The George R. Brown Convention Center opened on the east side of downtown Houston on September 26, 1987. The building was named for the internationally recognized entrepreneur, engineer, civic leader, philanthropist George Rufus Brown (1898-1983), who donated six of the 11 blocks necessary to build the GRB. The first convention held in the George R. Brown was the American Society of Travel Agents in October 1987.

On July 28, 2001, the ground was broken on a joint effort to expand the convention center and build an adjacent 1,200-room convention headquarters hotel that came to be known as the Hilton Americas-Houston. At a cost of $165 million and requiring 27 months of construction, the GRB grew from 1.15 million square feet to 1.8 million square feet. Three exhibit halls and more meeting rooms were added in preparation for Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004. The expansion was completed on December 3, 2003.