Chelsea Montrose Tower Kicks Off Construction with a New Name

CHELSEA MONTROSE TOWER KICKS OFF CONSTRUCTION WITH A NEW NAME Rendering of Proposed The Carter, Formerly Chelsea Montrose, 4 Chelsea Blvd., Museum District, HoustonPrompted by a press release, the HBJ and the Chronicle announced yesterday that construction has begun on the new apartment complex at 4 Chelsea Blvd., just east of Montrose Blvd. along the southern edge of Hwy. 59. in the Museum District. The 305-unit, 20-story building will be called The Carter, both publications reported. That’s a new name — so new, in fact, that the website for the developer, Dallas’s StreetLights Residential, still identifies the project by its former title, Chelsea–Montrose. The Chelsea name and its NYC pedigree may have conjured up unpleasant images of unmade beds, ugliness, and loud music among prospective tenants, but the new name has its own rich NYC backstory — though an entirely fictional one. As a commenter on HAIF notes, “the Carter” was the name of the complex Wesley Snipes spends the first act of the early-nineties movie New Jack City turning into a vertically integrated crack-producing-and-marketing enterprise. More recently, the appellation has come to be used as an affectionate nickname for troubled residential projects seen to be slipping into similar directions. [Houston Chronicle; Lansing City Pulse; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: StreetLights Residential

9 Comment

  • Chelsea, Manhattan is a actually a fairly tony neighborhood, more so I will argue than what residents of this building (ne Chelsea-Montrose) will find of their neighborhood.

  • The Carter? (gag)

    Chelsea-Montrose was a MUCH better name …. lets hope the people who wrote the articles were having a bit of fun.

  • Nice Leonard Cohen lyric reference, Swampy!

  • The Carter, really?! Is Lil Wayne a part owner?

  • I’m sure they’re just trying to pay homage to hometown girl Beyonce with the “Carter” appellation, and that the crackhead connotations are entirely accidental. Or something like that. :snicker:

  • i almost moved to portland st. once just so i could say i live off of chelsea st. it’s a cool name whereas the carter is just plain repugnant. i suppose that does make it a much better fit in the long run.

  • I think they’re attempting to subtlety honor Beyonce Knowles-Carter. Calling it the Beyonce would have been a bit too on-the-nose.

  • I find it interesting, given that I live on Chelsea, that the little segment where this building is going in is technically called “Chelsea Place.” There are now only three properties on Chelsea Place, of which this is one, and all have single digit addresses. The Joy School is 1 Chelsea Place and across the street, the professional building is 2 Chelsea Place.

    This development is using the single digit 4, but the street appellation “Boulevard.” A little further towards Main, the addresses are all three digits (703, 705, etc.). Never understood why the numbers changed, and now why this development wouldn’t use “Place” instead of “Boulevard.”