Swedish Fish

Houston Club members sad to be leaving their old building as elite, private clublooks to a new future

The Houston Club
Photo via The Houston Club/Facebook
Skanska USA Commerical Development proposed for 3009 Post Oak Blvd.

The century-old Houston Club is vacating its home of more than six decades.

The building at 811 Rusk — built specifically for the private members-only club in the 1940s by Houston business mogul Jesse Jones — has been acquired by multinational development company Skanska. A fixture among the city’s classic buildings, the Houston Club maintains five unique entryways to the downtown tunnel system.

“Generally, we’re saddened to leave the building,” current club president Thomas Bett of Prator Bett tells CultureMap. “At the same time, though, it’s exciting to find a new spot.”

“Our current 100,000 square-feet is simply too much space,” says Nadia Eloufir, the club’s chief operating officer and general manager. “We maintain leased space for offices and even a barber shop, which is not really the business we’re in as a private club.”

“Our current 100,000 square-feet is simply too much space,” says Nadia Eloufir, Houston Club's chief operating officer and general manager.

Although the club's lease would have ended in May 2015, plans to relocate began when the Rusk building — then owned by Cameron Management — went into foreclosure last year. Skanska’s offer to buy out the remaining 27 months on the Houston Club's lease for just over a million dollars was “just perfect,” according to Eloufir.

The club is currently working with an as-of-yet unnamed architect to explore three nearby building sites, also undisclosed. The relocation is set for early 2013.

“I took this position a year ago excited to work on the relocation project and reinvigorate our vision,” Eloufir said. “We hope to find a space in the central business district, the closer to our current location the better. We’d like a building that matches the historic nature of the organization and allows us to expand our amenities.”

In a recent club newsletter, The Clubber, Elfouir described wanting to shift from a meal-centric model to a more all-day format that supports longer member visits.

Established in 1898, club has maintained a member roster of prominent business and political figures such as George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of State James Baker. In recent years, however, the club’s 1000-plus private membership has been more representative of Houston's diversity and the club continues to expand. Club officials say 75 percent of its new members are under the age of 45.

Skanska, meanwhile, sets its sights on the Houston to expand its commercial building interests. Known for high-profile construction projects like Norman Foster’s Gherkin building in London and the upcoming Santiago Calatrava-designed World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York, Skanska is one of Sweden’s largest companies and one of the top contractors in the United States.

“There’s a terrific story going on in Houston with its dynamic economics and continued growth,” said Michael Mair, executive vice president and regional manager of Skanska USA Commercial Development.

A major proponent of green building practices, the company announced plans last fall to construct a LEED-certified office building at 3009 Post Oak. Designed by Houston firm Kirksey Architecture, the 20-story glass building will feature high-performance chillers, an energy wheel and an advanced carbon dioxide monitoring system.

Though it planned to start construction earlier this year, Skanska has yet to break ground.

Michael Mair wouldn't comment on future plans for the company’s new-acquired Houston Club building and the full surrounding city block, which it also owns. There has been speculation that the old building will be demolished in favor of a new tower.

Real estate expert and CultureMap contributor Ralph Bivins suspects Skanska will redevelop the site to maximize this “dream location” downtown, which includes access to the METRORail South East line currently under construction.

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THE AMERICAN DREAM

How long it takes to save for a home down payment in Houston

iStock

Houstonians don't have to save long to afford a down payment.

Saving for a down payment remains one of the biggest barriers to homeownership nationwide, but a new report from Realtor.com shows San Antonio area buyers face a far shorter wait than most Americans.

According to the real estate site’s 2025 analysis, the typical U.S. household needs seven years to save for a standard down payment, a notable improvement from the 12-year peak in 2022. Still, the timeline remains roughly double the pre-pandemic norm, reflecting higher home prices, larger down payments, and lower household savings rates.

Houston, however, stood out as one of the most accessible major metros in the nation. The Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro boasted one of the shortest time sto save for a down payment among the nation’s 50 largest markets, with households needing just 3.5 years to reach a typical down payment, according to the study.

The report found that Houston’s median down payment from January through November was $14,927. A median household income of $83,452 was estimated to produce an annual savings of $4,228. Notably, San Antonio, the only other Texas city included in the report, had the shortest time to save for a down payment at just 1.3 years.

Nationally, the time needed to save has shortened as home price growth cooled and affordability modestly improved. Still, saving for a down payment takes significantly longer than it did before the pandemic.

“Higher home prices and intensified competition have pushed typical down payments higher, at the same time that inflation and rising household expenses have reduced savings rates,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, in a release. “Although conditions have improved since 2022, today’s timeline shows that saving for a home takes meaningfully longer than it did before the pandemic, especially in high-cost markets.”

Lower savings rates have played a key role. The U.S. personal savings rate has averaged 5.1 percent of income so far in 2025, down from the pre-pandemic norm of 6.5 percent, limiting how quickly households can build funds for upfront housing costs. Meanwhile, the typical down payment has more than doubled over the past six years — rising from about $13,900 in the third quarter of 2019 to $30,400 in the third quarter of 2025.

In high-cost coastal metros, the impact is far more severe. Saving for a down payment can take 20 to more than 35 years in California cities like San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego, effectively sidelining many first-time and moderate-income buyers.

“In high-cost markets, the typical down payment alone exceeds a full year of household income,” said Hannah Jones, Realtor.com senior economic research analyst. “That reality makes homeownership feel unattainable for many buyers, particularly younger households trying to enter the market for the first time.”

Despite those challenges, the report notes that roughly three-quarters of Americans still consider homeownership part of the American dream. Realtor.com says easing rents could help first-time buyers save more, while repeat buyers may use accumulated savings to reduce loan balances and manage higher monthly payments.

“Saving consistently, even in small amounts, is a meaningful first step toward homeownership,” Jones said. “In today’s market, building that financial cushion can make a real difference when buyers are ready to act.”

home market economy down payments home ownership real estate