More Rooms for Texas?

Meetings & Conventions: Newsline newsline.gif (8042 bytes) More Rooms for Texas?
New Mayors Weigh Headquarters Hotels
Dallas Convention Center Texas’ sibling cities, Dallas and Fort Worth, both ran mayoral elections on May 3, the outcomes of which affect plans to build new convention center hotels.

New properties in both cities would support recently expanded convention centers. The Dallas Convention Center now has more than a million square feet of exhibit space, but the closest convention hotel is about five blocks away. The Fort Worth Convention Center offers 252,718 square feet of exhibit space, but the nearest hotel has just 517 rooms.

In Dallas, incumbent Laura Miller, who supports building a 1,200-room property, handily beat councilwoman Mary Poss, who took the opposite tack. Poss sided with local hotels that claim the city doesn’t need another property.

In Fort Worth, where the incumbent did not run, a city-funded headquarters hotel was almost approved before the citizenry halted the project. A committee currently is reviewing the hotel proposal.

The landslide win by former Texas State Senator Mike Moncrief is hard to call on the hotel issue. Moncrief told M&C a new property is needed, but he intended to wait for the committee’s findings, to be presented June 10, before taking a firm stance.

Yet, Moncrief was quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on April 25, saying, “I will support reasonable economic incentives for a hotel, but it must ultimately be the responsibility of private developers.”

• SARAH J.F. BRALEY