HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[Wattleigh]

Hermann Park Segment Redevelopment / Ben Taub Tower Plan



https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politic...nsion-approved-hermann-park-22083575.php

Houston’s Ben Taub Hospital gets county approval to use Hermann Park land for expansion

By Yilun Cheng,
Staff Writer
March 19, 2026

Harris County commissioners on Thursday approved seizing nine acres of Hermann Park land for a major hospital expansion project.

Ben Taub is a subsidized public hospital that serves many uninsured and extremely low-income patients. It is also one of the region’s few Level I trauma centers, treating severe cases — from gunshot wounds to major crash injuries — around the clock. County officials said the hospital is over capacity and lacks the space to provide timely, high-quality care to its patients.

In 2023, local voters approved a $2.5 billion bond package to upgrade and expand the county’s public health system. About $410 million would go toward adding around 100 beds at Ben Taub.

Following months of heated debate, Harris County commissioners greenlit the proposal to build a new hospital tower next to the existing Ben Taub building by taking a tract of Hermann Park through eminent domain.

More than 50 public speakers addressed the Commissioners Court Thursday ahead of the vote. Supporters said the expansion would help alleviate overcrowding and long wait times at the hospital. Critics questioned why it should come at the expense of Houston’s green space and raised concerns about building a new healthcare facility inside a flood-prone area.

After an hour-long public hearing, the four commissioners present unanimously approved the plan, citing the county’s urgent need to expand healthcare and arguments by Harris Health officials that there is no other viable location for the project. County Judge Lina Hidalgo was away on a European trade mission.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, whose jurisdiction covers Ben Taub and the rest of the Texas Medical Center, said he grew up without health care and is committed to expanding the safety net hospital “even if there's some heat I get.”

“Far too many people in Houston, in Harris County, in the shadows of the best medical center in the world, do not have access to adequate health care,” Ellis said. “For me, it’s a personal matter. It’s real.”

Most speakers against the proposal said they want to improve health care services, but urged the commissioners to delay the vote so officials could consider compromises that address community concerns about green space, environmental impacts and flooding.

“I support more, better and accessible health care and parks for the citizens of Houston and Harris County,” said Ann Hamilton, an advocate for parks and open spaces. “We can have both if all the facts are brought forth and addressed.”

The Hermann Park Conservancy had originally planned to use the tract for a new parking garage. Cara Lambright, the conservancy’s president, said she supports the expansion as long as she is given another location to build more parking spaces.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the county and the city, TIRZ 28 and Harris Health to finalize these commitments and deliver a solution that addresses the most urgent needs in Hermann Park, which are parking and access,” Lambright said.

[Urbannizer]

New Wellness-Focused Condo Development in Houston Comes to Market With a $15 Million Duplex Penthouse

The most expensive unit at a new longevity-focused condo tower in Houston is a duplex penthouse that’s set to hit the market for $15 million, Mansion Global has learned.

The “invite-only” development, KA Residences, plans to bring the wellness amenities that can be found at high-end health clubs directly into the home. Construction for KA Houston—which will be the first stand-alone wellness-focused branded residence in Texas—is planned to begin in the fall, with completion slated for the end of 2028 or early 2029.

Each KA Residences unit, including the premier penthouse, will have its own “Merkaba Room,” a 400-square-foot space equipped with wellness amenities like a meditation pod, a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, a red-light dry sauna, and hot and cold plunge.

“Focusing on self is really the ultimate luxury at this point,” said KA Residences co-founder Nina Magon. “We wanted to go against how everyone is doing social spa and wellness, and say if this is truly going into oneself, how can that be achieved on a regular basis without having to travel?”

The two-story penthouse, on the 13th and 14th floors, will span approximately 7,000 square feet, plus have about 3,800 square feet of balcony space. The balconies on the two levels will feature a private 10- by 20-foot pool, a hot tub, an outdoor shower and a sauna.

The penthouse can be configured to have five bedrooms or four bedrooms and a study, Magon said. In addition to the Merkaba Room, the primary suite will have its own sauna and soaking tub.

“Your entire wellness regime is built into your lifestyle because it’s inside of your home,” Magon said.

The Houston tower will comprise 28 units, including the duplex penthouse and two additional single-level penthouses, which will be listed for $10 million.

Magon, who has her own interior design business Nina Magon Studio, and her co-founder, Moiz Bhamani, chose Houston for the first KA Residence as they both live there and wanted to begin developing in a second-tier city. Additionally, both wellness culture and luxury condo living are trending in Houston, giving KA an early foot in the door.

