Houston Billionaire’s Swank New Playground Lures a Major Rapper for a Grand Gala: High-Rise Hotel to Take Center Stage with Extra Star Power

Pitbull performs at the San Luis Salute 2016

Tilman Fertitta, Pitbull at the San Luis Salute 2016

Pitbull will headline at the Houston Children's Charity gala in March.

Of the 1,700 revelers that attended Tilman Fertitta‘s San Luis Salute Mardi Gras bash in 2016, few, if any, have forgotten the rocking performance put on by Pitbull. Now comes news that that mega star will wing into Houston in March to headline the Houston Children’s Charity Gala. Fans are already swooning.

The master rapper and showman will take the stage in the ballroom of Fertitta’s hotel, The Post Oak, which is scheduled to open in March. Thanks to the rapper’s relationship with the new Houston Rockets owner, Houston Children’s Charity has scored a major coup for the March 23 fundraiser. (It doesn’t hurt that Fertitta is HCC board chair.)

And that has ball chairs Leticia and Steve Trauber exhilarated over the prospect of a mega-fundraising sellout. Honorees Penny and Paul Loyd, while not exactly rapper aficionados, are surely looking forward to their time in the spotlight on behalf of a very worthy cause.

Many are betting that this 21st annual HCC gala will be the best yet. And that is saying a lot considering the long list of entertainers that have kept this gala’s dance floor packed, ranging from Frankie Valli to Huey Lewis to Olivia Newton-John.

Charity founder and CEO Laura Ward is over the moon with this development. Houston Children’s Charity patrons are seeing several key changes in the gala, which since its inception has been held at the Hyatt Regency Downtown. With Fertitta’s new hotel, where else could this party take place?

The gala has been typically held on a Saturday night in October that always seemed to be the same night as the storied football game between rivals LSU and the University of Alabama. (Each year, Ward an LSU grad herself) would arrange for flat screen TVs or projections of the game scattered around the ballroom. No such distraction this year.)