Historic Hotel Redo Joins the Transformation Train on Main

HOUSTON – (By Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report) – On a stretch of Main Street that will soon be closed to auto traffic in a transformative promenade design, a 116-year old historic office building is being converted into a boutique hotel

Yes, Houston’s newest hotel will open in the oldest part of Houston.

The site – at the southeast corner of Main and Preston streets – was once the location of the Texas “White House” when Texas was an independent nation in the 1800s. Early-day Texas Presidents Sam Houston and Mirabeau B. Lamar resided there before the Republic of Texas capital was relocated to Austin in 1839.

Decades later, the 11-story Scanlan Building was erected there. When the office tower opened in 1909, it was the tallest building in Texas.

Today, the rebirth of the Scanlan Building is about to unfold.

At the end of December, the 87,456-SF Scanlan Building was acquired by SLTX Capital, a Sugar Land, Texas-based hotel firm with a portfolio of hotels and a hospitality development history in Texas and Georgia.

SLTX Capital, a company led by partners Ali Momin, Navid Karedia and Shumair Panjwani, will convert the Scanlan Building into a 140-room hotel with an upscale restaurant that features outdoor seating on widened sidewalk/associated with the new Main Street Promenade.

The Scanlan Building, 405 Main Street, will join a growing list of historic office buildings that have been converted into hotels or residences in downtown Houston.

With occupancy rates sagging in office buildings in Houston and around the country, momentum has been growing for converting office space into other uses.

Particularly favored in the national dialogue is the concept of converting office space into residences. The nation has a shortage of housing and an oversupply of obsolete office buildings.

It sounds like a perfect marriage … but.

But the reality is that many buildings in the last 50 years are difficult to convert – or the conversion is so costly it doesn’t make sense financially. The inner core of many buildings is so far away from exterior windows that much of the would-be living space would end up being windowless caves in the middle of the building. Innovative design solutions will arise someday, but for now the architecture community seems stumped and developers can’t make it pencil out.

Many buildings constructed after World War II will have 25,000 SF or more of office space on a single floor – large floor plates that complicate conversion schemes.

However buildings constructed earlier in the 1900s are often smaller

The recently acquired Scanlan Building, for example, has conversion-friendly floor plates of only 7,746 SF, according to the Harris Central Appraisal District

Momin, of SLTX Capital, says the conversion of the Scanlan Building which has been used as office space in recent years. into should be complete in 2027. The branding of the hotel has not been confirmed, but people familiar with downtown Houston report it is expected to fly the Canopy by Hilton flag.

The Canopy by Hilton is described as “a boutique lifestyle hotel brand that aims to immerse guests in the local community.” In San Antonio, for example, the Canopy hotel is located on San Antonio’s tourists-filled River Walk.

The Canopy hotels are not aspiring for a beige conformity dreamed up by some efficiency expert in Hilton’s headquarters

How’s this for immersion in local culture? The Scanlan building was purportedly developed by 1870s Mayor Thomas Scanlan’s seven daughters. After the mayor died, the women hired acclaimed architect and urban planner Daniel H. Burnham of Chicago to consult on the development of the site of the Scanlan Building, according to a City of Houston historical report

Hotel will be Reborn on a Transformed Main Street

So now, SLTX Capital will begin conversion of the Scanlan Building as outside its front door Main Street is undergoing a transformation like it has never seen before

“The Main Street Promenade is a transformative project defining the next chapter of Main Street and Downtown,” Mayor John Whitmire said in a 2024 press release.

The Main Street Promenade will close off auto traffic on seven blocks on the northernmost part of Main Street between Commerce and Rusk streets. Transportation will rely on Metro light rail running up and down Main Street.

Otherwise walking will be the primary mode of movement along Main Street

And that’s the main ideal. The Main Street Promenade will be pedestrian-friendly.

The lanes that used to be devoted to cars will become the place for wide pavement and sidewalk cafes.

Main Street Without Cars

The Downtown Houston+ organization is working with the City of Houston to pull it off.

To top it off, Thrive Storefront Grants will be available through the Downtown Houston Management District to perk up the glow of Main Street. The grants are designed “to increase retail activity and street-level vibrancy” along the Main Street Promenade.

It’s into this no-car environment where the hotel will appear in the Scanlan Building shell

Building a hotel on a street without cars is an incredibly bold move by Ali Momin and his colleagues at SLTX Capital. This is Houston, one of the most auto-centric cities in the world. But side street, Preston, will allow for valet parking.

Houston has no commuter rail extending into its expansive suburbs. When the opportunity was there to acquire a lengthy railroad right-of-way along Interstate 10, Houston passed on the deal. Instead, I-10 was widened to one of the widest freeways in the universe.

A Main Street Promenade without cars? A hotel without Fords and Chevys out front?

Yes, it will happen. And it won’t be long before Houstonians from every exurban nook and cranny will be driving downtown to see it.