“We have so much land in Texas, and people want to live in beautiful houses because we have these big pieces of land, however condo living is becoming a big desire,” Magon said. “The St. Regis [Residences] is here now, the Ritz-Carlton Residences just got announced, and now KA is coming up.”

Shared amenities at KA Houston will include a padel club, a lap pool and a fitness center with private training, yoga and Pilates.

In the future, Magon and Bhamani have plans to develop KA Residences in other cities, including Dallas, Mexico City, Dubai and Scottsdale, Arizona. KA has about $1 billion in the pipeline for the five developments.

[JoninATX]

Nashville-based Southern Land Co. to break ground next month on Upper Kirby mixed-use development

By Jeff Jeffrey
March, 23rd 2026

Nashville-based Southern Land Co. has set a groundbreaking date for a $171 million, 2-acre mixed-use development in Upper Kirby near River Oaks. The company scheduled an April 14 ceremony to celebrate construction work beginning on a 37-story apartment tower at 2811 Kirby, which is as yet unnamed.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news...co-upper-kirby-river-oaks-mixed-use.html

[Wattleigh]

The Allen

Is this a current rendering or a previous one for the 2nd tower? Found by TowerSpotter on HAIF

Could be phase 3 of this development? This tower seems so thin, like it could be squeezed in next to the Thompson's garage and the road.

Previous look at the tower was from a rendering seen last year in this image from Houston EB5's linkedin.

[Wattleigh]

GRB Redevelopment / Expansion



https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/houston-grb-expansion-funds-22183214.php

Houston secures $1.4 billion for first phase of George R. Brown Convention Center expansion

By Erica Grieder,
Staff Writer
April 1, 2026

The first phase of a massive expansion of the George R. Brown Convention Center is fully funded and on pace to open in May 2028, city leaders announced Wednesday.

The city of Houston and the Houston First Corporation, the local government corporation that operates Houston's convention venues, on Wednesday announced they sold $1.38 billion of Hotel Occupancy Tax and Special Revenue Bonds in sales that closed March 25 and April 1. This will cover the construction of GRB South, a new 700,000-square-foot building connected to the existing convention center, as well as a new pedestrian plaza linking both buildings to the Toyota Center.

Michael Heckman, Houston First president and CEO, said in an interview the bond sales reflect "the strength and resiliency of the Houston economy"— as well as the city's ability to deliver projects of this scale.

"It's a really big deal, on a development of this size and magnitude, to be able to have it fully funded, and in a way that gives us flexibility, is affordable for us, and also retains the pathway in the future for additional funding," Heckman said, adding: "Massive projects of this scale in other parts of the country are not delivered on time."

The expansion of the George R. Brown Convention Center has been a priority for Houston Mayor John Whitmire since he was elected to that post in December 2023, and is tied to legislation he authored earlier that year, as a member of the Texas Senate.

The measure in question allows the city and and Houston First to receive an incremental portion of downtown hotel taxes, collected over the course of a 30 year period beginning in 2023, to be dedicated to the downtown project.

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

Nashville-based Southern Land Co. to break ground next month on Upper Kirby mixed-use development





https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news...co-upper-kirby-river-oaks-mixed-use.html

Site recaps from 4/3 & 4/6 via hindesky on HAIF

4/3

All the fencing has been removed and the entrances replaced with barricades. Those barricades all have the same sign on them saying that people will no longer be able to park here after Monday 4/6/2026 or they will be towed. Only the eastern Argonne St. entrance has 1 barricade so people can still get in to park for now.

4/6

Went by this project once again. I saw 2 Baker Concrete workers thinking they would be doing the concrete for the project but they said they are only doing the concrete of the former bank foundation and all the parking lot demolition and not doing the building itself. They were surveying the property to estimate how much concrete they would be removing. They didn't know who the concrete contractor would be.

Last time Andres built a high rise here in Houston they used Keystone Concrete to build the Parkside Residences next to Discovery Green so that may be who they use. Saw a couple of landscapers cleaning the property of leaves and weed eating what little grass there was and 2 other people who might be from Andres or Southern Land Communities. They talked with a tow truck driver, I'm assuming who they contracted to tow vehicles parking on the property and driveways.

The orange barriers had been filled full of water.

[Wattleigh]

Toyota Center Renovations

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Ar...s-180m-renovation-gets-local-greenlight/

Toyota Center’s $180M renovation gets local greenlight
By Bret McCormick
04.08.2026

The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority approved a $180M renovation of Toyota Center during a special meeting Wednesday. The project will commence once the Rockets’ 2025-26 NBA season ends, and it will continue through the subsequent NBA season before completion by the start of the 2027-28 season.

