Downtown, updated

The Shops at Houston Center gets a revamp with more services & restaurants

There's a lot of new development on the east side of downtown — The Houston Pavilions, One Park Place, several new office buildings, an under-construction Embassy Suites and even Discovery Green.

In the middle of all the action, the five-building Houston Center complex seems positively antediluvian in comparison, having celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008.

"We get overlooked because we aren't the shiny, new penny," says Houston Center marketing manager Karen Stewart.

But image isn't everything: Houston Center — particularly the retail-centric Shops at Houston Center — are quietly getting a revamp. It's also about to become the first LEED certified gold mall in Texas.

For the exteriors, the dated blue columns are being replaced with more sleek fixtures to add some modern interest to the distinctly '80s architecture. On the west and southwest sides, the signs reading HC for Houston Center are being jettisoned for a an LED screen that clearly labels the building and its vendors for those in the convention center and Embassy Suites to see.

Inside, The Shops (Stewart says they are rebranding and dropping the "at Houston Center") will be getting new tile and carpet after the holiday season.

Even more important, though, are the new businesses moving in. Though the retail sector is still flat, the urban mall is refocusing on its sectors of strength: services and restaurants.

The Kelsey-Seybold clinic has been a resident of Houston Center for years, but the move to the fourth floor of The Shops gives them a more accessible presence. The clinic will occupy half the retail space on the fourth floor, turning it into a services-focused area. The Kelsey-Seybold pharmacy opens in January: the new 24,000-square-foot clinic is scheduled to open in March.

"You know, I tried to go to to their clinic once in Houston Center One and I couldn't find it," says Stewart. "I've talked to people since the new lease was announced that never knew the clinic was here, even though they've been around for 30 years. This really makes them accessible in a whole new way."

Anyone who's dropped by at lunch knows that food has always been a point of strength for The Shops — between the 30 dine-in and fast service restaurants, 5,000 to 6,000 people eat there everyday. Recently there has been a flurry of new leases, including downtown fave Treebeards, opening in March; prepared meals to-go by Delish & Dash (an offspring of Delish Catering) and new salad and sandwich shop Freshii, both opening just after the new year, as well as Robek's and Thai Basil, both of which opened this year.

To respond to the demand for more eateries, the food court area is expanding to an ever larger portion of the third floor. "We're going to have competing lines from the dumpling nazi (Doozo) and from Treebeards," says Stewart. "It's going to require some logistics, but it's exciting."

With the Houston Pavilions and other competition taking up residence nearby, I asked Stewart if the Shops has planned to market itself differently or fulfill a separate niche. But as she sees it, making downtown work isn't a matter of competition.

"We all have to coexist — The Shops, the Pavilions, Macy's. In order to be a city we all need to band together to make downtown a destination. If the Pavilions failed, it would hurt us," she says, though she remains confident about the future. "The dynamics are changing. The center of downtown is moving east."

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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