Baytown, Texas

feet of meeting area in the conference center. We’re just finalizing some of the largest agree- ments, including the operator’s agreement, the owner’s agreement, and the franchise agree- ment. Interstate is the company that is going to service the hotel; they’re also the operators of the conference center. They have a lot of experience doing these things, and they’ve worked with Marriott, quite a bit. Citigroup is our financial partner; Marriott is our hospitality partner; and Garfield is our development part- ner. This is a true public/private partnership. We’ve had three feasibility studies on the con- ference center and hotel, and all three of them show this project as very viable. That’s what is drawing all the players to the table, and what a game changer it is for us.” An example of revitalization in the city’s older, southern section is Baytown’s Arts, Culture, and Entertainment (ACE) District, where the city has already invested $3.5 million in a Main Street project, building a town square in the old community of Goose Creek, one of the city’s original neighborhoods. It is also in the final stages of reconstructing the Brunson Theater, a defunct, 1949 movie house, that will become the new Baytown Welcome Center, hosting the city’s Tourism Department, as well as a busi- ness incubator. “The incubator program that we’re going to be kicking off will allow professionals looking to build a clientele to have some office space and business address here in Baytown,” Davis avers. The refurbished theater will feature a conference room with glass windows on each end, solar tubes to provide natural light in- side, cubicles with screens that can move in different ways, and an exit out the back that BAYTOWN, TEXAS