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Commercial Brywall, Inc.
Craftsman
Volume 2, No. 6
April 1981
Getting moire sophisticated
Building hotels ©tailong® t© ODD ©rafts Along with the appeal of Sun Belt living that has grown in recent years, has been the dramatic rise in commercial construction that has accompanied the population shift to such Texas cities as Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas — all cities with CDI offices. The need to accommodate the traveler, whether it be for business or pleasure, has resulted in an upsurge in the construction of hotel facilities. This rise in hotel construction is easily recognized in Houston where several hotels are going up right now. Among them are three CDI projects — Four Seasons in downtown, the Post Oak Warwick near the Galleria and the Host Hotel near the airport. In Dallas, this trend is evident with the present construction of the Registry, Radisson, Park Central and the Galleria hotels — all near or above the 500 unit size. And, San
The 30-story Four Seasons Hotel, presently under construction in downtown Houston, exemplifies a trend toward sophistication in hotel design.
Among Houston's hotel activity is the eight-story tower currently being added to the existing Host hotel at Intercontinental Airport.
Antonio has witnessed the recent completions of the Riverwalk Marriott, Holiday Inn North and others, while Austin has seen several new hotels including present construction of a Hyatt Regency. While CDI is not the interior contractor on all of these new hotels, we have been getting our share of the work. And what we are finding is a trend toward more sophistication and intricacy in architecture, design and furnishings. Typical of this are the three CDI projects presently going up in Houston. The Four Seasons is a 30-story hotel which saw CDI involvement begin for W. S. Bellows Company under the supervision of Fred Lay in February. The new hotel will have 411 guest rooms and 129 corporate suites. It will occupy a full city block in the Houston Center, and is expected to be completed in the Spring of 1982. Designed around a block square podium four stories high, the hotel will include a tower rising from the center of this base containing all rooms and apartments. A grand staircase rising three stories through
the center of the podium will tie together all the public areas of the hotel. The staircase will be located in the atrium area that will be accented with fountains and skylights. The fourth floor of the hotel will feature a recreational garden with swimming pool, whirlpool and deck area. Also in this area will be lockers, change rooms, exercise and massage facilities and individual steam rooms and saunas. For CDI, such features as those described means that interior construction will be intricate, often difficult and always of the finest quality. Meanwhile, the Host Hotel addition is currently underway at the Intercontinental Airport. This eight story project is a 224-room tower with ballroom being added to the present Host facilities at the airport. The addition will be linked to the existing hotel by means of a covered walkway. Nick Nunez is heading CDI’s responsibilities there for general contractor Harvey Construction. (See CDI, p. 8)