Problems? Houston Has An Answer (NAPS)—For anyone with con- vention problems, Houston, consid- ered to be one of ee== the premier con- fag vention cities in the nation, has an answer. Among the reasons many companies are looking to this beautiful Texas city are: big Houston now offers meeting planners an expansion and jncredible array of things to do and more is building plans. coming. Theseinclude: A new downtown convention center hotel. The new hotel, which should be up and running by 2003, will add 1,200 more rooms to the 1,800 hotel rooms currently downtown. This facility will greatly improve Hous- ton’s ability to host major conventions. The city hopes to break ground on the hotel this summer. e Expansion of the George R. Brown Convention Center. This expansion will coincide with the construction of the new hotel. The $110 million, 500,000-squarefoot expansion will nearly double the current meeting and exhibit space at the convention center. Last summer the convention center unveiled four new balconies that overlook the Houston skyline. The nearly 4,000-square-foot bal- conies can accommodate up to 300 guests for a reception and 200 guests for a seated meal. Reliant Park expansion. Two new facilities are under construction in Reliant Park (formerly the Astrodomain), which is already home to Reliant Astrodome. The two newfacilities are Reliant Stadium, which will be the home of Houston’s new NFL team, the Houston Texans, and Reliant Center, a new exposition center with more than 700,000 squarefeet of single-level contigu- ous exposition space and 72 meeting rooms. Reliant Stadium will play host in 2004 to Super Bowl XXXVIII. Other hotel news. The Hyatt Regency continues with its multi-million dollar renovation, which updates all 956 rooms and 30 suites. The historic Warwick Hotel has just completed a multi- million dollar restoration and the new 259-room Crowne Plaza is scheduled to open in spring 2001. Other entertainment options include baseball at the Houston Astros’ new downtown home— Enron Field—fine dining at any of the dozens of new downtown restaurants, great performances in the downtown Theater Dis- trict, Space Center Houston, the Museum District and Galveston’s fine beaches. For great travel packages, call the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-4- HOUSTON.
