The Downtown District has been a major player in most of the public/private projects that have transformed Downtown over the last decade. The District began its revitalization efforts in 1995 with five key goals in mind: accelerate the renewal of the city's urban core, with quality of life as the underlying theme: build a lasting constituency for Downtown; recruit investors, retailers and tenants while retaining those that already call Downtown home; promote a vibrant and diverse Downtown; and make Downtown clean, safe and attractive. Today more Houston residents as well as visitors see Downtown as a place to do far more than work—Downtown is now a place to live, dine, visit, play, enjoy the arts, worship and learn! For more about our organization, visit downtowndistrict.org.
eady to call Downtown home ? The types of residents attracted to Downtown living are young urban professionals, empty nesters, reverse commuters and, yes, even small families. Residents here are looking for new experiences , they love being at the heart of the action, whether that's courtside at a Rockets game or taking in a Broadway show. Their endless appetite for exploring new flavors is stoked by Downtown's dizzying array of restaurants and bars, with cuisine from all over the globe. As the city center has grown, and more residential properties come online, bringing with them more and more independent shops and businesses, life in Downtown is evolving into a place where people live, work and explore – exactly the kind of work-life balance our Downtown "urban adventurers" crave. Downtown's revitalization began back in the 90's but the development that has occurred in just the past five years has been phenomenal. Adding to our amazing portfolio of historic building conversions into lofts and condos, Downtown now offers a variety of rental and for sale options perfectly positioned throughout Downtown – and at all price points. Want to be close to the ballpark? Check. Steps from METRORail? Check. Next to Historic Market Square Park. Check. We've got it all. And the urban lifestyle? Downtown is the only place in the city where you really have everything you need. Not just the bars and restaurants, the theater, the parks... but medical, worship, fitness and of course transportation. Yes, you can survive without a car if needed! And for those of you that ask about a grocery store, we have the most amazing grocery store in town, Phoenicia Specialty Foods . Not to mention, a dozen more options from Whole Foods to Target, all within a mile of your home.
ore than $4 billion in new construction projects have recently been completed or are currently underway in Houston's vital urban center, an area defined by IH-45 to the west and south, Highway 69 to the east and IH-10 to the north. These projects include 15 residential properties, ten hotels, three high-rise office buildings, a new campus for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), major improvements to the George R. Brown Convention Center, several public parking garages – and more.
Much of Downtown's growth can be attributed to the city's focus on increasing the residential population in the area. There are currently more than 65,000 residents in Greater Downtown and over 10,000 within the Downtown District's boundaries, and that number is expected to more than double over the next few years.
Meanwhile, Downtown Houston remains a dynamic business center with a workforce of approximately 168,600 employees and 51 million square feet of office space; the largest concentration of employment in the region . Downtown remains the desired business location for prominent companies, offering competitive advantages such as proximity to the best talent, customers and business partners, public and private services and a range of transit options.
Downtown Houston also offers 8,228 hotel rooms . Properties range from large convention hotels to luxury service hotels to boutique historic options. These diverse offerings make Downtown an ideal destination for business travelers and weekend wanderers, as well as conventioneers . Recent interior and exterior enhancements to the George R. Brown Convention Center (GRB) include the addition of five new restaurants, a new grand entrance and a new plaza space called The Avenida that is perfect for events, public art and casual gatherings. Inside the 1.9 million square foot convention center, five previously separate convention halls are now interconnected with a concourse that runs the length of the ground floor.
Lastly, the Downtown area also continues to see the opening of restaurants by award-winning chefs and restaurateurs . Hotspots include Avenida Houston, along Main Street and the Historic Market Square neighborhood.
ith a fusion of culture, lifestyles and commerce , life around Downtown is anything but typical. Look up and discover soaring skyscrapers designed by icons like Philip Johnson and I.M. Pei. Turn a corner and discover Houston's historic past or uncover a piece of contemporary public art. Major league sports, world-class theater, innovative chefs, funky hotspots, movies in the park, sidewalk cafes, outdoor festivals, pontoon boat rides and more. Welcome to Downtown Houston!
Sidewalk Cinema is an installation of contemporary video works. The first installment, Color Play, is a 40-minute reel of six video works by four female video artists who use color in playful and sometimes unexpected ways, often expressed through nostalgia and found objects. The video installation will play on alternating loops in windows facing Main Street and Dallas Street. Featured artists include: -Ohio-based multidisciplinary artist Kasumi, who utilizes found imagery for The Nostalgia Factory (2015), a video collage of colorized scraps of mid-20th-century mass media. -Thai-Australian video artist, Kawita Vatanajyankur, who juxtaposes stages physical experiences against bright washes of color in ...
favorite destination for downtowners and visitors alike, the Historic District makes you want to stay awhile. Perched on the northern edge of downtown, you'll see quaint and historic building facades lining the streets, each one more delightful than the next. With a high concentration of residential buildings, the Historic District feels like a neighborhood despite the skyscrapers just a few blocks away. At the heart is Market Square Park . Local residents love the park for its dog run, green space, live music, movie nights and authentic Greek and American café. Old collides with new just across the street, where swanky new bistros, coffee shops and small nightclubs nestle nicely next to cozy, historic bars – many of which have been quenching our collective thirst for more than 30 years. Rounding out the neighborhood is Allen's Landing at Buffalo Bayou , Houston's “Plymouth Rock” and home of the newly restored Sunset Coffee Building .
The upscale food hall serves delicious cuisine from ten independently operated eating establishments including Craft Burger , Oddball Eats , Greenway Coffee , Goode Co. Taqueria , Dish Society , Yong , Pizza Zquare , Sit Lo , Lit Chicken and Low Tide . Finn Hall is located on the corner of Main and Rusk, inside the JPMorgan Chase & Co Building and is open for breakfast, lunch, happy hour and dinner.
Please note, while dining establishments are permitted to open, they're not required to do so and it's up to the owners to make that decision. We know this is a difficult time for everyone, especially those in the service industry, so we encourage you to continue supporting your local businesses however you feel comfortable. Whether that means sitting down at a socially-distanced table or ordering food via one of the available options, whatever you choose helps. So take this opportunity to get out of the house and check out the ways you can help out a few of your favorite Downtown restaurants that are open and ready to keep you fed!
During this difficult time, we are doing our best to keep up with what is open and/closed. Please visit our guide for a comprehensive list of restaurants and for a handy, dandy printable list, click here [pdf].
Rediscover Downtown In 48 Hours by Amber Ambrose, Lauren McDowell, Lauren Patterson, Todd Green | Mar 12 2021
Rediscovery is sometimes more thrilling than experiencing something for the first time. Revisiting what once felt familiar, we see things from a different point of view, uncovering details we missed before and finding surprise and delight in the process.
In a year of rejuvenation and new possibilities, there's no better time to explore Downtown and discover the people and businesses that make up the core of a city that resists easy explanation or categorization.
Whether it's a Houston staycation or just new appreciation for the neighborhood, we hope this guide to a fantastic 48 hours in Downtown offers a new lease on the amazing things the neighborhood has to offer.
Spring in Houston is one of the best times of the year! It's getting warmer out, but it's not too hot [yet], and everything is starting to bloom. Now more than ever before we're looking forward to enjoying springtime in the city, lounging on the lawn of your favorite greenspace with an iced lavender latte in hand, courtesy of Day 6 Coffee , or a picnic spread of goodies from Phoenicia. To help you maximize your fun in the sun, we've rounded up a few events to check out this spring.
