Bryan-College Station Boom

3 new boutique hotels bring the luxe life to booming Bryan-College Station

Three unique hotel concepts are coming to Bryan-College Station, establishing the area as a destination way beyond Texas A&M University.

Cavalry Court opened its doors on November 18, and two more luxury hotels will grace the emerging Lake Walk town center by spring 2017. The pedestrian-friendly enclave full of restaurants and retail is the epicenter of the 200-acre, mixed-use Atlas and Traditions community, home to corporate campuses for the growing biotech industries. The wellness-focused community offers beautiful outdoor spaces, including a 5-acre lake, waterfront park, and hiking trails.

The Stella, a four-star boutique hotel, broke ground in August 2015 and is expected to open its doors in March 2017. The hotel is minutes away from the acclaimed Traditions Club, featuring the Jack Nicklaus-designed championship golf course, and will anchor Lake Walk and Atlas.

The full-service, 176-room hotel will offer extensive meeting space. “What really sets us apart is our backyard area. We’ve got quite a large area that is available for event space. You can have an indoor/outdoor event,” said Spencer Clements, president of William Cole Companies, developer of the Atlas community.

The hotel’s seasonally driven restaurant, Campfire, takes inspiration from Czech cuisine popular in the Brazos Valley, as well as local farms and ranches, Clements said. Tucked around the corner from Campfire will be a yet-to-be-named craft cocktail bar.

Specialty coffee roaster, POV, will sell caffeinated beverages, kolaches, and grab-and-go sandwiches by day, and offer cheese, charcuterie, beer, and wine by evening. And the hotel's resort-style pool experience includes a pool bar, the Watershed, and poolside cabanas with TVs and lounge chairs.

The Stella’s interior and guestrooms will be designed by Design Duncan Miller Ullmann, the firm responsible for the look of Hotel ZaZa in Dallas and Houston. The sleek design will appeal to both "a 22-year-old and an 82-year-old," Clements said. "The 22-year-old has to think it’s cool; the 82-year-old has to know how to use the room."

In addition to The Stella, two hotels with creative concepts, roughly 60 feet apart, are going up on University Drive, directly across from Texas A&M.

The retro military-inspired Cavalry Court, now open, is the second of the Court concepts, the first being Lone Star Court at The Domain in North Austin. Cavalry Court is a throwback to the roadside hotels of the '50s and '60s. Cavalry Court pays tribute to the Texas A&M Cavalry and the Corps of Cadets, as well as the bygone era when Texas A&M was the only attraction at its railroad stop.

At Cavalry Court, the courtyard takes center stage. “Everything is centered around a courtyard with fire pits, a pool, and poolside cabanas, each with big screen TVs. There’s live music at the outdoor bar,” said Lydia Godfrey, director of sales and marketing for Valencia Group, which manages both Cavalry Court and The George.

Its neighbor, the more traditional, sophisticated hotel concept, The George, honors all the famous Georges of the world — locally, George H. W. Bush, as well as George P. Mitchell, the distinguished petroleum engineer and graduate of Texas A&M University. The George’s whiskey bar, 1791, pays homage to the year of the whiskey tax rebellion under the leadership of George Washington. The hotel’s restaurant is named Poppy, which is what Bush’s grandchildren called him. His signature is the Poppy logo.

Cavalry Court started accepting reservations in November, and The George is slated to open in spring 2017.

A guestroom at The Stella.

Rendering courtesy of The Stella

A guestroom at The Stella.

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Airport News

Both Houston airports would be affected by air traffic slowdown

Photo by David Syphers on Unsplash

Flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston will run travelers about $392 on average.

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to reduce air traffic by 10 percent across 40 “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain during the ongoing government shutdown.

The affected airports covering more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the U.S. — including Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston, and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.

CBS News has a list of all the airports affected and that list includes both DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field. Other airports in Texas that would be affected include both airports in Houston — Houston Hobby and George Bush Houston Intercontinental.

The FAA is imposing the flight reductions to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay during the government shutdown and have been increasingly calling off work.

Controllers already have missed one full paycheck and are scheduled to again receive nothing next week as as the shutdown drags on.

The FAA has been delaying flights at times when airports or its other facilities are short on controllers.

Passengers should start to be notified about cancellations Thursday. Airlines said they would try to minimize the impact on customers, some of whom will see weekend travel plans disrupted with little notice.

United Airlines said it would focus the cuts on smaller regional routes that use smaller planes like 737s. United, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines said they would offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly -- even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable. Frontier Airlines recommended that travelers buy backup tickets with another airline to avoid being stranded.

Experts predict hundreds if not thousands of flights could be canceled. The cuts could represent as many as 1,800 flights and upwards of 268,000 seats combined, according to an estimate by aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began October 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.

Major airlines, aviation unions, and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.

Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.

But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.

From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.

During weekends from January 1 to September 30, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled to 26.2 facilities.

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