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Downtown Houston

This article talks about the central business district of Houston, Texas.

Downtown Houston is Houston's largest business district, the seventh largest in the United States. Downtown Houston contains the headquarters of many prominent companies. The streets are not as full in downtown compared to other cities, as there is an underground walkway connecting buildings in the area.

Houstonians in general are reluctant to live in downtown. The only large housing in Downtown Houston is the Houston House Apartments. Many whom want to live in the area like to live from often-stylish townhouses in Midtown. Most of the city's urban residential buildings are in the Uptown/Galleria area, Midtown and near the Texas Medical Center/Rice University.

A noticeable trend is that Houston is becoming more "downtown-centric". The baseball, basketball, and hockey teams had moved into downtown. January 1, 2004 marked the opening of the new "Main Street," a plaza with many eateries, bars and nightclubs, which brings many visitors to the Downtown area that previously would not go. Along the Main Street corridor is the original Foley's department store.

Downtown Houston has many notable buildings that form its skyline.

• The Esperson Buildings, one built in 1927 and the other in 1942, were modeled with Italian architecture.
• The Houston City Hall was started in 1938 and completed in 1939. In front of City Hall is the Martha Hermann Square.
• The Houston Industries Building, formerly the 1100 Milam Building, was built in 1973 and renovated in 1996.
• The Pennzoil Place was built in 1976.
• The First City Tower was built in 1981.
• The Houston Chase Tower, built in 1981 and formerly the Texas Commerce Tower, is the tallest in Houston and the second tallest in the parts of the United States west of the Mississippi River.
• The Chevron Tower, formerly the Gulf Tower, was built in 1982.
• The Bank of America Center, formerly the RepublicBank Center and the NationsBank center, is the only building in the city that emulates a 1920's skyscraper; It was built in 1983.
• The Enron Center North, also the Four Allen Center, was also built in 1983.
• The Wells Fargo Bank Plaza, formerly the Allied Bank Plaza, also came in 1983.
• The Texaco Heritage Plaza was built in 1987.
• The Enron Center South, also the Enron II, was started in 1999 and finished in 2002.
• The Hobby Center for Performing Arts was started in 2000 and completed in 2002.
• The Lyric Centre is filled with lawyers, but also is next door to many performing arts venues.

Also, two sports stadiums, the Minute Maid Park (formerly Astros Field, Enron Field, and the Ballpark at Union Station), being built from 1997 to 2001, and the Toyota Center reside in downtown. Downtown's Theatre District, operating out of the Alley Theatre is second in size to that of New York City's district. The George R. Brown Convention Center is also widely used in the city by conventions of various types. A new Hilton Hotel is being built right next to it. Downtown only has one large housing complex; Houstonians in general are reluctant to live in downtown.

There is also a noticeable lack of hotels in downtown, partly because demand for lodging exists for other parts of the city that have other attractions. Two noticeable notable hotels downtown are the Hilton Americas hotel, and the Hyatt Regency Houston, which has the Spindletop restaurant, which is on the 30th floor and spins around.

Downtown has "The Park Shops" shopping mall, but the Houston Galleria in Uptown is much more popular.

The area is served by five light rail stations on the Red Line of the METRORail light rail system.

There is a Chinatown inside downtown Houston.