I predict that it will be unlikely that this group gets the signatures, and if so there's no way it passes. A few observations:
1) There is no real large-scale emotional attachment against funding the hotel. The TrinityVote was much more emotional and dealt with varying opinions of environmental issues, tollways, and other hot-button issues.
2) A lot of the blog comments I've read have mentioned the self-interest side of having the owner of a major hotel rally against a new hotel. However, the owners of almost every major hotel save the Anatole are for the Convention Center Hotel.
3) Right now, the city is not a major player in the convention business. Many residents want that to change, since most people realize that there is a ton of revenue that the city is not capturing.
4) Who's going to campaign for this issue in the south? For that matter, who's going to lead the effort to get signatures?
5) The focus right now is on the Presidential elections.
The anti-hotel people will have 60 days to get the signatures, and that's why it's being announced now so it can take advantage of record turnout in November.
This should be interesting.
UPDATE: There are a few other hotels involved. None appear to have roots in downtown Dallasa. The Warwick Melrose (Oak Lawn), Prism Hotels (Far North Dallas, owns the Holiday Inn on Harry Hines), and Aimbridge (owners of the Hilton Garden Inn). Aimbridge is run by an ex-Wyndham guy who appears to own or manage the future aloft Hotels in Las Colinas, Plano and Frisco. I can't confirm if he's behind the aloft on Young Street in Downtown Dallas. Aimbridge also owns the Hilton Garden Inn on Stemmons and a few others.
Their web presence is run by a guy that worked with Mike Huckabee's PAC, if that means anything to you.
6 comments:
hey, great blog. i'm going to link to it from mine where i tend to touch on a lot of the same issues...
CarFree in Big D
Mike,
You might be right about the public's general sentiments and Crow's interests, but you are wrong bout the signatures. After managing the TrinityVote petition drive, 20,000 signatures should be a walk in the park for Brooks Love. He won't even need the record November turnout, although he's certain to take advantage of it.
Personally, I think that public's opinion, and vote, will go to the highest bidder. Just wondering how much Harlan's going to spend to protect his investment.
Nathan: Yeah that was a nice move.
All aloft hotels are run/managed by Starwood Group (W, Westin, Sheraton, etc.) and may be built/owned by anybody.
http://tinyurl.com/5w8xnd
^ That may or may not be true. But the group has several aloft hotels listed as properties on their website. Hence the wording in my post: "appears to own or manage the future aloft Hotels in Las Colinas, Plano and Frisco." It wasn't clearly stated.
Nathan has it right about the group getting the signatures.
And the people against the hotel have the moral high ground despite a financial interest. This thing is going to cost Dallas taxpayers big time.
The city is on the hook for half a billion dollars and that bill will come due, meanwhile the developer is putting up next to nothing.
It's just a bad idea all around. A convention center hotel doesn't draw a nightlife to downtown.
What it draws is a grand total of 25 national conventions a year, according to Philip Jones' most optimistic estimates. That's between 60-75 room nights a year.
The rest of the year, that thing will be lucky to have 50 percent occupancy.
And run by the city? You think that big dorm will actually turn a profit given it's virtually empty 290 days of the year?
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