MARCH 30 - APRIL 5, 2018 THE BASICS: THE POST OAK Cost: $350 million Employees: 350 Office: Only 33,589 square feet space Parking: 10-story parking garage, valet Address: 1600 West Loop South Hotel: 16 floors (10-25) with 250 remain of the 150,000-square-foot Class Events: 16,000-square-foot Grand A office space in the building. The office Opened: 2018 (broke ground in 2015) rooms, including a 5,000-square-foot Ballroom with two additional prefunction Presidential Suite and the 1,500-square space is being leased by JLL. Announced areas Owner: Fertitta Entertainment tenants include Landry’s and Houston foot Post Oak Suite. Aims to be Texas’ Restaurants: Mastro’s Steakhouse, Willie Architect: Gensler first Forbes Five Star-rated hotel. based Dancie Perugini Ware Public Relations. G’s Seafood, Bloom & Bee, H Bar, Craft General contractor: Tellepsen Builders Hotel guests can use complimentary transportation by a Bentley or Rolls Royce Residential: 20 corporate furnished Size: 38 stories, 700,000 square feet vehicle within two miles of the hotel. apartments on two floors ‘A TIPPING POINT’ This hotel is primed to disrupt Houston’s hospitality market BY JACK WITTHAUS | [email protected] ouston THIS IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING INSIDE THE POST OAK HOTEL billionaire If you ask Tilman Fertitta what the most expensive thing is inside his the Post Oak Hotel, he’ll tell you it’s a tie. Tilman Both a chandelier and a piece of art in the lobby are Fertitta has valued at roughly $1 million, Fertitta told the Houston Business Journal. The 38-story hotel, billed as the most Hbeen eagerly showing off luxurious in Houston, opened March 12 at 1600 West Loop South. his $350 million The Post “There’s $2 million right there,” Fertitta said of the art and chandelier, “for just objects.” Oak after the mixed-use The hotel’s three-story glass lobby boasts a custom development, with its chandelier that was built in Czechoslovakia with 15,719 crystals, including 739 Swarovski crystal balls and posh hotel rooms, ornate 1,428 LED lights. A piece of Frank Stella art is the other million-dollar chandeliers and a luxury object in the lobby, which features several works from the artist.Most of the art inside the hotel is modern car dealership, officially American. About $1.1 million was spent on each of the roughly opened in March. 250 guest rooms. But the people most excited about the Marriott International Inc. (Nasdaq: Revenue per available room is project are other developers. MAR). Sudhoff said Sorenson told likely to be in the $400s, Fertitta said, WHAT TOOK SO LONG If The Post Oak finds success, lux- him that Marriott, which owns the W which is almost double as the next Why a hotel like The Post Oak ury developers around the world will Hotel chain, is looking at Houston in a competitor in the Houston area, a remained a dream until March 2018, begin to swoop into Houston over the “very significant way.” Marriott could massive margin that shows the dearth its opening month, comes down to a next few years to build at least another, not be reached for comment. of luxury hotels in the Houston area. simple factor: Money. if not more, high-end hotel develop- Another reason that could poten- The Post Oak’s average daily rate The demand for a luxury hotel ments similar to The Post Oak, experts tially spur new luxury hotel develop- is expected to be about $100 higher of this caliber has existed for years in say. That’s positive news for the city of ment is the lack of high-end condo- than the next highest competitor in Houston, but plans to build one had Houston, which has long bemoaned miniums in Houston. Developers look Houston. Still, its cost per room is fallen through due to the capital-in- the lack of high-end hotels similar to to bundle condominiums, offices and hundreds of dollars lower than similar tensive nature of these projects. That other cities in Texas and across the retail into luxury hotel brands to lower hotels in cities such as New York or created a vacuum where a billionaire world. the key costs at the hotel. That demand Los Angeles. such as Fertitta needed to step in and “They’re waiting in the wings,” for luxury condos, coupled with The “You know what?” Fertitta said. front the money himself. Fertitta said said Jacob Sudhoff, founder and CEO Post Oak’s popularity, will drive future “It’s $100 better. And if you want to he financed the project alone and has of Houston-based real estate firm developers to lay claim to Houston’s stay here, you have to pay for it. No- no debt on the mixed-use develop- Sudhoff Cos. “I think we’re going to emerging high-end hotel scene. body else has a bathroom