Downtown Redevelopment Authority

We provide financial incentives through public and private sector partnerships designed to make Downtown Houston a place where Houstonians and visitors want to live, work, and play.

How We Started

In 1995 Houston City Council (“City Council”) created TIRZ #3 (the “Zone”). The Zone originally consisted of nine city blocks located in the northwest quadrant of the Central Business District. In 1998, approximately 65 city blocks were annexed into the Zone, including a corridor along Main Street through the Central Business District. In 2005, City Council approved the addition of two city blocks located in the eastern portion of the Central Business District to the Zone. In 2007, City Council approved the enlargement of the zone to include the city blocks that encompass various public buildings, including City Hall, the Jones Building, and the Julia Ideson Building of the Central Library. In 2011, an addition of all the property adjacent to the Buffalo Bayou from the Sabine Street Bridge to Shepherd Drive was approved by City Council. In 2019, City Council approved an expansion by adding the property commonly known as the “Warehouse District”, portions of I-69 and I-45, and finally the Southwest corner of Downtown. In 2020, City Council approved the de-annexation of Sam Houston Park from the Zone. Most recently, in late 2022, City Council approved the annexation of approximately 10 acres bounded by Allen Parkway, Stanford, Taft, and McKinney streets to the Zone. The Zone is currently scheduled to terminate on December 31, 2043.

What We Do

The purpose of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority (DRA) is to facilitate positive development of the area within the Tax Increment Zone #3 (TIRZ #3) boundaries. Tax increment dollars collected within the boundaries of the Zone are reinvested back into the Zone through the Board of Directors. It accomplishes this by providing financial incentives through public/private sector partnerships designed to make Downtown Houston a place where Houstonians and visitors want to live, work and play.