You may have read that Greenside, the new retail and dining complex at 1085 Gessner Road, opens in November. The Houston Chronicle reported that date on September 21. State construction filings for individual tenants tell a longer story. Merit Coffee's build-out is estimated to finish December 1. Pizzana's runs until January 16, 2027. Hudson House doesn't start construction until November 19, and its estimated finish is April 4, 2027.
In practice, Greenside's opening will be a series of smaller openings that spreads over several months. The first tenant to open isn't even in the new retail buildings.
The first door opened in July, in the office tower
Original ChopShop opened on July 22 at 10100 Katy Freeway, Suite 180. That's at the base of MetroNational's six-story office tower near Gessner Road and Old Katy Road, close to Kirby Ice House. The developers count it as a Greenside tenant. It sits inside the office building, not in the new low-rise buildings around the lawn.
That location has already given Greenside about three months of daily traffic. ChopShop opens at 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday and closes at 9 p.m., with Sunday hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The menu covers all-day breakfast, protein bowls, salads, sandwiches, juices and shakes. It's the company's fourth Houston shop and 15th in Texas. If you've wanted an early breakfast near the I-10 and Gessner interchange, you've had one since midsummer.
What "opens in November" covers
Most of Greenside's buildings were finished well before the tenants were ready. In June, the developers, MetroNational and Radom Capital, said shell construction on the main buildings was complete. They also said the complex was mostly leased, with all but 3,500 square feet under contract. Each tenant still has to build out its own space after the shell is done, and those build-outs are what set the opening dates.
The expected timing has moved over the past year. A 2025 Chronicle report said the first tenants could open in summer 2026. In June 2026, the developers slated Original ChopShop for July and expected the other newly announced stores to open between fall and the end of the year. Today the complex as a whole is expected to open in November, and the restaurants' construction filings run past that date.
Here's the order the public record supports today, October 4, 2026:
- Open now: Original ChopShop, 10100 Katy Freeway, Suite 180, since July 22.
- Complex opening, expected November: The Chronicle's September 21 report gives this month.
- December 1 construction estimate: Merit Coffee's state filing lists this completion date. A completion date isn't an opening date, but it's the nearest one on record for the coffee shop.
- January 16, 2027 construction estimate: Pizzana's tenant finish-out in Suite 250 of Greenside's Building 3 started September 16.
- April 4, 2027 construction estimate: Hudson House's 6,095-square-foot space in Suite 290 is scheduled to start construction on November 19.
- No firm date yet: Tifa Chocolate & Gelato, Swish Dental, Epic Cycles, Honest Mary's, Leemoo Health Bar, Hiatus Day Spa and solidcore.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation reviews commercial projects for accessibility, so its filings are public. Each one lists a start and completion date. You can check the Pizzana Memorial City build-out filing yourself. The Chronicle points out that TDLR details can change, so treat these dates as construction targets, not opening days.
Why the coffee shop's date comes before the pizza's
The smaller space has the earlier date. Merit Coffee's shop is 1,700 square feet, and its construction estimate is the earliest on file. Tifa's store is even smaller at 1,100 square feet, but no date has been filed for it.
Pizzana is the sit-down restaurant Greenside announced first. Its filing lists $450,000 in tenant-funded work. Hudson House's project is estimated at $2 million. The bigger, more expensive dining rooms also have the later completion dates.
Pizzana's size is reported two ways. An April Chronicle report described a 2,800-square-foot restaurant, while the state filing lists 4,328 square feet of finish-out. Either way, its construction target falls about six weeks after Merit's.
Hudson House is the newest tenant on the list. The Dallas-based seafood restaurant opened its first location in 2017 and has two Houston locations, in River Oaks and Rice Village. Memorial City will be its third. The Chronicle asked the company for a projected opening date and hadn't received one by publication. Construction alone is scheduled to run into April 2027.
The bike shop that hasn't moved yet
Epic Cycles is moving from its CityCentre store to a roughly 2,000-square-foot space at Greenside. In early October, the company's store page still listed the 799 Town & Country Boulevard location, with customer reviews dated as recently as October 3. No move date has been published. Until there's an announcement, the CityCentre store appears to be the one to use for tune-ups and repairs.
This also shows how the new block fits into the area. Greenside is the first partnership between MetroNational, which owns Memorial City Mall, and Radom Capital, the developer of Montrose Collective and Heights Mercantile. Some tenants are new to the neighborhood, and some are moving over from a few blocks away.
What the lawn adds once it's open
The plan includes about an acre of green space with a central lawn, trellises with string lighting, outdoor seating and a children's play structure. New pedestrian walkways will connect Gessner Road and Mathewson Lane. Michael Hsu Office of Architecture designed the project on a former warehouse site just north of Interstate 10.
The walkway changes how people can reach the block. Today, Gessner frontage is the obvious way in. A path through to Mathewson Lane will give people on the north side a route that doesn't depend on the main road.
Because the lawn and play area don't depend on any one tenant finishing, they may be usable earlier than the restaurants around them. The developers haven't confirmed that yet. The tenant line-up leans toward wellness: Honest Mary's and Leemoo Health Bar for food, solidcore for fitness, Hiatus Day Spa, and Swish Dental. Several of those tenants still don't have dates.
Until then, CityCentre has October covered
For the rest of this month, the nearest programmed events are a short drive west at CityCentre. The calendar lists Zumba in the Plaza on October 7, Pianos in the Plaza on October 9, a Crayola and Parachute Play Time program on October 16, and the Child Advocates Superhero Run on October 17. CityCentre's 15th Annual Halloween Trick-or-Treat runs October 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. Epic Cycles is still in the same district if your bike needs a tune-up before the move.
Greenside is likely to keep changing well into 2027. ChopShop is serving breakfast now. Merit Coffee's build-out is estimated to finish December 1, Pizzana's on January 16, 2027, and Hudson House's on April 4, 2027.
New amenities like Greenside can change how buyers see the streets nearby, especially when the openings are spread over several months. If you're thinking about selling near Gessner and want to time your listing so buyers see a finished block rather than one still under construction, Sugra Shaik can help you plan it. Book a complimentary home strategy session, and she'll walk through the calendar with you.
