Group (Holiday Inn's parent company)
Marriott International
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
I dunno. This seems worse...
thank you NThomas
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You mean they are planning on buidling more than just a hotel? This might just turn my opinion around
I am late getting in on this one but the designs are just horrible!! I as a taxpayer cant approve this, go back to the drawing board
Scott Dorn
Hitting the streets with the cam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/70886669@N00/
http://homepage.mac.com/sdorn/dallas_shots
http://www.myspace.com/177586541
I have never nor do I even know how to edit articles on Wikipedia...
The Omni Mandalay I beleve is one of their oldest properties if not the oldest. It was considered signature mainly because of the time in the portfolio. If I edited the Wikipedia doc, I made a grave mistake of including the Omni Park West as a signature property. That property seems less desirable than their former Omni/Richardson Hotel/Hyatt location in the Telecom Corridor. I've stayed at both multiple times before I lived in Dallas...
The company has been more focused on expansion than upkeep of their current properties. That theory is proved by the Mandalay which needs a drastic make over and the Park West which just got what I think has been its only comprehesive make over since opening.
DFW will always be a showcase city for Omni properties... The Mandalay will remain at the front of the pack along the the Ft Worth and Dallas Convention Center Hotels. If you don't think that the Omni Mandalay is their signature property which one is? The majority of their hotels are just hotels they picked up the management contract on and could disassociate with tomorrow with little or no affect to the brand. The Mandalay is probably the only property they have that if rebranded people would notice because its such a mainstay for the brand.
Do you work for a Omni property other than the Mandalay? I seem to have horribly offended you...
I love these po-tay-to vs. po-tah-to arguments. With the last post aygrif is starting to make the case FOR Omni. Good work Tucy. You've got him defending the local home based industry. It's only a matter of time before he realizes it might be novel to have someone other than Holiday Inn run the convention center hotel.
Omni has done a good job with all of their properties, I think your mad at them for loosing your luggage. I mean is this going to turn into the ALoft discusion
"I stayed at this one and it was great"
"well i stayed at that one and it was horrible"
"my friend stayed at that one and he said he loved it"
"I visited a friend at that one and it looked ok"
Come on.
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I think a lot of people would feel better about building the hotel if we knew what Matthews was going to build to complement it and where.
If all his building is on the south side of I30 then i think we will have made a huge mistake... it needs to be walkable from the hotel... and with luck lead people to west end and Main Street.
LOL No, I don't work for any hotel. You keep making the case that the Mandalay is not in any way considered a signature hotel by the company when you tell us they are focused elsewhere, to the detriment of their "signature hotel". And just because I don't think they consider the Mandalay to be their "signature hotel" does not mean I consider some other hotel to be their "signature hotel." Where did you get the idea that Omni or any other hotel company has to have a "signature hotel". This whole concept is strictly in your imagination.
Are seriously telling us that the whole Omni operation would collapse if not for the poorly maintained and outdated (your opinion) Mandalay? Generally speaking, the only people who would notice a rebranding of the Mandalay are people in the Las Colinas area and people who have occasionally stayed there (and nerds like us). The same category of people who would notice the rebranding of any of their other hotels. By the way, you do know, do you not, that the Mandalay Hotel was also re-branded, (i.e. "picked up" from another brand)? Omni has only had it since 1992. I know they have had the Omni at CNN Center in Atlanta since at least 1985. You are not even close in your assumption that the Mandalay is "one of their oldest properties if not the oldest."
Older Omnis include:
Omni Shoreham, Washington DC. 1979
Omni CNN Center, Atlanta pre-1983
Omni Royal Orleans, New Orleans. 1981
Omni Parker House, Boston. 1969
Omni Berkshire Place, NYC. 1978
Omni Richmond Hotel. 1987
Omni Jacksonville. 1987
Omni Cancun. 1988
Indianapolis. 1989 or 1990
Newport News, VA. 1989
Philadephia. 1990
Houston. 1991
Finally, they got around to the Mandalay in 1992, the same time as they also added Albany, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; and West Palm Beach, Fla.
I look forward to some evidence of this so-called "signature" status from somewhere outside your imagination.
Last edited by Tucy; 18 December 2008 at 02:37 PM.
With several meetings scheduled for January, maybe our wait for details will not be so aggrivating. I was generally disappointed with the look of the proposed hotel, especially frustrated by the apparent non-contribution to street life, but perhaps whatever Matthews has in mind will work out.
What is Marriotts "signature" hotel?
What is Hyatts "signature" hotel?
What is Ws "signature" hotel?
What is Mandarins "signature" hotel?
I Dont think a Hotel brand needs one signature hotel, I think that there ability to merge into their location and look classy is good enough.
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Does it make any difference if someone besides Holiday Inn runs the hotel? Dallas does not need another hotel. The only decision is whether we need one physically connected to our convention center. The people staying at this hotel are there because of the convention center. If you are going to the convention, does it really matter whether Four Seasons, Sheraton, or Red Roof Inn runs the attached hotel.
If someone is not attending a convention, I doubt they would stay at the convention center hotel and we don't want that person staying there. We want them staying at hotels that pay taxes.If some dim bulb has the idea that we will take non-convention business away from private hotels and move it to the city-owned hotel, we need to exorcise that idea fast.
if we dont need another Hotel, then why are so many developers pitching them to us?
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Because we're suckers?
They make their money building hotels and not from owning them.
Because people like you are willing to honestly ask that question.
This is begining to sound familiar...
Mayor Leppert: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
City financed,
Signaturely Iconic
Convention Center Hotel!
What'd I say?
Dwain Caraway: Convention Center Hotel!
Mayor Leppert: What's it called?
Ron Natinsky: Convention Center Hotel!
Mayor Leppert: That's right! Convention Center Hotel!
[City Council chants `Convention Center Hotel' softly and rhythmically]
The reason is the city wrote a blank check and put out an ad that said come one come all propose a hotel on land we picked out and with money we will assemble. Surely that's the things a free market working to fill a need. A city government picking out the location, writing the check, and owning the hotel.
There are some errors in your dates, they had three hotels prior to 83 that were "omni" hotels. ATL, Norfolk and Miami... The merger may have added the older hotels but they weren't omnis. Your list that exists no where I can find on the web (so is it internal?) is slightly off pre 83.
BUT, this topic is off topic and we should get back to all things having to do with scandal and convention center hotels.
I'm not familiar with how the bond market works, but at what point will the city try to sell the bonds needed to build this hotel? I thought i read in FT yesterday that other cities are having trouble securing bonds for projects. Does this have to do with the city or is it the market as a whole?
Who cares ???? The Fact of the matter they fill rooms, their guest leave good reviews and its a growing brand. who cares how old the facilities are? Do they work? YES Are they falling apart? Not that we know of.
RAIN! To....much.....rain.....
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