Luxury Hotel in Woodlands

Luxury hotel joins rush to The Woodlands as opening of ExxonMobil headquarters draws closer

With the new ExxonMobil headquarters on track to open next year near The Woodlands, the rush to build upscale housing, hotels and retail shops north of Houston continues. The latest to join the fray: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and The Howard Hughes Corporation, which has announced plans for a new luxury Westin hotel at Waterway Square.

The Houston Business Journal first reported plans for the 302-room hotel that will overlook The Woodlands Waterway and feature 15,000 square feet of meeting space, as well as an outdoor pool, a workout studio and business center.

The hotel, which is scheduled to open in late 2015, will also include a 150-seat restaurant, lobby bar and second-level pool deck with direct access to the fountains at Waterway Square.

"There is a tremendous demand for signature hotels in The Woodlands, and we are pleased to welcome the renowned Westin brand," Paul Layne, executive vice president of master-planned communities for The Howard Hughes Corp., said in a statement. "The Westin, The Woodlands will be a great place to stay in Waterway Square, a regional destination with multiple water features, shopping, dining and entertainment options for locals and visitors alike."

The new hotel, designed by Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects, will be within walking distance of several corporate offices, the shops and restaurants in the Waterway Square District, The Woodlands Mall and Market Street, as well as concert venue Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

Hughes Landing, a 66-acre mixed-use development, is also nearby and set to house office buildings, restaurants (including Escalantes' Fine Tex-Mex and River Oaks favorite, Local Pour), a Whole Foods Market and up to 800 multifamily residences.

It will be the fifth Westin Hotel for the Houston area, with two in The Galleria (The Westin Oaks and Westin Galleria), one downtown (the Inn on the Ballpark was rebranded as the Westin Houston Downtown) and in Memorial (the Westin Memorial City).

Among other national names, a new Hyatt Place Hotel recently opened in the Woodlands area, a new Nordstrom is debuting at the Woodlands Mall in early September such hip national retailers like Kate Spade, Tumi, Trina Turk, Kiehl's and True Religion have recently opened in the area.

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hottest headlines of 2025

Here are the 10 hottest Houston real estate headlines of 2025

Photo courtesy of NewQuest

The new Texas Heritage Marketplace will be located along Interstate 10 and the newly completed Texas Heritage Parkway in Katy.

Editor's note: The top real estate stories of 2025 were heavy on buzzy suburbs. Fulshear earned special recognition for its jaw-dropping population growth over the last five and 10 years, while Sugar Land entered the spotlight for its livability and its surprisingly high rental rates. A Houston billionaire was revealed to be one of the top 100 landowners in the country, and a local restaurant duo put their illustrious farm on the market. Read on for the top 10 real estate stories of 2025.

1. Totally sweet Houston suburb triumphs as No. 3 best place to live in U.S. Relocation marketing platform Livability.com named Sugar Land the third-best place to live in America thanks to its appealing size and affordability. The list was restricted to small and mid-size cities with populations between 75,000-500,000 residents.

2. Surprise Houston neighbor was No. 1 fastest-growing U.S. city in the last decade. Fulshear's population growth surged over 1,000 percent from 2014-2023, the report found, and the U.S Census estimates the city now boasts a population of more than 42,600 residents. More on Fulshear's booming population later.

3. Houston oil-and-gas billionaire ranks among America's top 100 landowners. The Land Report revealed that approximately one-quarter of the country's mega-owners of private land have ties to Texas.

4. 2 Houston suburbs rank among fastest-growing affordable cities in U.S. SmartAsset analyzed 50 U.S. cities to find the most affordable places with large population growth. League City and Pearland ranked No. 7 and No. 11, respectively.

5. Cozy Houston neighborhood ranked No. 1 best place to live in Texas. Master-planned community Cinco Ranch was given an"A-plus" rating for its family-friendliness, public schools, diversity, and other factors. The area is able to maintain a close-knit community while having a sprawling population of more than 19,000 residents.

6. Houston developer breaks ground on $400 million, 165 acre Katy project. Houston-based commercial real estate firm NewQuest commenced work on a $400 million, 165-acre, mixed-use shopping center in Waller County at the end of January. The project, called The Texas Heritage Marketplace, will include 750,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, along with 550 apartments in two communities.

7. This wealthy Houston neighbor is the fastest-growing suburb in America. In a narrowed-down analysis of the top American suburbs that have had the highest population increases from 2018-2023, Fulshear once again came out on top.

8. 2 Houston-area ZIP codes top 2024 list of hottest U.S. housing markets. Real estate marketplace Opendoor crowned Katy's 77493 ZIP code as the No. 1 hottest U.S. housing market in 2024, while Cypress' 77433 ZIP secured the No. 2 spot. Affordability was cited as the primary factor that drew newcomers to these suburbs.

9. Houston restaurateurs' 353-acre farm hits the market for $29 million. The sprawling Goodthyme Ranch, owned by Goodnight Hospitality partners Bailey and Pete McCarthy, went on the market in early September. The farm is situated about an hour from downtown Houston in Bellville, and offers a 5,220-square-foot, five-bedroom main house and a 4,560-square-foot, five-bedroom guest house, as well as extensive agricultural and recreational amenities.

10. This Houston suburb had the highest apartment rent prices in June. Zumper's monthly rental report found Sugar Land apartment prices were more expensive than any other Houston-area city over the summer. Despite having the most expensive rent in the metro in June, the asking rent for a single-bedroom apartment in Sugar Land was technically lower than it was in June 2024.

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