Houston's downtown convention center will get a game-changing expansion

Rendering of the expansion project.

Photo provide by Houston First

On Thursday, March 6, Houston First Corporation unveiled a massive expansion and transformation of the area around the George R. Brown Convention Center. At the ceremony, Houston Mayor John Whitmire and other officials spoke about the need for improvements to the facility, including the construction of a new building called GRB Houston South.

“Step one will be the new [George R. Brown Convention Center] South, which we envision as the most flexible and sellable convention building in the United States, allowing us to layer business in a way that we haven’t been able to before,” said Michael Heckman, president and CEO of Houston First. “We’ll be able to host multiple events in our expanded and reimagined building at once. Which in turn will bring more opportunities to Houston, filling more hotel rooms and hospitality businesses, generating millions and millions of dollars in new revenue for our community.”

The dynamic transformation was made possible through Senate Bill 1057, which passed the Texas Legislature in 2023. Championed by then-State Sen. Whitmire, it allows Houston to allocate revenues from the incremental Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) within a three-mile radius of the convention center to the project, estimated to be roughly $2 billion over the next 30 years.

The convention center will receive 700,000 square feet of new space that provides access to the nearby Toyota Center through a 100,000 square foot pedestrian plaza. The goal is to link two of Houston’s major sports venues with the convention center, Discovery Green, and the nearby hotels, creating a walkable center of entertainment.

Plans also call from construction of the largest ballroom in Texas, as well as flexible areas for a variety of events, new restaurant space, green space walkways, and further connections to the separate areas. The Rustic, a live music venue, bar, and restaurant that's located just south of the convention center, is in the path of construction, but Houston First says they are working to find a new home for it within the convention center area.

Phase one of the expansion should be completed in 2028. Whitmire joked that having the project ready by the 2028 Republican National Convention in Houston was a selling point in passing SB 1057 through the legislature.

Whitmire specifically highlighted how the expansion will connect East Downtown (EaDo) to the downtown district. The East End is often segregated from Houston's various improvements, something Whitmire addressed directly.

"The East End has been left out," he said. "[Interstates] 45 and 59 have divided our community. Can you envision what this is going to do?"

It was these remarks that earned Whitmire some praise from the small group of protesters who showed up to the announcement. They were against the loss of Polk Street, which they said was the only two-way road that leads to the convention center from the east. According to spokespeople from Houston First, that change is actually part of a previous TxDOT plan, the North Houston Highway Improvement Project (NHHIP), and not a direct result of the convention center area reconstruction. Nonetheless, protesters urged the mayor to consider the impact of Polk’s loss.

“It’s an important transit corridor for East End residents as well as residents of Third Ward,” Amy Dinn, an EaDo resident, told CultureMap. “How do we get into downtown with that closed? This project can move forward with a Sky Bridge, so we’d still have connectivity for the events, but allow people to continue to access downtown.”

George R Brown Convention Center expansion project

Courtesy of Houston First

Rendering of the expansion project.

income analysis

This is the salary needed for a single-income family in Texas in 2026

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

The income needed for a single-income household to raise a child in Texas is lower than it was last year.

With childrearing costs in the Lone Star State adding up to tens of thousands of dollars per year, many Texas families are navigating a difficult decision: should both parents work or should one parent stay home to raise the child?

For Texas families that choose the latter, the working parent needs to make nearly $73,000 per year to support their child and the stay-at-home parent, a new income analysis has revealed.

The newly released SmartAsset report used MIT's Living Wage Calculator to estimate the annual living wages needed across all 50 states for a three-person household with two working adults and one child, and a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. Costs included food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes, and "other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent needs to make $72,925 to support their stay-at-home counterpart and their child, the study found. That's $1,809 less than what was needed in 2025.

Meanwhile, the combined income needed for a household with one child and both parents working full-time is $85,030.

Texas ranked No. 42 in SmartAsset's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working parent, one stay-at-home parent, and one child. That also situates Texas as the 9th most affordable state for single-income families. But there are risks associated with only having one breadwinner in the family.

"A single income family with small children potentially saves in child care costs over a household with two working parents," the report's author wrote. "The main disadvantages are the lost salary and retirement contributions, Social Security earnings history and employer health benefits."

There aren't any specific tax benefits to having a parent stay at home to raise their child full time, but SmartAsset says single-income families can claim a tax credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

"[S]ingle-income families may claim the Child Tax Credit — up to $2,200 per qualifying child for 2026 ($1,700 refundable) — on the same terms as any other family," the report said.

SmartAsset's latest report only looks at costs on a statewide basis, but the cost to raise a child will also vary greatly depending on the city you live in. Raising a child in Houston might pose a challenge for some families, where the cost for childcare alone adds up to $10,265 and overall costs can surpass $22,000.

For households with two children, there might be additional strains on what a family might consider a "comfortable living." A March 2026 SmartAsset study determined a Houston-based family with two working parents need to make a combined income of $204,672 to have a financially stable life while raising two children.

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income needed for single-income families are:

Arkansas ($68,869)
Mississippi ($70,054)
Kentucky ($70,179)
West Virginia ($70,283)
North Dakota ($71,219)
Oklahoma ($71,365)
Louisiana ($71,406)
Missouri ($72,862)
Texas ($72,925)
Tennessee ($72,946)

smartasset reports texas family income