Houston.

BRIMMING WITH NEW FACILITIES

Houstonians are feeling a lot of civic pride these days and rightly so. Just a couple of months after the city celebrated the opening of its expanded convention center and headquarters hotel last fall, Houston successfully hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium.

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The George R. Brown Convention Center expansion brought the downtown facility's meeting and exhibit space to more than 1 million square feet. The new Brown Center offers 639,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, 123,000 square feet of meeting space, a 31,500-square-foot ballroom, and a 6,600-seat arena.

The 1,200-room Hilton Americas-Houston opened in conjunction with the Brown Center with 91,500 square feet of meeting space in 34 rooms, ballrooms of 40,000 and 26,000 square feet that are divisible, three restaurants, a comprehensive business center, and a 28,000-square-foot fitness center and full-service spa. The Hilton is conveniently connected to the convention center by sky bridges.

Historic downtown buildings are seeing new life as recently opened boutique hotels. The former Post-Dispatch building was converted into The Magnolia Hotel, a 314-room luxury property with a 5,700-square-foot executive conference center and 2,880-square-foot ballroom. Houston's World Trade Center next to Minute Maid Park was transformed into the 201-room Inn at the Ballpark with a wealth of baseball memorabilia and a fine dining restaurant. The 1911 Union National Bank building is now the 135-suite ICON Hotel, and the Humble Oil building now houses the 191-room Courtyard by Marriott and 171-suite Residence Inn by Marriott.

Just 20 minutes southwest of downtown is the new Sugar Land Marriott. The 300-room hotel has 26,500 square feet of meeting space, including a 15,500-square-foot ballroom. The centerpiece of the Town Square shopping area that offers a plaza for large gatherings, the new Marriott also offers a business center and a fitness center.

Of course a lot is exciting and new in Reliant Park's amazing package of exhibit halls and sports facilities. One of the nation's largest and most versatile event complexes, Reliant Park offers 2.1 million square feet of exhibit space in adjacent facilities.

Reliant Stadium opened in 2002 as the new home of the NFL Houston Texans. The 69,590-seat, retractable roof stadium can be configured to offer 97,200 square feet of exhibit space.

Another facility that opened in 2002 was the 1.4 million-square-foot Reliant Center with a 706,213-square-foot exhibit hall that can be divided into 11 halls ranging from 40,000 to 168,000 square feet. All exhibit space at the $190 million Reliant Center is contiguous and located at street level. More than 72 meeting rooms are available, with the two largest being 17,000 and 22,000 square feet.

Other facilities in the Reliant Park complex are the Reliant Astrodome, which can seat up to 70,000 or offer up to 131,000 square feet of exhibit space, and the 8,000-seat Reliant Arena. Approximately 25,000 parking spaces are on site at Reliant Park.