If you have driven past the fenced-off lot at the northeast corner of Dairy Ashford Road and Briar Forest Drive this year expecting to see a finished beer garden, you are not imagining things. Several Houston food and business outlets said this project would be open by spring. It is not. Construction on the first phase only started in April, and the developer now says the anchor tenant will likely not open until the end of the year.
That gap between what got published and what actually happened is worth understanding if you live anywhere near the Energy Corridor, because it tells you something the announcements didn't: this project moved from paper to dirt a lot slower than anyone predicted, even though tenant demand for the space arrived faster than the construction crews did.
The site has been "coming soon" for going on two years
Market Square Companies and Tenon Property Company first announced Ashford Yard in December 2024, describing a plan to tear down a vacant Schlumberger office campus and replace it with 12.7 acres of retail, restaurants and apartments. Early industry reporting at the time pointed to construction starting on the retail portion in the fourth quarter of 2025, with space ready for tenants by the second quarter of 2026.
That timeline slipped. Design, permitting and demolition took longer than the initial estimate, and contractors did not break ground on the first roughly 53,000-square-foot phase until April 2026. Market Square held an official groundbreaking ceremony the following month. By the time that ceremony happened, the first phase was already about 60 percent preleased, according to Matthew Kelley of Market Square Companies, a figure he said exceeded his own expectations going into groundbreaking.
That detail matters more than it looks. Retail developers usually chase tenants after the ground is broken, not before. Here the leasing outpaced the construction, which is a sign that businesses wanted into this specific intersection badly enough to sign before there was anything to see.
What's confirmed for the roster
The project sits on the former Schlumberger site on South Dairy Ashford Road, just south of Terry Hershey Park, and the master plan still calls for roughly 85,000 to 90,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space wrapped around a central green space anchored by a mature live oak tree. Here is what has an actual name attached to it so far:
- Ashford Beer Garden – the anchor tenant, at 21,000 square feet split between a 10,000-square-foot indoor beer hall and an 11,000-square-foot shaded outdoor patio built for live music. It comes from Steven Salazar, the hospitality operator behind Katy Beer Garden at The Dryer in Katy, who also worked on Heights Biergarten and Pitch 25 earlier in his career.
- Produttori – a 3,000-square-foot wine bar concept from the same team that runs the Library Wine Room in Spring Branch.
- WokBoktic – a fast-casual concept built around an automated, robotic food preparation system.
- Jeremiah's Italian Ice – a dessert chain joining the food and beverage lineup.
- Swish Dental, Lumen Pilates and Claw City – rounding out the fitness, wellness and service side of the lineup.
Kelley has also mentioned an unbuilt 0.8-acre pad site earmarked for a future quick-service restaurant, plus a separate developer under contract to build roughly 350 apartments on five adjacent acres, though timing on the residential piece has not been finalized. Ashford Yard also became the first project in Houston to receive the city's Green Stormwater Infrastructure tax abatement, which rewards developments for managing rainwater on site rather than pushing it into the storm system.
Why the date keeps moving, and what to actually expect
According to Kelley, Ashford Beer Garden will likely open by the end of 2026, with the rest of the first phase's tenants following in early 2027. That is a real shift from what circulated in 2025, when multiple outlets reported a spring 2026 opening based on the developer's early projections.
The reason for the slide is not unusual for a project this size. Sixteen months passed between the December 2024 announcement and the April 2026 groundbreaking, and most of that time went into design work, permitting and demolishing the old Schlumberger buildings before a single beam went up. Once construction actually starts, the build itself tends to move on a more predictable clock. That is the pattern here: the announcement-to-groundbreaking stretch ran long, but the groundbreaking-to-opening window Kelley is now describing runs closer to eight or nine months for the beer garden and about a year for the rest of the first phase.
Practically, that means if you are the kind of person who checks on this lot every few months, do not expect visible restaurant activity before winter, and do not expect the full lineup, including the apartments and the second pad site, before sometime in 2027.
What's already there while the site fills in
None of this leaves the immediate area quiet in the meantime. Ashford Yard sits just south of Terry Hershey Park, which runs for over 11 miles of trail across nearly 500 acres, according to Harris County Precinct 4, so the walking and biking routine most Briar Forest residents already use does not depend on anything happening at the corner.
A few minutes east, Westchase District's existing park network keeps its own rhythm going. Woodchase Park, the district's first fully programmed green space, has a climbing wall, a water misting feature and a community garden. Sneed Dog Park on Pagewood Lane serves the neighborhood's off-leash crowd, and Camden Park, the district's signature space, pairs dog runs with Sunday Press, an on-site restaurant with a rooftop terrace overlooking the park.
The dining scene that has built up along Westheimer over the past couple of decades is not waiting on Ashford Yard either. Bistro Le Cep has held its spot at 11112 Westheimer for 21 years. Pacha Nikkei serves Japanese-Peruvian fusion out of Carillon Shopping Center. Marini's Empanada House has been featured on national television for its Argentine empanadas, and Kasra Persian Grill and Ramen Jin both have loyal followings of their own. None of that changes because a beer garden two miles away is still under a tarp.
The takeaway for now
If you live in this stretch of west Houston, the honest version of the story is that something real is finally being built at Dairy Ashford and Briar Forest, the tenant list is more specific than most projects this size ever get, and the timeline is later than the early press suggested but not indefinitely delayed. Late 2026 for the beer garden, early 2027 for the rest, is the number to hold onto, not the spring 2026 date still floating around older articles.
This is the kind of shift, quiet but real, that tends to move property values and buyer interest in a pocket of a city well before the ribbon cutting happens. If you are curious what a project like Ashford Yard could mean for your own home's value in Briar Forest or the surrounding Energy Corridor, Arriaga Realty tracks these changes as part of how we price and market homes here. Schedule a Free Valuation & Consultation whenever you are ready to talk specifics.
