ESTIMATED50% CONFIDENCEHouston First[1] says the fully financed first phase is "on schedule to open in May 2028", a month rather than a day.
- Start
- May 1, 202850% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
GRB Houston South Opens as the Convention District's First Phase
A 700,000-square-foot building joined to the George R. Brown Convention Center, holding two exhibition halls, an atrium hall and the largest ballroom in Texas, plus a 100,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza linking it to the Toyota Center. Houston First financed this first phase of its $2 billion convention district transformation with about $1.38 billion of hotel occupancy tax and special revenue bonds.
- Phase one of Houston's Convention District Transformation builds "GRB South, a new 700,000-square-foot building that will directly connect to the existing George R. Brown Convention Center, as well as a new 100,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza connecting the facility to Toyota Center"[1]
- The expansion "will feature two exhibition halls, flexible indoor/outdoor and atrium space, the largest ballroom in Texas, and dedicated ground-level spaces for retail and restaurants, all designed with inspiration drawn from Houston's bayous and native prairie landscape"[1]
- It is "On schedule to open in May 2028", with a reduced environmental footprint through low-carbon materials, high-efficiency building systems and native landscaping on "a new expansive living roof, with potential solar integration"[1]
- The project team is Hines as development manager, Populous as architect of record, and Gilbane | Flintco as construction manager under a joint venture[1]
- On April 1, 2026 the City of Houston and Houston First announced "the successful sale of approximately $1.38 billion of Hotel Occupancy Tax and Special Revenue Bonds to fully fund the first phase"[1]
- The sale was four series: $149 million tax-exempt and $52.9 million taxable Senior Lien revenue refunding bonds, closed March 25, 2026, and $1.096 billion tax-exempt First Lien Revenue and Refunding bonds plus $78 million tax-exempt Second Lien revenue bonds, closed April 1, 2026; proceeds refund existing debt and subordinate lien notes as well as providing permanent financing for the expansion[1]
- The pin's "$2 billion" is the funding stream rather than the construction cost: under Senate Bill 1057, signed into law in 2023 and authored by then-Senator Whitmire, the project is funded by the state's portion of incremental Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue growth within a three-mile radius of the convention center for 30 years, "estimated to total roughly $2 billion", with "no burden on local taxpayers"[1]
- Houston received a full notch upgrade from S&P on the senior lien Series A and B bonds, from A to AA-; the four series drew 115 accounts and over $15.8 billion of priority orders, about 10.4 times the bonds offered, and the tender process drew nearly 480 offers totalling roughly $208 million, or 22% of the outstanding principal of the relevant bonds[1]
- The syndicate was led by joint senior managers J.P. Morgan Securities and Ramirez & Co., Inc., who also served as Dealer-Managers for the tender[1]
- Mayor John Whitmire said the sale "speaks to the confidence the markets have in Houston as a city moving in the right direction", and Drew Masterson of Masterson Advisors called it "the most complex transaction that I have worked on in my 42 years in the bond business... the new revenue stream that the Mayor procured for the project is heavily backloaded over 30 years and we needed $1.14 billion for the project up front"[1]
References 150% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]50%houstonfirst.com/news/city-of-houston-and-houston-first-announce-full-financing-of-first-phase-of-george-r-brown-projecthoustonfirst.com· Posted Sep 20, 2026· Starts May 1, 2028 ✓· 100% of score
Houston First says the fully financed first phase is "on schedule to open in May 2028", a month rather than a day.
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