HOT BLOCKS
A flurry of apartment projects have been proposed for a stretch of West Dallas.
If several new apartment proposals pan out, a short stretch of West Dallas Street will have an outsize number of new residents.
Nearly 1,700 new units are undeway or proposed on West Dallas between Dunlavy and Shepherd, according to ApartmentData.com.
Last week, Boston-based GID Development Group started turning dirt on what will be 600 units at 3505 W. Dallas at Dunlavy in its Regent Square development. That follows the 364-unit Alta River Oaks at 3636 W. Dallas, which is under construction. Atlanta-based Wood Partners is the developer.
And a third developer, Houston-based Hanover Co., has two projects in the works: a high-rise and a mid-rise for a proposed total of 725 apartments at 3540 W. Dallas.
The projects are part of more than 6,700 units either proposed, under construction or recently completed in the area ApartmentData.com defines as the Montrose/ Museum/Midtown area. More than half of those units are proposed.
The local apartment market has remained relatively stable since the effects of Hurricane Harvey wore off. Overall occupancy across the region was 90 percent in October with an average rental rate of $1,048.
Still, multifamily experts have expressed concern over the high-end market.
“If you look at the downsizing of some of the oil and gas companies, we’re not seeing the job growth in the ‘A category’ right now. And we’ve still got a significant number of units that are under construction to be delivered in the next 18 months,” Greystar’s Stacy Hunt said in a recent interview. “Today there are still a lot of properties, particularly inside the Loop, that are giving two months free rent.”
Camden Property Trust CEO Ric Campo recently called the downtown and Greenway Plaza markets a “slugfest.” It wasn’t always that way. GID has had its site for decades, and James Linsley, its president, said the dynamic nature of the market made the property ripe for development.
“It has been amazing to see the transformation of Houston in the decades since GID first acquired this property,” he said, “and we feel patience has truly been a virtue in determining how best to knit this site into the area’s ongoing evolution.
“Few properties offer such incredible access to parks as well as business and leisure points of interest, and we are thrilled to be part of this neighborhood’s next chapter as an exemplary, walkable destination.”
Most of the apartments that had been on the 24-acre property were demolished, but the project stalled until a 21-story apartment tower was developed on a portion of the property at 3233 W. Dallas. That building, called the Sovereign, was completed in 2014.
The 600 apartments at Regent Square will be built on the west side of the company’s land, next to College Memorial Park, a historic black cemetery.
Arch-Con is the general contractor for the new units and Boston-based architecture firm CBT, in conjunction with Houston’s OJB Landscape Architecture, is the designer.