Concept for the new Denton Convention Center unveiled

[Stix]

Here's a link to that hotel:

http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/hotels/texas/embassy-suites-san-marcos-hotel-spa-and-conference-center-SNMESES/index.html

Exterior looks ok, interior looks great!

Kind of looks like an oversized La Quinta, but I know that's Hill Country architecture.

[NorthTexan95]

Kind of looks like an oversized La Quinta, but I know that's Hill Country architecture.

La Quinta ... good call. However, the interior is much, much nicer.

[ragpicker]

I remember when a real live Scrappy lived in a big cage on the crest of the hill, but that was long . "Backward turn backward o time in thy flight..."

[ragpicker]

ago

[EagleGreen]

I think the new design looks very sharp and will accent apogee and Murchison, our real stars, well.

[Eagle1855]

For what it's worth, the one in San Marcos looks quite nice in person -- even with the tired Hill Country-themed architecture.

[drex]

I cannot wait for the pissing contest when there is a North Texas football home game scheduled at the same time as some convention at the new center and parking becomes a real mess.

[MeanGreen13]

I cannot wait for the pissing contest when there is a North Texas football home game scheduled at the same time as some convention at the new center and parking becomes a real mess.

this is exactly why they need to build the new track and field area in the mean green village, tear down fouts, and put up those two or three new parking structures they have planned around campus. i know none of this will happen till the union is finished and the baseball stadium is ready but it would be smart to try to get started on this stuff ASAP!

[Grant.UNT]

i've stayed at the Embassy in SM. It's really nice.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I cannot wait for the pissing contest when there is a North Texas football home game scheduled at the same time as some convention at the new center and parking becomes a real mest

drex, parking is going to be a mess when we start hitting 31,000 SRO audiences at Apogee even w/o a new hotel/convention center/4 star restaurant next door to it.

I don't know how our campus planners will fix this future concern unless they start strip mining Denia to create more inlet & outlet roads. (Not sure strip mining is the correct term to have used but was the first one that came to mind).

[UNTFan23]

drex, parking is going to be a mess when we start hitting 31,000 SRO audiences at Apogee even w/o a new hotel/convention center/4 star restaurant next door to it.

I don't know how our campus planners will fix this future concern unless they start strip mining Denia to create more inlet & outlet roads. (Not sure strip mining is the correct term to have used but was the first one that came to mind).

Parking/traffic problems is a norm at bigger programs. It comes with the territory with being successful.

[Eagle1855]

drex, parking is going to be a mess when we start hitting 31,000 SRO audiences at Apogee even w/o a new hotel/convention center/4 star restaurant next door to it.

I don't know how our campus planners will fix this future concern unless they start strip mining Denia to create more inlet & outlet roads. (Not sure strip mining is the correct term to have used but was the first one that came to mind).

Smaller towns in the SEC completely shutdown on game day, regularly moving 80-100k fans in and out of there on a given weekend. Yet despite not even knowing how to read, they have figured out how to make it work.

[Wag Tag]

I have asked before, but could an indoor practice facility make sense? Could be used by conventions. Maybe the scheduling would make it to complicated?

[UNTFan23]

I have asked before, but could an indoor practice facility make sense? Could be used by conventions. Maybe the scheduling would make it to complicated?

The convention business would likely only be able to use the space six months (or less) during the year with a shared facility. The FB team would likely need the facility exclusively from August until November assuming no post season play and then you have a grey period of December through early January where you don't know whether the FB would need the facility or not. For spring practice you have some of February and all of March with maybe even some of April blocked off for the FB team.

It sounds like a cool idea but it just wouldn't make the parties involved enough money to make a shared facility work.

[UNTLifer]

drex, parking is going to be a mess when we start hitting 31,000 SRO audiences at Apogee even w/o a new hotel/convention center/4 star restaurant next door to it.

I don't know how our campus planners will fix this future concern unless they start strip mining Denia to create more inlet & outlet roads. (Not sure strip mining is the correct term to have used but was the first one that came to mind).

I don't see this being a problem. Parking was not an issue for the Houston game to open Apogee and a few more cars won't make that big of a difference, plus we now have the bridge with easier access to Fouts parking. UNT Police and the city have done a great job moving traffis pre and post game at Apogee.

[MeanGreenTexan]

The convention business would likely only be able to use the space six months (or less) during the year with a shared facility. The FB team would likely need the facility exclusively from August until November assuming no post season play and then you have a grey period of December through early January where you don't know whether the FB would need the facility or not. For spring practice you have some of February and all of March with maybe even some of April blocked off for the FB team.

It sounds like a cool idea but it just wouldn't make the parties involved enough money to make a shared facility work.

Plus, I don't think breakout sessions or weddings are going to work as well since it's difficult to scoot chairs around on field turf.

[Travis]

i've stayed at the Embassy in SM. It's really nice.

But did it make you smart like if you stayed at a Holiday Inn?

[Baby Arm!]

For what it's worth, the one in San Marcos looks quite nice in person -- even with the tired Hill Country-themed architecture.

the Embassy Suites -San Marcos is nicer than anything currently in Denton.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I don't see this being a problem. Parking was not an issue for the Houston game to open Apogee and a few more cars won't make that big of a difference, plus we now have the bridge with easier access to Fouts parking. UNT Police and the city have done a great job moving traffis pre and post game at Apogee.

Still..it will be a good problem to have which I'd bet those who think forward will be able to solve.

UH game was 4K shy of capacity as I recall, so I have no idea how 4,000 more fans would have affected traffic flow, but like you said we did not have the PB at that time, either.

Just looking at the aerial shot of the MG Village, though, it is obvious that we do need more roads in and out of that part of campus.............IMO.

Our future growth indicators might even suggest that that situation might need to be addressed fairly soon, too, ie, sooner than later?

GMG!

Edited March 11, 2014 by PlummMeanGreen

[ragpicker]

I don't see this being a problem. Parking was not an issue for the Houston game to open Apogee and a few more cars won't make that big of a difference, plus we now have the bridge with easier access to Fouts parking. UNT Police and the city have done a great job moving traffis pre and post game at Apogee.

[UNTFan23]

Plus, I don't think breakout sessions or weddings are going to work as well since it's difficult to scoot chairs around on field turf.

I figure either the field turf would get rolled up or you put something over the turf to protect it.

[ragpicker]

I don't see this being a problem. Parking was not an issue for the Houston game to open Apogee and a few more cars won't make that big of a difference, plus we now have the bridge with easier access to Fouts parking. UNT Police and the city have done a great job moving traffis pre and post game at Apogee.

I agree. Although SMU has few football fans looking for parking spots these days, when they do have a crowd (TCU, Tech etc.) they have a great shuttle service with the Mustang Express. Alleviating parking problems requires thinking beyond the automobile and the notion that we have to drag a 2,000 to 3.000 pound pile of junk around with us everywhere we go. The shuttle worked well last year even though it was inexplicably used only twice. We need to use it for every game with a loop through campus on the way to games from the square.

[JKvsHimself]

One more 3D view with the stadium nearby -phw pic.twitter.com/J468LlR0Qh

— DentonRC (@DentonRC)

April 15, 2014

This post has been promoted to an article

[GrayEagle]

Should the occasion ever call for it (say a stadium expansion to 50,000) North Texas will be better off than any major college in Texas. There will be a large parking garage at the old Fouts lot and another is likely to be built at the northwest corner of the Village on the Newton Rayzor property.