Toyota Center has had “plenty of what I would call ‘projects,’ particularly maintenance and keeping the building up to date,” over the years, said Rockets’ President of Business Operations Gretchen Sheirr, but the building has never had the big, multiyear renovation it’s now undertaking.

“There is no hiding that it’s 23 years old,” Sheirr added.

The Houston Chronicle reported the city’s mayor, John Whitmire, saying Wednesday that $95M of the project costs would be covered by the state with Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta providing the remainder.

The renovation’s most visible element is a 20,000-square-foot glass atrium at the corner of Polk and La Branch streets, giving the arena’s main entrance more aesthetic oomph. The new atrium will provide 3,000 square feet of covered gathering space at the venue’s front door, with a season ticket members lounge overlooking the indoor portion of the atrium.

Toyota Center’s renovation was designed by Generator Studio, which recently led design of the K.C. Current’s CPKC Stadium and the Blackhawks Ice Center in Chicago.

“They’re very nimble,” said Sheirr. “We did a search like anyone does during a process and we were impressed with their capabilities. They’ve done a lot of renovation-specific work.”

Whiting-Turner is the contractor, with CAA Icon managing the project.

The venue’s south entry will be reconfigured to provide an easier arrival experience featuring a new visual opening into the seating bowl. The Skybridge entrance, connecting the arena and the Toyota Tundra Garage for premium ticketholders, will also be overhauled.

Toyota Center features two levels of suites but all 80 are the same traditional, shoebox-style space.

“That’s just not today’s world,” Sheirr said.

That will change with creation of the 6,000-square-foot Summit Club containing multiple dining and lounge areas designed to accommodate a variety of uses. Sixteen suites will be converted into 24 theater boxes. And all existing (remaining) suites, which have been untouched since Toyota Center opened in 2003, will be renovated and modernized, with updated interiors, furnishings and finishes. While modernized, 56 suites will remain in their original shape.

The new atrium structure will create new upper concourse space above the remade main entrance. The Sky Bar and HOU Market will be added in the approximately 5,000 additional square feet, providing views of downtown and elevated hospitality for GA ticket holders, too.

The 23-year-old arena’s vertical transportation (for accessing the venue’s five levels), network connectivity and broadcast, building systems, wayfinding and guest navigation, and food service infrastructure will all be updated and improved.

Renderings from link

[JManc]

Damn. That makes me feel old. I worked on the Toyota Center project when I was in undergrad as CAD guy back in 2001.

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by Wattleigh

Site recaps from 4/3 & 4/6 via hindesky on HAIF

They had there groundbreaking today.



Thanks to Hindesky on HAIF

[Wattleigh]

ion District

The Arc & Off Campus Student Housing for Rice will likely be built soon.

photos c/o hindesky on HAIF

The Arc









Grad Student Housing

[Wattleigh]

MD Anderson - 1PC

Something about to happen here soon? Photos c/o Highrise Tower on HAIF

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

They had there groundbreaking today.



Thanks to Hindesky on HAIF

The residential tower will be called Lily River Oaks while the office component will go by the street address - 2811 Kirby

Also interesting regarding the office component...

https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/cons...70m-mixed-use-project-upper-kirby-134132

Why Southern Land Co.'s 'Beautiful Product' Might Pull Houston's Highest Rents

HoustonConstruction & Dev
April 15, 2026 | 2:24 p.m. ET
Maddy McCarty, Houston

Southern Land Co. plans to ask for the market’s highest office and multifamily rental rates at its first project in Houston.

SLC broke ground on the 953K SF mixed-use building at 2811 Kirby Drive on Tuesday.

The development in the Upper Kirby area, near River Oaks, will include 812K SF of residential, 107K SF of office, 15K SF of ground-level restaurant space and six levels of podium parking. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz architects, the 38-story apartment tower, Lily River Oaks, will be connected to a 10-story tower, 2811 Kirby, with four floors of trophy office space.

The all-in estimated project cost is $270M, Southern Land Co. Chief Investment Officer Dustin Downey said in an interview with Bisnow, adding that the developers and contractors trimmed the budget by about $7M to make the economics work.

Nashville-based SLC is a privately held, full-service real estate development company responsible for luxury apartments, master-planned communities and mixed-use projects in markets including Denver, New York, Las Vegas and Charleston, South Carolina.

