Downtown Houston just picked up a new neighbor, a 17-story, 275-room dual-branded Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites that opened this month only a few blocks from Minute Maid Park. The Neway Hospitality project pairs traditional Holiday Inn Express rooms for shorter stays with extended-stay Staybridge Suites units and drops a sizable amenity deck into the middle of the neighborhood.
The property includes 144 Holiday Inn Express rooms and 131 Staybridge Suites units, along with a roughly 20,000-square-foot amenity deck on the fifth floor that features a pool, fitness center and bar, according to Connect CRE. The hotel also offers a full lobby bar, complimentary breakfast and guest laundry. The development replaced a 20,000-square-foot parking lot at 1319 Texas Avenue and includes about 2,000 square feet of ground-level retail and a small meeting room, Business Wire reports.
As reported by the Houston Chronicle, Neway Hospitality opened online reservations this week and is already seeing bookings tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in June and July. The Chronicle also notes that downtown occupancy was running at about 81% in March and that a roughly 2,800-square-foot grocery and deli, Urban Street Market, is slated to open on the hotel's ground floor in June.
Lone Star PACE administered an $11.3 million C-PACE loan to fund sustainable upgrades for the building, according to Business Wire. The hotel arrives as Houston is pushing ahead with a multi-phase overhaul of the George R. Brown Convention Center, a transformation that Houston First says will add hundreds of thousands of square feet and reshape the convention district for major events.
Legal Fallout From 2025 Construction Blast
The opening follows a construction explosion on Oct. 2, 2025 that wounded six workers and slowed the project, and the blast later produced multiple lawsuits naming the developer and general contractor E.E. Reed Construction, according to the Houston Chronicle. Several cases have been dismissed and at least one remains pending, the Chronicle reports, and Neway Hospitality declined to comment on the filings.
The new hotel adds a mix of visitor-focused rooms and longer-stay suites at a pivotal moment for downtown hospitality, giving both convention travelers and extended-stay guests more options. Its street-level retail and the planned market also bring nearby residents and office workers new daytime amenities as the district continues to reinvent itself.