like (this) or ment. see this as a tipping point.” “I’m hopeful that (Fertitta’s) unbe- a room like (this) in Houston.” Another reason for the delay was Plans for luxury hotel flags lievably successful,” Sudhoff said. Experts and others in Houston’s the oil and gas market. The market have been floating around Houston hotel community agree there’s nothing is always in flux, making capital for years with each idea failing, but HOUSTON’S BEST HOTEL similar to The Post Oak in Houston. sources “weak kneed” at the prospect whispers about new developments Rooms are currently going for around It’s difficult to judge the mixed-use of financing a new luxury hotel in have gotten more serious in recent $500 a night in The Post Oak, which is development to other projects in Houston, the “energy capital of the months. Texas Hospitality Partners the highest cost for a hotel room in the Houston because the city’s never had a world,” said David Parker, president LLC publicly laid out its idea to build a Bayou City. project that’s “even close to this,” said of DPC Hospitality, a Houston-based W Hotel on top of the downtown Part- A typical suite offers three TVs, a John Breeding, district president of consulting group. nership Tower at a Feb. 13 Houston Nespresso coffee maker, oversized Uptown Houston, the area where the First meeting. That doesn’t surprise Egyptian towels and a tablet that con- hotel is located. Sudhoff, who recently attended a trols the room’s functions. One button “This is something out of a dream conference with Arne Sorenson, can close the shades, while another of a very creative entrepreneur called president and CEO of Maryland-based can turn on romantic lighting. Tilman Fertitta,” Breeding said. THE POST OAK TIMELINE ➤ April 2015: The Post Oak breaks general contractor. Tilman Fertitta, chairman, ➤ January 2016: Fertitta stars on CNBC’s building permit is filed with the city of ground. It will combine hotel, office, residen- president and CEO of Landry’s Inc., says “Billion Dollar Buyer,” a new business-fo- Houston. tial, retail and restaurant offerings. San his company, one of the largest private cused reality show. ➤ March 2017: Fertitta says the new Francisco-based Gensler, which has a employers in Houston, will be located ➤ February 2017: Mastro’s Steakhouse hotel will be called The Post Oak without a significant Houston presence, is providing at The Post Oak. The office is currently breaks ground on a 10,000-square-foot national hotel flag. master planning, architecture and interior headquartered next to the future 10-acre location in The Post Oak. It will be the first architecture for the project. Tellepsen is the development. Mastro’s Steakhouse in Texas. A $5 million “IT’S $100 BETTER. AND IF YOU WANT TO STAY HERE, YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. NOBODY ELSE HAS A BATHROOM LIKE (THIS) OR A ROOM LIKE (THIS) IN HOUSTON.” TILMAN FERTITTA, CEO of Landry’s Inc. and Fertitta Entertainment There’s been a roughly three-de- great athletes to current all-stars. For take hotels back from owners for fail- Uptown has also added about 900 cade gap since a hotel like The Post one, the comparisons fall short as both ure to pay loans. Without any debt on hotel rooms over the past three years. Oak was built in Houston, experts say. hotels were constructed in different the property, and with Fertitta solely “We see that continuing,” Breed- Luxury hotels, such as the St. Regis, times for different purposes. Plus, owning it, that won’t happen, Parker ing said. were built in the 1980s, but these there’s no argument that the amenities said. The Post Oak could find its hotels are now older and aren’t in line offered at The Post Oak far exceed Fertitta doesn’t intend to sell the greater impact from guests outside the with expectations of high-end hotels those at the Shamrock. hotel and plans to keep it in his family, Bayou City. Hotel Emma, for example, today. “The Shamrock Hotel was a cu- similar to his San Luis Resort in Gal- put San Antonio on the map as a “Houston needed a new icon,” rious comparison,” said John Bowen, veston. destination for travelers, Bowen said. Parker said. professor at the Hilton College of “This isn’t this isn’t an investment The hotel further enhances the image Meanwhile, Houston’s current Hotel and Restaurant Management at type deal,” Fertitta said. “This is a of San Antonio, and that image boost fleet of high-end hotels are too big the University of Houston (Fertitta is long-term play... I did it because I felt could happen to Houston, too, at The to support high rates, said Christian chairman of the UH System Board of like it was something Houston need- Post Oak.