SLTX Capital is gearing up for an office-to-hotel conversion in downtown Houston.
The Sugar Land-based developer will convert the century-old Scanlan Building at 405 Main Street into a 140-room hotel under the Hilton Canopy brand, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The Scanlan Building was transferred to SLTX, led by co-founders Ali Momin and Navid Karedia, at the end of last year following a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure transaction. While the purchase price was not disclosed, county records show the building was last appraised at $7.5 million. This translated to a valuation of about $86 per square foot.
The 87,000-square-foot building is about 30 percent occupied. It is scheduled to be fully vacated by the end of the year. Construction on the 11-story building will start early next year, with an anticipated opening in summer 2027.
This will be Houston’s first Hilton Canopy hotel, catering to corporate, convention and leisure travelers. The site once housed the first “White House of the Republic of Texas,” home to two presidents of the Texas Republic in the 1830s before the government relocated to Austin. The current structure, developed in 1909, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The building’s façade, mural, crown molding and marble interiors will be preserved. SLTX plans to update plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems, including elevators. Additional features in the proposal include a rooftop garden and fitness center.
The exterior is in decent condition, with modernization needed inside, said Bill Franks, a preservationist working with SLTX.
The developer is pursuing state and federal historic tax credits to help fund the project.
A previous historic conversion by SLTX’s sister firm, Trend Hospitality, transformed the former Stowers Furniture Building, at 820 Fannin Street, into an Aloft hotel in 2016.
Adaptive-reuse projects have gained traction in Houston, particularly in the office-to-residential and hotel-to-residential sectors, as developers adjust to changing market demands and high vacancy rates in older office buildings.
Notable projects include the conversion of the former Hilton Houston Galleria into a multifamily complex and the transformation of a dilapidated Holiday Inn into an affordable senior living complex. Overall, Houston’s downtown area has seen at least a dozen office-to-hotel conversions in recent years.
— Andrew Terrell
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