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Thursday, December 22, 2016

Those Places Thursday: Sheraton Marina Inn, Corpus Christi

Originally I wasn't going to post about the hotel that was originally the Sheraton Marina Inn - until I learned more about its history.

The Sheraton Marina was designed by Richard Colley - the same architect who designed the Memorial Coliseum and the 1952 City Hall.  The 180-room hotel was built in 1966 and opened on June 19 of that year.


Above:  Corpus Christi Bayfront, ABT 1982, with the Sheraton Marina Inn at left / Amanda Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Below:  Radisson Hotel 1991 [cropped] / Jay Phagan / CC BY 2.0



The hotel was refurbished in 1985, and remained part of the Sheraton chain through at least January 1990.  By 1991, it had become part of the Radisson chain, and by October 2004, it was part of the Best Western chain.  The look of the hotel has not changed much over the years - it was blue back when I saw it nearly every day between April 1979 and October 1984.  Back from at least 1974 to at least 1987, you could play tennis on the roof of the parking garage - but that apparently is no longer the case.



Above:  The Best Western Corpus Christi, 18 June 2016, with the Friendship Monument in front.

Below:  Early Sun on the Marina, view from the [Best Western] hotel balcony [circa 29 March 2008] / Karen / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


I don't ever remember being in this hotel, which had a restaurant and bar on its top floor with an obviously wonderful view.  My husband tells me there were telescopes there - and he tells me some interesting stories about them!  I chose the photo above from those with Creative Commons licenses in Flickr.com because it was taken from this hotel, and looks like it was taken with a telephoto lens.

The boat in the bottom left corner of that photo is in the approximate former location of my husband's sailboat slip - back when slips lined this side of the Lawrence Street T-Head, which is no longer the case.  From a higher floor - like the eleventh, where the bar was located - you could easily see down into the boat with a telescope.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

2 comments:

  1. Hotel was owned by the Flatos

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    1. That's interesting, Anonymous! Can you share your source for that information? What years did the Flatos own the hotel? Thanks for commenting!

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