BUSINESS
Howard Hughes Corp.’s three hospitality holdings in The Woodlands account for about 40% of the hotel rooms in the township and almost half its hotel meeting space.
HOWARD HUGHES in The Woodlands
Howard Hughes Corp. considers selling hospitality holdings in The Woodlands
residential communities, is now executive vice president of that division and is responsible for leading development in the Greater Houston region, according to a company news release. The company’s goals include decreasing overhead expenses by million to million annually, although the one-time costs associated with relocating the headquarters are approximately million to million, according to the release. The relocation costs will largely take place in the fourth quarter of , the company said. The possible sale of The Woodlands hospitality properties is part of its plan to refocus its development activities in master-planned communities, including The Woodlands. Nick Wolda, the president of Visit the Woodlands—the convention and visitors bureau for The Woodlands Township—said he does not expect the sale of the properties to adversely aect the township’s hospitality trade. The Woodlands has a total of hotels totaling about , rooms, of which are accounted for in the three Howard Hughes properties. They also account for about , of the , square feet of meeting space in The Woodlands. “We have full faith ... that these properties would maintain that high level of attraction and customer service,” Wolda said. “These hotels ... are doing well in the market share, and they are either new or completely
BY VANESSA HOLT
THEWOODLANDS RESORT
Howard Hughes Corp. is exploring selling some of its The Woodlands hos- pitality holdings as part of a restruc- turing plan announced in October that includes moving its headquarters from Dallas to The Woodlands. “We have identied approximately billion of noncore assets to sell over the next - months,” the company stated in a Nov. email. “The Wood- lands hospitality portfolio is on the list of select master-planned community assets under consideration.” The Howard Hughes hospitality portfolio in The Woodlands includes The Woodlands Resort, The Westin at The Woodlands and Embassy Suites at Hughes Landing. “With that said, we still expect future retail and hotel development opportunities in our [master-planned communities] where we can drive signicant value creation. We will continue to pursue these opportunities but will be thoughtful about the structure,” the company said in the November statement. According a previous news release in October, the company’s restructuring plan aims to reduce overhead and move from a holding company-type organizational structure to a regional management model. The company in November announced promotions for leadership
of meeting space 2015 60,000 SQ. FT. RENOVATED
BUILT 1974
402
rooms
33
golf course 36-HOLE
meeting rooms
THEWESTIN AT THEWOODLANDS
OPENED
of meeting space 15,000 SQ. FT.
2016
302
16
rooms
meeting rooms
EMBASSYSUITES
205
5
OPENED
of meeting space 3,360 SQ. FT.
2016
rooms
meeting rooms
Company footprint changing
Howard Hughes Corp.’s move to The Woodlands is part of a plan to reduce overhead and concentrate on master-planned communities, according to the company.
104 EMPLOYEES in The Woodlands area in 2018
OFFICES NOWAT 2 Hughes Landing Blvd., The Woodlands Plans to SELL $2 BILLION in core assets
in the Greater Houston area. Jim Carman, previously senior vice
Plans to reduce overhead expenses by $45MILLION-$50MILLION /year
president of commercial development, was named president of the company’s Central Region. Heath Melton, who was senior vice president of master-planned
renovated. ... We really don’t see anything changing on our part.”
SOURCES:HOWARDHUGHESCORP.,THEWOODLANDSECONOMICDEVELOPMENTPARTNERSHIP/ COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
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The Woodlands edition • December 2019
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