New hotels in Galleria & Uptown, Houston

Galleria & Uptown is the part of Houston that was planned around a mall and then grew a skyline. The Galleria opened on November 16, 1970, and the office towers, hotels and restaurants of Uptown spread out along Post Oak Boulevard in the decades after it. No hotel in this guide has opened here as a new property yet, but three projects are in the pipeline. The Greenleigh, River Oaks, Autograph Collection is the former Hotel Derek, rebuilt and timed for spring 2026. The Houston Grand Hotel, River Oaks is the old St. Regis tower, relaunching in 2027. The Ritz-Carlton, Houston is a new 45-story tower on Post Oak Boulevard, set for fall 2029.

Our listing still shows The Greenleigh as announced, so confirm its opening status directly before you plan a stay around it.

How the district is laid out

The spine is Post Oak Boulevard, a wide, tree-lined street with a bus-only lane down its median, running north to south through the district. The Galleria sits at the corner of Westheimer Road and Post Oak Boulevard. Loop 610, the West Loop, forms the district's eastern edge, and its frontage road is where one of the three hotel projects stands.

What the district is not is a walking neighborhood in the way Montrose or the Heights are. Blocks are long, Westheimer carries heavy traffic, and summer heat makes a ten-minute walk feel longer than it reads on a map. Houstonians drive, take a rideshare or wait for the bus. That shapes which hotel suits which trip, and it is worth settling before you look at room rates.

Two neighboring areas matter for anyone choosing here. River Oaks District, an open-air shopping complex at 4444 Westheimer that opened in October 2015, sits just to the east. Two of the three projects below describe themselves by it, and River Oaks as a whole is the residential address that the hotels are borrowing for their names.

What to do in Galleria & Uptown

For a weekend

Start at The Galleria. Developer Gerald Hines modeled it on Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, and the glazed barrel vault over the main concourse is the part that still reads as a design decision rather than a mall. More than 400 stores and roughly 60 places to eat sit under it, along with an ice rink that has been a fixture since the early years. Texas has bigger malls on paper and few with a Neiman Marcus that opened before the mall around it did.

A few minutes away on Post Oak Boulevard stands Williams Tower, 901 feet tall and known as Transco Tower until it was renamed. Beside it, the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park is a curved wall of falling water, about 64 feet high, designed by Philip Johnson and completed in the 1980s. It is free, it takes ten minutes, and it is the best place in the district to understand why people photograph Houston at dusk.

Uptown Park, an open-air shopping center of boutiques and restaurants, is the calmer alternative to the mall. At River Oaks District, Hermès, Cartier and Dior share the paths with restaurants such as Steak 48. Browsing is free, and the people-watching on a Saturday is better than the window displays.

For a longer stay

With more days, leave the district. Montrose is the closest answer to the question of where Houston's galleries and independent restaurants went, and the Menil Collection is the reason to go, a free museum in a low gray building surrounded by bungalows. Downtown Houston is about 20 minutes away by car outside rush hour and a good deal longer at five o'clock, with the theater district, the bayou walking trails and the ballparks. Houston Heights is a short drive north for those who want a main street with cafes instead of a boulevard with towers.

For the wider picture of where the city's new hotels are going, see the Houston guide.

Getting around

Metro's Silver Line runs on dedicated median lanes along Post Oak Boulevard, from the Northwest Transit Center to the Westpark/Lower Uptown Transit Center, about five miles in all. It was built to skip the traffic that jams Westheimer and the boulevard itself. Ridership has lagged what planners hoped for since it opened, but the buses do run in their own lane, which counts for something when a short drive can take half an hour.

A $192 million rebuild of Post Oak Boulevard widened sidewalks and added landscaping, so the strip between the Galleria and the Waterwall is easier on foot than it was a decade ago. Beyond it, the car is the default. From Uptown, Montrose is a short drive east, and the airports are reached by freeway.

Where to stay in Galleria & Uptown

The three hotels in the pipeline are spread across the district. They are close enough that someone choosing among them can be in the same restaurant by evening, but they are different products.

Loop 610 and Westheimer

The Greenleigh, River Oaks, Autograph Collection stands at the corner of Loop 610 and Westheimer, on the site of the former Hotel Derek, a long-running Houston hotel. It has 299 rooms and suites. Dallas operator Makeready rebuilt the property around a Houston-biodiversity design concept by Wilson Ishihara Design, and chef Richard Sandoval's restaurant dLeña anchors the food. The hotel is positioned as upscale, and its listed starting rate is $310.

