Downtown hotel to get overhaul
Allen Center office complex’s owner acquires DoubleTree
Brookfield Property Partners, longtime owner of downtown’s Allen Center office complex, has added the adjacent DoubleTree hotel to its portfolio, bringing the properties under single ownership for the first time in decades.
Brookfield has long eyed the property at 400 Dallas, and when it went on the market earlier this year, the company pounced and was the high bidder. Terms of the sale, which closed this week, were not made public.
Brookfield will soon begin renovating and remaking the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Houston Downtown, much like the company is doing with Allen Center, where it is spending $48.5 million on an major redo.
“The renovated hotel will
be a much more vibrant destination-oriented experience,” said Paul Frazier, executive vice president and head of the Houston region for Brookfield.
Frazier said the company will begin working with architects next year to come up with new designs for the 350-room hotel, which is a Hilton brand. Changes to the food and beverage operations are planned as well.
The DoubleTree name may also go away, but it would be replaced by another Hilton brand.
“Our goal is to change the experience entirely,” Frazier said.
With its new acquisition, Brookfield will take part in downtown’s recent hotel boom.
A 1,000-room Marriott Marquis is under construction near the George R. Brown Convention Center, and other new properties are being built from the ground up or opening in newly restored buildings.
Houston’s hotel market has softened as low oil prices depressed the local economy, but analysts say a rebound is not far off.
“Next year we’re going to start seeing an increase in demand,” said Michael Yu, senior vice president of CBRE Hotels.
Occupancy and hotel rates should rebound in 2018, he said.
The DoubleTree is on the west end of downtown next to the 7-acre Allen Center, a multiphase development that broke ground in the 1970s. It now has three office towers.
Brookfield took it over when it acquired Trizec, a real estate company that bought the complex in 1996.
The 20-story DoubleTree was built in 1980 by Century Development, which had taken over the development of the Allen Center complex from Dallas’ Trammell Crow and Metropolitan Life. It opened as a Hotel Meridien.
For most of its existence the hotel has had different owners than the office buildings. The previous owner was an affiliate of Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers of Collinsville, Conn., property records show.
Frazier said Brookfield has been implementing a “placemaking strategy” for the overall complex.
Work began earlier this year on what will result in dramatic changes to the outdoor space at Allen Center.
The landscaped area between One and Two Allen Center is being reconfigured as a tree-lined lawn nearly an acre in size. The space will have an openair performance venue for outdoor events.
Additional changes to the buildings include renovating a sky bridge and tearing down another.
“The green space and the amenity offerings we’re planning for Allen Center will allow the hotel to perform better once renovations to the entire campus are finished,” Frazier said.
The renovations at Allen Center are expected to be completed in the third quarter of next year. The hotel’s renovations will come later.