SLC had to contribute significant equity to the Houston project — about $40M more than originally planned, CEO Tim Downey said. SLC began looking for a development opportunity in Houston about 15 years ago, and Tim Downey said it was worth the wait to secure this project at this development site.

“It's a beautiful product. Any other developer would have cut a bunch of stuff and gotten $20M out of this deal,” Dustin Downey said. “But because it’s my family’s money, it’s part of our brand.”

Triple-net asking rents for the office portion will start at $55 per SF, the highest rate ever seen in Houston, he said. The average asking rate for Houston office space was $30.57 per SF in the first quarter.

Although top-tier buildings have seen asking rates as high as $57 per SF, Dustin Downey said any rents on par with 2811 Kirby’s are in the small remaining spaces of Downtown Houston trophy buildings.

“Pushing rents definitely helped us get started,” Tim Downey said.

They will probably get takers on that price point.

While much has been made of overall office vacancy rates - the newest product is actually getting filled pretty quickly, regardless of the submarket (Downtown, Memorial City/CityCentre & Energy Corridor have done VERY well in backfilling over the past year). That tier had dipped to 10% at the end of last year, based on information from Avison Young, and the leasing news has occurred pretty regularly as of late.

[Wattleigh]

3601 Kirby Drive

Could the current home of Picos (which will soon close) be the site of another highrise along Kirby? Sounds that way based on this article from the Chronicle.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-re...ing-date-mexican-restaurant-22218703.php

Picos, restaurant that helped introduce Houston to regional Mexican cuisine, sets final closing date

By Aviva Bechky,
Staff Writer
April 21, 2026

After 42 years serving regional Mexican food and playing host to countless families' celebrations, the trailblazing restaurant Picos announced its closing date: August 30.

Arnaldo Richards first opened the restaurant on Bellaire, selling food from all over Mexico at a time when most of the offerings available in Houston were Tex-Mex. He introduced people across Houston to seafood dishes they'd never tried. In 2014, he expanded to a much larger Upper Kirby spot, covering the walls with favorable press and setting up lockers to store his regulars’ tequila.

But by last year, as restaurants all over Houston struggled to stay afloat, Picos saw sales drop dramatically. In September, Richards announced plans to close.

Then he pushed back the closure: first to remain open through the winter holidays, and again through the spring. But, Richards said in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon that his building will soon be developed into a high-rise. Picos can’t stay past August.

[Wattleigh]

Lily River Oaks / 2811 Kirby

c/o hindesky on HAIF

[Wattleigh]

Houston Methodist Centennial Tower

Crane is coming down - c/o hindesky on HAIF

[Wattleigh]

The RO

c/o hindesky on HAIF

[Wattleigh]

Ritz Carlton & St Regis

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/a...arlton-residences-finds-a-buyer-d645065e

A Record Condo Sale in Texas? A $30 Million Houston Penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton Residences Finds a Buyer.

The price benchmark currently stands at just $8.63 million for a unit sold in Dallas

By
Casey Farmer
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED April 27, 2026, 2:40 pm EDT

A penthouse at the forthcoming Ritz-Carlton Residences, Houston that’s asking $30 million is in contract to sell in what is likely to be a record condo deal for Texas.

Currently, the priciest condo to ever sell in Texas was a penthouse at Dallas’s Museum Tower that sold for $8.63 million in April 2022, according to Redeavor Group, which is handling sales and marketing for the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Houston.

“Based on publicly available information and current contracts, we can confirm the sale is expected to set a new record for condominium pricing in Texas,” Redeavor Group said.

Texas is a non-disclosure state, meaning home sales prices aren’t recorded publicly, and the information is often closely guarded.

The Ritz-Carlton development isn’t the only luxury project in the city with a major deal in the works. The next-highest pending sale in Texas is for a penthouse at the St. Regis Residences Houston that’s listed for $17.995 million.

[Wattleigh]

MD Anderson PCB1

Site plan c/o Houston Business Journal



This will be a substantial structure - 1.8msf and will be constructed with separate Radiation Oncology Building at the same time. Total cost: $ 2.5 billion.

Some equipment is being moved onsite at this time.

Site overview c/o hindesky on HAIF











Ground level photos c/o Highrise Tower on HAIF

[Wattleigh]

St Regis

Site prep

c/o David Oakgrove on HAIF





c/o hindesky on HAIF

[JoninATX]

Starling



Starling core & shell for new construction. $66,790,474

Parking garage & retail interior build out. $44,166,903

Work is scheduled to start on 10/1/26 for both projects.

https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/TABS/Search/Project/TABS2026018991