The hotel will be owned by an affiliate of the City of Houston.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the City of Houston on such an outstanding hotel project," said Dieter Huckestein, executive vice president, Hilton Hotels, and president-hotel operations owned and managed.

"Our company has a long and successful history in Houston and throughout the state of Texas. This hotel represents a great addition to our portfolio of leading convention hotels located in such cities as San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Honolulu, and we look forward to applying our expertise to ensure the success of this new property."

Located adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center, the new hotel is scheduled to break ground this summer and open for business in late 2003. When completed, the property will feature nearly 82,600 square feet of meeting space, three restaurants and a full-service health club and swimming pool.

Hilton Hotels is recognized internationally as a pre-eminent hospitality company. The company develops, owns, manages or franchises 1,900 hotels, resorts and vacation-ownership properties. Its portfolio includes many of the world's best-known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton®, Conrad(TM), Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Harrison Conference Centers®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hilton Grand Vacations Company®, Homewood Suites® by Hilton and Red Lion Hotels & Inns®.