George R. Brown Convention Center
The George R. Brown Convention Center in Downtown Houston , Texas , USA , is a convention and exhibition complex that opened on September 26, 1987.
The complex was named after George R. Brown , an entrepreneur and philanthropist from Houston . Brown's Texas Eastern Corporation donated six of the eleven blocks used to build the building. The center is owned by the City of Houston and operated by the Houston First Corporation. The facility was completed after 30 months of construction and more than 1,200 workers for 104.9 million US dollars . The 30 m high red, white and blue building replaced the obsolete Albert Thomas Convention Center, which was later converted into the Bayou Place Entertainment Complex in the Houston Theater District . It is the first exhibition center to have a permanent Bitcoin ATM .
history
The building complex was built on a site where the Pillot House, a building belonging to the founding family of the Henke & Pillot supermarket chain, used to be. The Pillot House was relocated to Sam Houston Park in 1965 .
The first convention, held at the George R. Brown Convention Center, began on October 11, 1987 for the American Society of Travel Agents. A renovation began on July 28, 2001 to expand the convention and exhibition complex and build an adjacent 1,200-room convention hotel for $ 165 million in 27 months. This hotel is the Hilton Americas-Houston which is connected to the convention center via two skywalks . The building complex is not connected to the Houston downtown tunnel system . The construction project expanded the area from 107,000 m² to 107,000 to 167,000 m². Three further exhibition halls increased the exhibition area from 41,950 m² to 42,000 to 79,000 m² and 62 additional meeting rooms increased their number to 105. The project was completed in November 2003, a few months before Super Bowl XXXVIII . A general assembly hall with 3,600 seats can be used for concerts, Broadway shows, conferences, assemblies and other events. Exhibition hall B3 offers the possibility to be converted into an arena with 6,500 seats for concerts and sporting events.
At that time, the METRORail, which connects Downtown with the Houston Museum District , Texas Medical Center and Reliant Park , was put into operation . In 2008, the 49,000 m² Discovery Green Park was completed and the Houston Pavilions, a retail and entertainment complex, part of the House of Blues group , opened. A new parking garage with a capacity of 700 vehicles was installed under Discovery Park, replacing two parking spaces in favor of the park. The convention center is flanked by the Toyota Center (home of the Houston Rockets ) and Minute Maid Park (home of the Houston Astros ). Thanks to recent improvements, the George R. Brown Convention Center is one of the top 10 largest in the nation.
After Hurricane Katrina , about 7,000 citizens went into the building complex because the Astrodome was busy.
In 2009, a casting for the show America's Got Talent was televised by the Convention Center.
A variety of closing events from local schools and universities are held there. Houston's biggest pop cultural event, Comicpalooza, attracts more and more visitors every year.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ JR Gonzales: Then & Now # 25: The Pillot house.
- ^ City of Houston eGovernment Center
- ↑ Shea Serrano: America's Got Talent in Houston ( July 7, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive )