One of downtown Houston’s top luxury hotels is expanding just in time for the city’s biggest global spotlight in decades.
The JW Marriott Houston Downtown is undergoing a multimillion-dollar expansion and renovation that includes taking over the historic Battelstein’s Building next door, the Houston Business Journal reported.
The expansion is expected to wrap before Houston hosts seven matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The event is projected to draw as many as 600,000 visitors and generate $1.5 billion in economic impact for the region.
The hotel redevelopment will add 56 guest rooms, bringing the total to 384, along with 10,000 square feet of event space, a rooftop restaurant and pool and a revamped ground-floor lounge.
Southwest Value Partners, the Nashville- and San Diego-based real estate investment firm that owns the hotel, acquired the adjacent Battelstein’s Building in November 2022.
The developer originally filed plans for the expansion back in August 2023. That filing called for a $15 million, 72,400-square-foot conversion and renovation of the Battelstein’s Building to begin January 2024 and be completed by April this year. It’s unclear whether the recent plans match the previous filing’s price or scope.
Built in 1924 and expanded in 1950 by architect Joseph Finger, the 10-story property at 812 Main Street will be renovated with designs by Houston-based Rottet Studio. The 22-story Samuel F. Carter Building, the hotel’s existing location at 806 Main Street, will also undergo renovations led by Los Angeles design firm Cole Martinez Curtis & Associates, with Arch-Con Corporation serving as general contractor.
The project marks the hotel’s first major renovation since it opened in 2014.
The expansion coincides with completion of the $12 million Main Street Promenade project nearby, which will close seven blocks to vehicle traffic and transform them into a walkable retail corridor.
— Judah Duke
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