1001 W. Loop South
B-class office building originally built in 1980 (renovated in 1999, possibly with a new facade). It has eight floors and a variety of office tenants.
1111 West Loop South
This building was completed in 1969 and was actually partially below the street level, looking out into the Bayou. While it was occupied by decades, last serving as Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists and Gulf Coast Animal Emergency Hospital as tenants. The building was completed in 1969. For a better description, check out this link for Houston Today (#35, "CRS Office Building").
Of course, "looking out into the bayou" could cause problems...owing to its unusual design, it appears that this building was completely flooded out in Hurricane Harvey and was demolished soon after.
1177 West Loop South
This 1978 office building (renovated 2020 on the inside) is 18 stories tall and features a parking garage with it.
Landry's Inc. / 1510 W. Loop S.
Landry's (headquartered here) not only operates a number of restaurant chains found in the Houston area, but other ventures including hotels and casinos.
Post Oak Motor Cars / 1530 West Loop South
This luxury car dealership features both Bentley and Rolls-Royce. It appears to have opened in 1999.
Drury Inn / 1615 West Loop South
Officially known as Drury Inn & Suites Houston Near the Galleria as it is known officially, recently renovated inside and out (old view, note the electronic price sign hadn't been used probably even before it went over $100). The property has always been a Drury Inn since 1995.
1625 West Loop South
Former La Quinta opened 1998 and closed in early 2025. In fact, the La Quinta Inn & Suites Houston Galleria Area may be demolished by the time you read this. It was developed from a restaurant site, with "Babaloo" circa 1991 and "Post Oak Ranch" in 1994.
1640-1650 West Loop South
I lumped these together because 1640, Willie G's, is on the south side of the parking lot. In any case, Mastro's has been owned by Landry's since 2013, but it debuted in Houston in December 2017 in a luxury development just outside of their headquarters. This was not a coincidence--the CEO of Landry's helped develop the project. Willie G's moved to the pad in January 2018, relocating from 1605 Post Oak Boulevard.
Amegy Tower / 1717 West Loop South
This office tower (main offices of Amegy Bank) was originally the home of Micro Center from 1994 to 2013. It was torn down (Micro Center moved to a smaller location a few miles away) and in 2014 construction began on this large skyscraper, topping out in 2016.
Robbins Bros. / 2101 West Loop South
This jewelry store chain store, specializing in engagement and wedding rings, has been here since 2006. It repainted its exterior in the mid-2010s.
2111 West Loop South
This was formerly 2121 West Loop South (served as the Electric Living Center originally (until the early 1980s; after a one-time home to the campaign center for Reagan/Bush 1984, it became ComputerLand in 1985), from 1996 to the mid-2000s it was Joe's Golf House). In the late 2010s the site began redevelopment as a three-story retail building with underground parking, and still under construction, with first tenants by around 2022-2023. As of June 2024 these include Just Falafel Vegan Cafe, Cura Smiles, and Method Pilates (on the lower level, the upper floors include Nuovo Artistic Studios (high-end photo studio) and Glam House Hair Salon. By January 2025, Golftec would open.
Extended Stay America / 2300 West Loop South
This extended-stay hotel originally opened 1998 as a Homestead Village.
Public Storage / 2303 West Loop South
Originally Safeguard Safe Storage when it was built in 2000, and became part of the Public Storage chain a few years later. It is a single building with three stories.
2351 West Loop South
This dual-brand Staybridge Suites and Holiday Inn Express (both operated by IHG Hotels & Resorts) opened in spring 2021 (source).
2425 West Loop South
Office tower which was most notably the home of Stage Stores Inc. (on the outside of the building), before it went out of business in 2020. It had already been struggling prior to COVID, with its attempt to convert all of its legacy brands it owned (Bealls, Palais Royal, Peebles, Goody's, and Stage) into the off-price Gordmans brand, but COVID-19 did it in. It is currently unknown when Stage Stores moved to this location.
2525 West Loop South
This opened in June 1979 as "The Grand", a 320-room luxury hotel, also known as The Grand Hotel. There was also a penthouse suite, mentioned in a 1987 article where one-time owner J.R. McConnell lived.
In 1994, it became the "Sheraton Grand" and officially became Red Lion Hotel in 1997. It became the Hotel Derek in 2001.
The restaurants have come and gone over the years. Hotel Derek started with Ling & Javier (a Cuban-Chinese cuisine), and was replaced with steakhouse Maverick about a year later. In 2004 it was replaced with another restaurant (which may or may not have been Valentino's, which it was in 2011). Before the hotel closed "Revolve Kitchen and Bar". In May 2024 it announced it was closing its doors and as of March 2025 is renovating into "The Greenleigh".
Shell / 2602 West Loop South
This has been a Shell station since 1967 and originally (until 2020) featured a Shell-specific canopy of three interlinking hexagons. The store has been Timewise since 2014, it is unknown when it became a convenience store instead of a full "service" station. The parking lot connects to the Dillard's parking lot behind it (see the Westheimer page).
