Embassy Suites set to build without incentives
By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez, Texas Border Business–
McALLEN – As a reporter, I have been working on several articles about hotels coming to the grounds of the McAllen Convention Center. This has been for quite some time. Now the City of McAllen has officially announced that they have executed an agreement with a company that will build the full service hotel.
The hotel had to be a full service hotel in order to be part of the plans of the convention grounds. Chamber of Commerce officials like Steve Ahlenius and Nancy Millar have made comments that a full service hotel will be of much help in order to bring large ans spectacular shows to the Convention Center. The General Manager of the McAllen Convention Center Omar Rodriguez has made similar comments.
The city of McAllen told Texas Border Business that a regional investment firm, Goldstein Financial, LLC of South Padre Island, will build a $20 million six-story Embassy Suites hotel at McAllen’s Convention Center complex on after receiving franchise approval from Hilton Worldwide. This is approximately for $ 133,000 a key.
The new 150-room, full-service facility will be the signature hotel at the Convention Center and will include all the amenities expected to accompany a convention hotel such as an indoor pool/spa, full restaurant, ballroom and executive meeting space. It will be the only convention center hotel project south of San Antonio.
The Embassy Suites will be within walking distance of the Convention Center and Palms Crossing, a major retail center with a collection of stores and restaurants unique in the region. At this time, construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed about 1½ years later.
“This great new hotel is a great business asset for McAllen and the Rio Grande Valley,” said Mayor Jim Darling. “It’s the first convention center major hotel project in South Texas that puts the two together in one location. It will be great for meetings, conventions and other uses. It’s a great step forward for McAllen.”
Mayor Darling added that he was very appreciative of the financial firm investing in the city – and without any taxpayer-funded incentives.
Goldstein Financial, LLC of South Padre Island submitted the winning proposal from three bids put forth and chosen in December 2013. It will pay the City of McAllen the appraised value for the property – some $2.1 million. Goldstein also owns the Hilton Garden Inn and La Quinta Inn & Suites on SPI among several other hospitality properties on the Island.
The Embassy Suites is set to occupy the southwest section of the Convention Center’s oval park completing the City’s plan for section’s development of the Convention Center complex. As for the other two main spaces around the oval: the main Convention Center occupies the north end and the planned $40 million Performing Arts Center on the southeast side. The City receives construction bids from general contractors on March 12 & 13, 2014 for the facility.
Embassy Suites’ calling card is its two-room suites, which feature a private bedroom and separate living room, and its cook-to-order free breakfasts. The Hilton chain of hotels has over 200 locations in the U.S. Canada and Latin America – including one other location in McAllen.
The new 134,350 square feet hotel, designed by Rick Labunski of Harlingen, will offer one and two-room suites throughout, 12,660 sq. ft. of ballroom and meeting space and 3,763 sq. ft. more for food and beverage space. Also included in its construction will be 209 parking spaces.
As of today, no new full service hotel has been built for approximately 32 years, the last one built was the Embassy Suites on south 2nd street. TBB
