When the Hilton Americas-Houston (aka Houston's Convention Center Hotel) tops out next Monday (Feb. 17) we will be nine months away from completion when Houston will welcome the first guests to its 1,200 rooms and 92,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space, leading to its moment to shine as the host hotel for the 2004 Super Bowl.

The project has a 20-year history with a two-year growth spurt. The development of the $285 million Hilton Americas-Houston is a blueprint for how the city successfully implements public-private endeavors.

We are on schedule and within budget.

I chaired the Convention Center Hotel Corporation's first meeting two years ago after Mayor Brown asked me to take the leadership position and city council confirmed my appointment. The mission of the corporation was to find the land, design, build and operate a convention center hotel drawing on the strength of both the private and public sectors.

When I am asked why this hotel, developed to attract visitors to Houston, is so important to the city, I must first point out that when the hotel opens the taxpayers will own it free and clear. It is a dream of every homeowner-no mortgage.

No one ever said that Houston didn't need a convention center hotel. But we didn't need one as a financial burden to city taxpayers.

The financing, aided by Drew Masterson of First Southwest Company, was secured by the hotel occupancy tax originally enacted for this hotel and convention center. The AAA insured bonds are revenue bonds only and the debt is not a general obligation of the city.

We then turned to the private sector, operating and complying with the city's M/WBE goals and conducting a national search based on merit, to provide the best developer (Hines Interests Limited), architects (Gensler & Associates and Arquitectonica) operator (Hilton Hotels) and general contractor (Turner Construction Company). All of whom are well known and represented in Houston. We are especially pleased that Hilton is returning to Houston given its past history operating the famous Shamrock Hotel and its on-going work with the University of Houston's College of Hotel and Restaurant Management.

The 24-story Hilton Americas along with the 650,000 square foot expansion of the George R. Brown Convention Center and the 1,600-space garage -all interconnected by three sky bridges--elevates Houston to the top level of cities that attract large, lucrative conventions and meetings.

The corporation and the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau project the hotel will be a magnet for fourteen new citywide conventions each year not only positively impacting other hotels but also stimulating an estimated economic impact of $150 million each year.

The revenues from the 5.65% hotel occupancy tax, the seven city-owned parking facilities and the tax rebates from the hotel will service the city's bond. We estimate that the state, county and city approved tax rebates will generate an average of $10 million per year and will be used to pay down the debt.

The corporation's seven-member board takes great pride in working with the construction teams of its neighbors--the convention center and the Arena--to minimize the impact of the hotel's construction on pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the east side of downtown.

For example, the hotel's foundation was poured within 24-hours on December 1, 2001. Only one lane of the street was closed for the 1,400 truckloads and six concrete pumpers pouring enough concrete to pave a sidewalk from downtown Houston to Bush Intercontinental Airport.

And, there was not one traffic complaint. We have continued to tightly manage traffic not to put an additional burden on city streets.

The advisors and leaders participating in this great effort have been outstanding. Michael Stevens, who worked with my administration through the 1990s to bring more affordable housing on line and to begin the revitalization of downtown with the Rice Hotel refurbishment and the successful redevelopment of Allen parkway Village, has brought his expertise to the table as has Jordy Tollett, President and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The revitalization of downtown Houston began in the late 1990s on the west side of the business district. Now we are seeing an explosive growth on the east side, stimulated by the convention center, Minute Maid Park, residential and retail development and the under-construction Arena. The hotel is in the center of this activity.

Houston is once again a city of topping out buildings. We should be proud of our hotel. I invite everyone to watch our web-cammed progress on our website www.hcchc.org. It is a privilege for me to serve as Chairman of this integral project for Houston.