The JW Marriott Houston Downtown has opened The Foundry in place of its former Main Kitchen, with a rooftop pool lounge, The Perch, scheduled to open December 1. The openings are part of a broader project involving the adjacent Battelstein’s Building at 812 Main Street, which is set to add guest rooms and meeting space to the hotel.
The Foundry is a 115-seat restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner under executive chef Rafael Gonzales, CultureMap Houston reported. The Perch is planned as a rooftop restaurant and pool lounge with indoor and outdoor seating. Rather than a second all-day dining room, it gives the expansion a separate rooftop venue, according to the same report.
An expansion in a building with a long history
The hotel’s plans for the Battelstein’s Building extend beyond the new dining spaces: Bisnow reported that the project would integrate it with the existing hotel and add more than 50 rooms and 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel’s owners’ acquisition date is unclear in published accounts: CultureMap’s 2025 coverage says the building was acquired in 2025, while Bisnow reported an acquisition in 2022.
The site’s history predates its planned hotel use. A City of Houston landmark designation report says Battelstein’s moved to 812 Main in 1924, and the building was enlarged to five floors in 1937 as the store added departments. The report says the building’s current iteration was designed by the firm of Joseph Finger and George Rustay and completed in 1950.
Market backdrop, not a measure of this hotel
Houston First reported that Downtown/Houston CBD hotel demand rose 11.6% year over year in December 2024 and revenue increased 20.3%. Those are submarket figures from that month, not performance data for the JW Marriott or evidence of what prompted its expansion. The new venues are one part of a project that will also add rooms and meeting capacity as the hotel incorporates the neighboring building.
