The old Swift & Company plant on Waverly Street won't open on a single day. Tenants are moving into the redeveloped building one at a time. Escalante's Tex-Mex is scheduled for mid-October. Strong Pilates and The Skin Clinic are expected this fall, and Merit Coffee and SweatHouz are both set for winter 2026. The developers are Radom Capital and Triten Real Estate Partners, the same two firms behind M-K-T, which sits next door along the trail. For anyone who walks or rides the Heights Hike & Bike Trail, the Swift is best understood as M-K-T's second half. It just opens more slowly.
As of October 5, 2026, no published source confirms that any Swift tenant has opened its doors. Every date below is a target.
The Order Things Open
Here is the sequence, using the most recent public statement from each tenant or developer:
- Escalante's Tex-Mex, mid-October. Community Impact reported on September 11 that the restaurant is expected to open in mid-October. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing puts the build-out at $1.6 million for a 4,339-square-foot space, with work starting in May and finishing by October 12.
- Strong Pilates Studio, fall. A 2,500-square-foot studio built around Rowformer and Bikeformer machines, following the brand's Katy location.
- The Skin Clinic, fall. An aesthetics and skincare practice moving from M-K-T into a space more than twice its current size.
- SweatHouz, winter 2026. A contrast therapy studio with infrared saunas, cold plunges, a beauty bar with Dyson styling tools, and a beverage station.
- Merit Coffee, winter 2026. The San Antonio roaster's Swift café, pushed back from the fall window first announced in 2025.
- Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and Leemoo Health Bar, no date yet. Both were announced in March 2026. Neither has published an opening window.
The Houston Chronicle's June 8 update says the project should open by the end of 2026. It also reports the office space fully leased, including a medical spa and a real estate investment firm, neither of which is named. In total, the Swift has more than 30,000 square feet of office space and another 30,000 square feet for restaurants and shops.
Why Dinner Comes Before Coffee
When Radom Capital announced its first restaurant tenants in October 2025, it said Escalante's and Merit Coffee would both open in fall 2026. Merit's café was described as a 1,400-square-foot space with a patio overlooking the hike-and-bike trail. Merit's first Houston location ended up somewhere else.
A June 11, 2026 release from Merit said its first Houston café would open in early July at 5115 Buffalo Speedway in West University. The Swift café and a Greenside café in Memorial City are both scheduled for winter 2026, and Radom is the developer on both. The same release says Merit is partnering with Houston bakery Cake & Bacon for pastries and savory items at the West University café and at its future Houston locations. So the Heights café will most likely carry that menu when it opens. Anyone who wants to try it before winter can find it on Buffalo Speedway.
Escalante's has a longer Houston history. Pat Torres and Kopi Vogiatzis opened the first location in 1993, built on recipes from Torres's grandmother, Barbara Escalante. Fajitas and queso blanco are what the brand is known for. The 2025 announcement said the Swift restaurant would have two patios. Because it opens first, the restaurant will spend its first several weeks as the only active storefront in a building that is still filling up.
One Tenant Is Moving From M-K-T
The Skin Clinic shows most clearly how closely the Swift is tied to M-K-T. Founder Kelli Nwuli is moving the practice out of M-K-T and into the Swift, where it will have more than double the space.
"The response from this community has been incredible, and Swift gives us the room to grow into what our patients have been asking for: more space, more services, and the same patient-centered care that got us here."
That statement came in a May 7 announcement from Triten. The site plans make the same connection. The landscape design by Edgeland adds green space and pedestrian connections to the adjacent hike-and-bike trail, and the plans include a pedestrian path linking the Swift with M-K-T Heights. Once that path is open, a walk from M-K-T to the Swift will cover one connected stretch of shops.
M-K-T is adding tenants too. Brooks Running plans a store at the M-K-T Shopping Center at 600 N. Shepherd Drive. Construction is scheduled to start in late 2026 and finish around spring 2027. That puts a running store a short distance from a recovery studio and a Pilates studio, all along the trail.
The Building Has Been Rebuilt Before
The Swift has changed uses several times, so a staggered opening fits its history. The City of Houston's landmark report gives this timeline:
- 1904: Swift & Company buys the site.
- July 1917: Construction of the first plant begins, built by Houston contractor Horton & Horton.
- Around 1949: The cottonseed oil refinery shuts down.
- About three years later: Swift decides to convert the old refinery into a branch house for meat distribution.
- 1953 to 1954: The main packing plant still standing today is built.
- 1972: Swift closes the plant.
- 2012: The inactive rail line next to the site becomes the public hike-and-bike trail.
Some current coverage, including Community Impact's Escalante's story, gives 1909 as the construction year. The City's report traces the first plant to 1917, and its date is the one used here.
The building's formal protections are recent. Houston City Council made the Swift & Company Packing Plant a Protected Landmark on December 11, 2024. The National Park Service weekly list shows it added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 2026. The historic records list the address as 612 Waverly Street. Leasing materials and restaurant coverage use 621 Waverly Street, the address that will show up in a map search for Escalante's.
The Calendar From Now Through Year End
Here is what the next three months look like for the Swift and the streets around it.
October. Escalante's is the first Swift opening on the schedule. Its build-out was set to finish by October 12, with the restaurant opening in mid-October.
Fall, no specific dates. Strong Pilates and The Skin Clinic. Until The Skin Clinic announces its move date, current patients should keep using the M-K-T location.
November. Wonder, a multi-brand food hall with dishes from more than 20 restaurant concepts, is planned for 107 Yale St. The state build-out schedule estimates construction will be done by November 2, but no opening date has been announced.
Winter. SweatHouz and Merit Coffee, with the Chronicle reporting that the project as a whole should open by the end of 2026.
Van Leeuwen and Leemoo have not announced dates. Merit's patio over the trail is scheduled to be the last of the announced spaces to open.
If you own a home near the trail and wonder how the Swift's opening affects what your property would sell for next year, Bryan Beene Group can walk you through what nearby sales show. Request a free home valuation and we'll prepare a pricing analysis for your street.