Velvet Taco / 2626 West Loop South
Located in the parking lot area of Joske's (later Dillard's) and built as a Roy Rogers Roast Beef around 1969, this restaurant survived the bankruptcy of its original franchisee, Ram-Hart Systems, but not for long, and it closed sometime in the 1970s. According to forums, it became Charlie's Hamburgers and later still, after a period of vacancy, it became Houston 420, a head shop, though a summer 2003 article refers to Houston 420 being a cyber café with no mention of its former use. I'm guessing this was a new business that moved in without bothering to change any signage.
Zone D'Erotica moved in during 2004 and for years, their location here was "celebrated" as an example of Houston's lack of zoning laws, but was an eyesore in what was real estate-wise an upscale area (the increasing homeless population milling around the area didn't help). In June 2019 it closed.
Velvet Taco opened in January 2021. Architecturally the building was restored closer to what it originally was, but Velvet Taco added garish colors like bright pink columns and green walls.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car / 2829 W. Loop South
In the early 1990s this spot was planned to be an Air Boingo bungee-jumping tower and while it was built never officially opened. (A newspaper article puts this as 2928 W. Loop South but that seems to be incorrect on other research.)
MAA Afton Oaks / 3131 West Loop South
Based on Google Earth, this modern apartment building looks like it was completed in very late 2016 (under the name Post at Afton Oaks, it was rebranded as MAA Afton Oaks between 2023 and 2024). The hotel that was here was demolished here was demolished in spring 2014, and had a long history. It was originally a Holiday Inn ("Holiday Inn West Loop" to differentiate from other Houston Holiday Inn hotels) from the late 1960s up until 1995, when it was converted to The Courtyard by Marriott ("Courtyard Marriott Galleria") in the fall of that year.
During 2006 it converted back to a Holiday Inn ("Holiday Inn Near the Galleria"), perhaps the last hotel to use the 1980s-era Holiday Inn logo, before being reflagged in 2011 as Hotel 31, which maybe lasted for a year before it closed the doors on the hotel for good.
5200 West Loop South
This 1973 office building was re-branded in 1996 as "Bridal Connection", which evolved from a previous collection of businesses off of West Holcombe. It was built as the Houston headquarters of UtoteM (the company was based out of Florida, it seems) and the last tenant prior to Bridal Connection moved out in 1991 (with UtoteM shutting down around 1983 due to Circle K's purchase of the company).
The building had collected a number of wedding-related tenants as one marketable location, including DJing, flowers, stationary, photography, and of course, bridal gowns (top floor). Many of these have since closed down (especially post-2020) and replaced with other companies, like "Donald Duct & Steam Cleaning Inc." but a few businesses (Delightful Cakes, Amore Bridal Couture) still remain, along with the Bridal Connection signage.
PetSmart / 5415 West Loop South
PetSmart has been in this stand-alone building since 1994.
The Home Depot / 5445 West Loop South
This Home Depot store opened in March 1994.
Houston Methodist Orthopedics & Sports Medicine / 5505 West Loop South
This was a Conn's Appliance store from 1999 to 2015.
Houston Community College - West Loop Campus / 5601 West Loop South
This building was opened in September 1995 as an Incredible Universe, a Tandy Corporation concept with 185,000 square feet of space all dedicated to electronics. Unfortunately, they pulled the plug on the chain in 1997 (couldn't make a profit despite being wildly popular), and within a few years, this reopened as a branch of Houston Community College, with little remaining but some exterior elements. Read up on the linked page to Houston Historic Retail--you won't regret it.
Shell / 5910 West Loop South
This was a Texaco back in 1973. It presumably converted to a Shell in 2003, with the Timewise name being bestowed on it in the early 2010s.
5959 West Loop South
This office building was built in 1973 with its twin 5909 just to the north of it, with records show it being home to Moonraker Restaurant/Club in 1975 (on the ground level?)
6550 West Loop South
This office building, once wholly occupied by AT&T, now is "sponsored" by UTHealth Houston after giving the building a nice whitewashing.
8715 West Loop South
In October 1992, Kmart opened a PACE Membership Warehouse to complement Builder's Square to the immediate north. Lasting for just about 14 months, Kmart sold the chain a little more than a year later to Wal-Mart Stores, but this store was closed and liquidated with no replacement. Hobby Lobby opened in 1996 and takes up the left third of the building, K&G Superstore operates the middle half (opened 2000), and Planetary Cycles opened in 2012. More on the history in the building in a future update. The blank area closest to Jackwood was an Outback Steakhouse at 8731 West Loop South. It closed in January 2017 and was torn down later that year.
Pluckers Wing Bar / 8731 West Loop South
This was an Outback Steakhouse before being closed in January 2017 and was torn down later that year. Around 2023 the empty space was redeveloped as Pluckers Wing Bar.