[Wattleigh]

From today's business section...

The Ritz-Carlton is close to sealing a deal to operate a hotel in BLVD Place, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Wulfe & Co. is developing the 21-acre mixed-use project, planned for the corner of Post Oak Boulevard and San Felipe.

Developer Ed Wulfe wouldn't comment, and a representative of Ritz-Carlton, a division of Marriott International, could not be reached.

The deal would be a return to the market for the luxury hotelier.

The St. Regis on Briar Oaks Lane near San Felipe was a Ritz-Carlton before the hostelry terminated its contract in the late 1990s because of financial and management disputes with the property owner.

Several years later, downtown's historic Texaco building was considered for a Ritz, but it never happened.

If the deal gets signed, the property is likely to include condos.

Luxury hoteliers have been putting residential units in their properties to help subsidize the cost of building their high-end projects.

"The way they make numbers work is to build condos in conjunction," said hotel consultant John Keeling of PKF.

The Ritz-Carlton would compete with other Galleria-area hotels, such as the St. Regis, the Houstonian, the Westin and the Omni.