A walkable design
Montrose Collective to incorporate office, retail space — and a library
Construction has started on Montrose Collective, the lower Westheimer mixed-use development meant to showcase a new generation of design that moves away from staid office spaces and stucco strip centers.
The project, which is being developed by Radom Capital (of Heights Mercantile fame), will incorporate a walkable design where shaded, tiled sidewalks weave through five buildings — three of them new — collectively housing more than 150,000 square feet of office and retail space, the developer said. The Montrose branch of the Houston Public Library will also relocate to the development from its longtime home at 4100 Montrose.
Austin-based Michael Hsu Office of Architecture designed the complex, along with OJB Landscape Architecture. Hsu's company, which has been designing projects in Houston for more than a decade, recently opened an office here.
The project is expected to bring six new dining op
tions to the area, along with 15 retail spaces for local and “first-to-market” tenants, the developer said. The complex will be ideal for walking, with a canopy of live oaks and covered walkways. Parking will be in a garage at the back of the property.
“Our team emphasized wellness as a project goal, combining planted patios with abundant energy-efficient glazing,” Evan Peterson, development director of Radom Capital, said in a press release. “We also believe that great placemaking requires differentiation and texture, so we included public art, exposed structural members and warm shaded soffits to create a uniquely layered urban environment.”
The design will include elements of biophilia: a green wall, draping plants and a network of custom planters throughout the property. The library is being designed with an outdoor planted reading terrace.
The project is under construction in the 800 block of Westheimer at Grant Street. It is being financed by institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. D.E. Harvey Builders is the general contractor.