HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – A new 800-room hotel should be constructed downtown to elevate the economic growth associated with the expansion of the George R. Brown Convention Center, according to an analysis by Hunden Partners, a national destination real estate development advisory firm.
The city is recently launched an effort to add 700,000 SF to the convention center in order to draw more conventions to Houston and enable Space City to be in the top tier of convention destinations. After the expansion is completed in 2028 with the heft of a total of 2.5 million SF, Houston’s convention center still won’t be as big as the 4.6 million SF Las Vegas Convention Center, the nation’s top convention destination. But Houston will be in the major leagues of convention cities, able to handle large events and conventions.
The Hunden report said that a new 800-room hotel should be built near the convention center.
“The new (hotel) would help maximize the opportunities from the major meetings the expanded convention center can then serve. Such a hotel should be a full-service upper upscale property with sufficient meeting space and amenities needed to complement the convention center and the broader campus,” according to Hunden, which is based in Chicago.
To be a primary portion of a convention package, meeting planners prefer to be large hotels to be within a five-minute walk of the convention complex.
Currently, Houston’s largest downtown hotels are the 1,200-room Hilton Americas – Houston, which is connected to the convention center by a skybridge; the 1,000-room Marriott Marquis Houston, which across the street from the convention center, and the 960-room Hyatt Regency Houston that is several blocks away at 1200 Louisiana Street.
The new convention development is expected to result in more than 337,000 additional group hotel room nights booked annually in downtown and help raise the hotel occupancy rate for all of downtown by nearly 5%.
“These economic impact numbers are outstanding and what they mean are more jobs, income and opportunity for Houstonians,” Mayor John Whitmire said in a press release “Great cities have great downtowns. This initiative ensures our place as a top-tier convention city.”
The Houston-based Hines real estate organization is leading the convention district expansion where construction began a few months ago.
Houston First Corp., a local government corporation marketing the city and its convention center, recently acquired 2.7 acres of downtown land for the convention center expansion. The property (known as Block 309 and Block 310) is east of Jackson Street and north of Bell Street. The land will enable the George R. Brown, which currently contains 1.8 million SF, to spread to the south toward Toyota Center, where the NBA’s Houston Rockets play. The Hilton’s parking garage will be demolished as part of the expansion, which will be called George R. Brown South.
“Phase one of our master plan, the GRB South Building, will enable Houston to compete for and win the type of high-value conventions and events that have tremendous economic benefits to a destination,” said Michael Heckman, President and CEO of Houston First. “The Convention District Transformation project has always been about helping build Houston’s economic future and this study makes it clear that it delivers on that promise.”
With cities destinations around the country from Dallas to Phoenix to Austin expanding their convention centers, Houston is looking to keep pace to meet the changing needs of the meetings industry, Houston First said. According to data from travel industry research group Skift, the global meetings industry is expected to grow from $971 billion in 2024 to more than $1.9 trillion by 2032 as demand for in-person meetings accelerates. Additionally, 82% of meetings industry professionals surveyed say they are highly optimistic about the future of the sector.
The transformation project is being funded through SB 1057, a bill authored by then-Senator John Whitmire that passed the Texas Legislature in 2023. The measure gives Houston First access to the state’s portion of incremental Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) revenue growth within a three-mile radius of the GRB for 30 years, estimated to total nearly $2 billion. The funding mechanism, similar to those benefiting current convention center improvements in Dallas and Fort Worth, involves no new taxes or general fund dollars from the city.
Houston has seen a spate of hotel construction recently as hoteliers gear up for the FIFA World Cup, which will present seven international soccer matches in Houston next June, filling thousands of hotel rooms.
New Hotels in Downtown Houston:
A few blocks from the George R. Brown, PA Hospitality opened the 221-room Home2 Suites & Tru by Hilton Houston Downtown Convention Center hotel on Leeland at Crawford in March.
Near Daikin Park, Neway Hospitality is preparing to open the dual branded Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites Houston at 1319 Texas Ave. The 17-story building will add 275 hotel rooms to the downtown market.
The JW Marriott Houston Downtown at 806 Main Street is expanding into the historic Battelstein’s retail building. The adjacent 10-story building will add 56 hotel rooms and 10,000 SF of meeting space, bringing the total to 384 rooms and 24,000 SF of event space in early 2026.
Down the street, the historic Scanlan Building at 405 Main Street will be converted to a 140-key hotel by Sugar Land-based SLTX Capital . The 11-story office building will become a Canopy by Hilton hotel.
Aug. 27, 2025 Realty News Report Copyright 2025
Images: Courtesy Houston First
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File: 800-Room Hotel Needed For Houston’s Convention Growth