The opening was timed for spring 2026, ahead of Houston's FIFA World Cup matches. Because that date has passed and our listing still reads announced, check current availability before relying on it. For a visitor who wants the Galleria and River Oaks District within a short drive and a mid-rise hotel at a price below the luxury towers, this is the one that fits.

Briar Oaks Lane

The Houston Grand Hotel, River Oaks, will relaunch an existing tower. The building, at 1919 Briar Oaks Lane, dates from 1982, was Houston's first Ritz-Carlton, and became the St. Regis in 1997. Saddlebrook Equity and Management, the family office of local businessman Leslie Doggett, bought the 232-room hotel in a deal announced January 8, 2026. It plans to reopen it in 2027 under Marriott's Luxury Collection banner, after a full renovation with interiors led by Charlotte Moss. HEI Hotels & Resorts will manage it.

It sits in the River Oaks and Uptown corridor, a short drive from the Galleria and from the Texas Medical Center. No rate has been announced.

Post Oak Boulevard

The Ritz-Carlton, Houston will rise at 2120 Post Oak Boulevard, between The Galleria and River Oaks District. The 45-story tower, limestone-clad, is designed by Pickard Chilton, and its form is loosely inspired by the Art Deco-era Gulf Building downtown, according to its architects. The hotel occupies the lower floors with 156 rooms and suites, and 112 branded residences sit on floors 19 to 45. Hotel guests and residents use separate lobbies and elevators, and hotel guests have no access to the residences or their amenities. Lauren Rottet's Rottet Studio is responsible for the interiors, which reference Houston's bayou landscape.

The site had a different plan before: developer Deiso Moss announced a 43-story mixed-use tower there in 2022 that was never built, and a sales gallery stands on the lot today. Residence sales opened on March 5, 2026, and completion is set for fall 2029. Sources differ slightly on the counts, from 150 to 156 hotel rooms, 112 to 114 residences and 44 or 45 stories, and the figures here are the ones in the project's own marketing. No rate has been published.

A point of confusion worth clearing up: the Ritz-Carlton name has a history in this part of town, but the earlier Ritz-Carlton was the 1982 tower on Briar Oaks Lane described above, not this site. The two projects share a brand heritage and nothing else.

Which hotel in Galleria & Uptown for your trip

Travelers who want a Galleria base soon

The Greenleigh, River Oaks, Autograph Collection is the nearest in time and the only one with a published rate. Its 299 rooms and Sandoval's restaurant make it the practical choice for a group trip, a conference visit or a match-day stay, with the caveat on its opening status above.

Travelers who want a renovated luxury tower

The Houston Grand Hotel, River Oaks is the pick for those who prefer an established address to a new build. Expect the dated 1982 building with its renewed Luxury Collection interiors in 2027, and a smaller, quieter hotel at 232 rooms.

Travelers who want the new-build flagship

The Ritz-Carlton, Houston is the one to wait for if the combination of a branded tower, residences and a Post Oak Boulevard address is the point. It is also the farthest off, so it suits a trip planned for 2029 or later, not this year's.

The broader list of destinations around the country is on the United States page.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a new hotel open in Galleria & Uptown now?

Not among the hotels we track. Three are in the pipeline: The Greenleigh, River Oaks, Autograph Collection (timed for spring 2026, still listed as announced), The Houston Grand Hotel, River Oaks (2027) and The Ritz-Carlton, Houston (fall 2029).

Which Galleria & Uptown hotel opens first?

The Greenleigh, River Oaks, Autograph Collection, which was timed for spring 2026 ahead of the World Cup matches in Houston. It has 299 rooms and suites and a listed starting rate of $310. Check its current status, since our listing has not yet moved it to open.

Where was Houston's first Ritz-Carlton?

In the 1982 tower at 1919 Briar Oaks Lane, which became the St. Regis in 1997. That building is now being relaunched as The Houston Grand Hotel, River Oaks. The new Ritz-Carlton, Houston at 2120 Post Oak Boulevard is a different site and a different project.

What stood on the site of The Greenleigh before?

The Hotel Derek, at the corner of Loop 610 and Westheimer. The Greenleigh is a rebuild of that property rather than a new building.

How tall will the Ritz-Carlton, Houston be?

45 stories, according to the project's own marketing, though some sources say 44. The hotel takes the lower floors with 156 rooms and suites, and 112 residences occupy floors 19 to 45.

How far is Galleria & Uptown from downtown Houston?

About 20 minutes by car outside rush hour, and noticeably longer at peak times. The Silver Line bus runs along Post Oak Boulevard inside the district but does not replace the car for most trips between the two areas.