Where Downtown Houston is, and how far we come
Downtown is the City's Super Neighborhood 61, the area inside the ring of freeways, in ZIP codes 77002 and 77003 (City of Houston, Super Neighborhood 61). METRORail's Red, Green and Purple lines all run through it, with Red Line stations at Preston, Central Station Main, Main Street Square, Bell and the Downtown Transit Center (METRO).
What a move in Downtown Houston looks like
Living downtown means a high-rise or a loft conversion; the City's page notes the Market Square Historic District and the loft buildings around it. Every move here runs through a loading dock, a freight elevator and a building manager. Expect a required move-in reservation, set hours, and a certificate of insurance from anyone bringing things in. We send ours to the building the same day you ask, and bins on dollies are quick through a dock and up an elevator.
Parking, streets and rules to know
Street space is the hard part. Meters are enforced Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., unless signs say otherwise (ParkHouston), and the City is piloting pay-by-the-minute Smart Loading Zones downtown (ParkHouston). Closing a lane or a sidewalk needs a permit from the Houston Permitting Center, which can take up to ten business days and costs more in the central business district (Houston Permitting Center). Use the building's dock if it has one.
One thing newcomers ask about: the downtown tunnels run more than six miles, 20 feet below the streets, and connect 95 blocks, but they close by 6 p.m. and on weekends, and almost all the entrances are inside private office buildings (Downtown Houston+). They are for lunch, not for moving.
Cardboard after a move here
High-rises use private haulers and usually a compactor room, not City curbside recycling (City of Houston Solid Waste). Many buildings do not want fifty flattened boxes left in a trash room. Bins leave with us instead.
Bins and prices
| Home | Bins | 1 week | 2 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio or 1 bedroom | 25 | $119 | $159 |
| 2 bedrooms | 40 | $169 | $219 |
| 3 bedrooms | 60 | $219 | $289 |
Two dollies, labels and zip ties with every package. Packages of 60 bins and up are on a waitlist while we finish our soft launch. Larger homes and offices: full pricing. Not sure how many? Moving box calculator.
A question we get from Downtown Houston
Do downtown Houston high-rises require a certificate of insurance for bin delivery?
Many do. Ask your building manager what they need, and we send a certificate of insurance to the office the same day. Reserve the freight elevator and the dock first. Delivery and pickup are free in 77002 and 77003.
More for an in-town move: moving within Houston, moving into a Houston apartment and the Houston service page. City facts on this page were read from the linked sources on October 5, 2026.