3700 SW Freeway
Houston, TX 77027
(713) 627-9470
The Lakewood Church Central Campus is a house of worship in Houston, Texas. It is located about five miles southwest of Downtown Houston, next to the Greenway Plaza.From 1975 to 2003 the building served as a multi-purpose sports arena, for various professional teams in Houston.From its opening until 1998, the building was known as The Summit. Computer technology firm Compaq bought naming rights to the building after that and it was known as Compaq Center until 2003. At that point the name was dropped, coinciding with opening of the Toyota Center as a new professional sports venue in Houston. Shortly after, the building was leased out to Lakewood Church for use as its main facility. Lakewood Church purchased the building outright in 2010.Construction of The SummitIn 1971, the National Basketball Association's San Diego Rockets were purchased by new ownership group Texas Sports Investments, who moved the franchise to Houston. The city, however, lacked an indoor arena suitable to host a major sports franchise. The largest arena in the city at the time was 34-year-old Sam Houston Coliseum, but the Rockets would not even consider using it as a temporary facility. Plans were immediately undertaken to construct the new venue that would become The Summit. The Rockets played their home games in various local facilities such as Hofheinz Pavilion and the Astrodome during the interim.