How this Texas city will compete with Houston for conventions

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Courtesy Morris Architects

The Marriott Marquis Convention Center Hotel will add 1,000 rooms to downtown Houston.

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Jenny Agee-Aldridge

Reporter- Houston Business Journal

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As far as conventions go, San Antonio is Houston's biggest competition in the state, and it's expanding what it has to offer. But Houston has a few key industries in its corner, not to mention a slew of multifamily projects on tap. Here's how those things will come together and what to expect in the future.

While Houston eagerly awaits the completion of the Marriott Marquis Convention Center Hotel, which will add 1,000 new rooms downtown and help recruit larger conventions, San Antonio is trying to attract more conventions of its own. But instead of adding hotel rooms, of which it has plenty, it's expanding its convention center.

The $325 million renovation and expansion of the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio will include a 55,000-square-foot ballroom, as well as the addition of 280,000-square-feet of exhibit space.

The San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau has, according to its executive director, Casandra Matej, already booked eight groups that the Alamo City could not have accommodated without the Convention Center Transformation Project. Those groups represent approximately 112,000 future hotel room nights, the San Antonio Business Journal reported in late 2013. The project is scheduled to be completed in mid-2016.

"San Antonio has always had the upper hand regarding destination appeal. This renovation will greatly impact their package. It may make things a little tougher on us, because now our convention center will be similar in size. It kind of levels the playing field in terms of the conventions they can now go after," said John Solis, vice president of sales for the GHCVB.

Jenny Agee-Aldridge covers commercial real estate and retail for the Houston Business Journal.