Dallas apartment developer Streetlights Residential is planning to build this 20-story apartment tower on the former site of the Eye Excellence clinic at 4 Chelsea Blvd., backing up to the Southwest Fwy. just south of where it spits out the Downtown Spur. The company bought the property behind the Chelsea Market shopping center last September, tacking on an additional freeway-facing parcel. The rendering above shows the not-quite-final scheme from Dallas architects Gromatzky Dupree & Associates.
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Chelsea Montrose will include 303 apartments; units on the top floor will be multi-story. It’ll abut the Main St. exit from U.S. 59, but all access will be from Chelsea Blvd., between Montrose and Travis St. — just west of a residential neighborhood west of Main. A source tells Swamplot demolition of the 6,233-sq.-ft. 1940 mansion on the site is scheduled to begin in the next month or 2. Construction of the building and its attached garage, which could take up to 2 1/2 years, would begin shortly thereafter.
Here’s a plat of the property, approved by the city planning department last summer:
At 20 stories and 250 ft. tall, the building should match the Museum Tower on Montrose Blvd., less than a quarter mile southwest of the site.
Rendering: Streetlights Residential/Gromatzky Dupree & Associates
Wow, the Museum Tower blocked the downtown views from 5000 Montrose and now this will block the Museum Tower views. Same thing will probably happen to the Ashby Highrise after it is built. Times are a changin…
All of this apartment construction reminds me of the early 1980s…and not in a good way. I don’t care how good our economy is, I can’t imagine coming close to filling all of the units coming on line in the next 18 months. I don’t know how many of the jobs being created in Houston are paying salaries decent enough to afford the rent in these “luxury” units.
I’m a bit surprised that many of these projects, particularly the high-rises, are not condominiums. I’m guessing a fair amount of people who want to live in the Inner Loop would rather buy than rent, as evidenced by the frenzied inner-loop housing market.
The Chelsea Market must be happy with this many residents moving in next door. The potential for renovation and upgrading with new tenants is much higher now…and the potential new rents.
@roadchick, new transplants prefer to rent for the first couple of years after they move, and the Oil & Gas industry is bringing 100k plus a year jobs in droves. So, in short, they’ll easily fill all high end rentals around Houston, in long… Oil could always tank like it did in the 80’s, but then it’s a much bigger problem for Houston as a whole, not just high end rental markets.
This little wedge of land south of 59 and between Montrose and Main is like the Bermuda Triangle of Houston. It’s not part of the street grid, and there are no roads that connect through it. Few Houstonians probably even know there’s anything back there. There interesting 80+ year old houses, dead end snippets of roads, and well kept old garden apartments. It’s a very sleepy little wedge of the City. It was inevitable that that would change, given the proximity of this spot to downtown, Rice, the Museum District, Montrose, etc.
Demand for inner loop apartments is not letting up anytime soon and supply is not outstripping demand. I lived on Allen Pkwy and paid @$1,000 for a 730 sq ft apartment back in 09-10. The same apartment was renting for $1,300 last year. It is now renting for over $1,500. The complex is mostly full and you really have to look at least a month in advance of moving to get a unit.
Also, when energy companies relocate people, they give them a “use it or lose it” housing stipend. A young married couple can easily get $2,000-2,500 stipend if they are valued employees. And, as noted above, a lot of young energy biz hires are getting $100k salaries fresh out of school. Those salaries are not enough to snag a single family home inside the loop or even a town home in the nicer parts inside the loop, but is more than enough to afford $1,500+ for a nice apartment.
SF, agreed. I must have driven along its sides a hundred times without realizing it was there.
Seeing oil hit $40 a barrel would be quite a show.
Can we please have a grocery store on this side of the freeway now?
Keep em’ comin’!
Nice looking building. Damn shame about the 1940 mansion that will be destroyed. Any chance this gets built on Bissonet?
300 units here, 300 units up the street. Not like there are thousands of new condos being built inside the loop.
This will be absorbed like nothing.
There goes my neighborhood! It has indeed been a hidden gem of a neighborhood, South End Villa, and unless there is a delay, I missed selling out by a few months
@Spencer Howard – I thought the same thing!
I like the comparison to the Bermuda Triangle. We cut through there often, especially on the weekend. I guess the secret is out. Perhaps this will spur some development on Main?
I wonder what the Joy School parents think of this development?
Uh-oh… another apartment development right next to single family homes. Watch out!! Or, will this one be deemed ok because it’s not in tony Boulevard Oaks?
NJR said: “Uh-oh… another apartment development right next to single family homes. Watch out!! Or, will this one be deemed ok because it’s not in tony Boulevard Oaks?”
Not necessarily … I am currently looking at what I need to do to start a “Ashby” type lawsuit ….
I dream of reasonable set-backs for all of the new apartment complexes to come in the Museum District/Montrose, over the next few years. Oh, and side walks around these buildings that aren’t Houston’s standard dinky-ass 3 ft are included in this fantasy as well. God forbid more than two people need to pass each other on a Houston sidewalk at the same time. I guess that’s Houston, always forward thinking.
@beth — looks like they already have raised funds and locked in land for an expansion, I’m assuming in that same location? http://www.thejoyschool.org/page.cfm?p=556
I am going to miss the old place, was a great place to work of eleven years!!
So whatever happened with the new office building to go up next to the small art museum just over 59 in place of the current small brick home selling African art. Seems like the sign for it has been up as long as I can remember.
@ Beth : Besides the second, smaller building I don’t see any mention of an additional land purchase that what has been done already.
@ drew T : I was wondering that myself …. I guess they are waiting to get a primary tenant to sign before starting construction.
So, what’s the deal with the 6,000 sqft mansion on the property? Was it anything of note?
WR — Lawsuit? Come on people….it’s located right off Montrose and down the street from Museum Tower. There are plenty of townhouses in the area. It’s also not very “hidden.” I live in the Museum District and cut through the neighborhood nearly every day because it’s a quick and easy way to get onto Montrose.
Burmuda Triangle is a poor way to describe this area. Lawndale, Craft Center, and other things make it much more full of life.
I live in museum tower and have noticed they quit working on the high-rise about a month ago. No activity. Any updates?
We live two lots (not blocks) east of this, across from Joy School, and have mixed feelings about it. The excavation has just begun this week, and it is loud. I am sure construction will continue for 18 mos. or more, and probably like two years. I am hopeful it will not hurt our property values, but instead bolster them. This little “Bermuda Triangle” is very interesting, close in and yet people cut through Chelsea all the time, at high rates of speed. I am frankly surprised that the Joy School can’t get a school zone put in. I suspect this construction should slow the speeders down.