Atlanta’s Novare Group is getting ready to announce construction of its second SkyHouse apartment tower in Houston. According to the company, it’ll be “just like” the 24-story building (and adjacent parking garage) currently under construction on Main St. between Pease and Leeland downtown (shown in the rendering above, which in turn looks very similar to the company’s SkyHouse developments in other cities). Novare appears to have designated the building the River Oaks SkyHouse. Though it’ll be a bit south and west and on the other side of the tracks from the actual River Oaks, the new building will sit closer to its namesake than the River Oaks District mixed-use project currently under construction directly south of it.
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Novare hasn’t officially reported the tower’s location, but the address listed for the project among data providers is 2013 Westcreek Ln., which likely puts it on the site of the 2 Westcreek Apartment buildings sold last year. 2021 and 2041 Westcreek, immediately to the west of the Target parking lot (and labeled Bldgs. B and D in the map at right), are at the northeast corner of Westcreek and San Felipe. They were vacated last November, in advance of an unannounced redevelopment project.
- Previously on Swamplot: The Demolition Situation at the Westcreek Apartments, Evictions at Westcreek Apartments Behind So-Called River Oaks District To Make Way for Demolition, Development, The Street Shops in Store for SkyHouse Houston, Now Under Construction Downtown, Where Downtown’s New Residential Tower Will Go
Rendering of SkyHouse Houston: Simpson Property Group. Map: CBRE (PDF)
What an excellent location! San Felipe and the 610 feeder are such great, traffic-free roads that I can’t imagine how this could cause gridlock.
The empty apartments in that complex were easy to spot when I stopped in at Target over the holidays–figured something like that was up.
Perhaps by the time this gets built, Target will have fixed its credit card problem, thus making it safe for SkyHouse residents to descend from their lofty perches and shop next door.
So the rest of the old Westcreek apartments are going to stay for now? Weren’t these up for sale a few months ago?
@Joe, Get real, man!
Nobody would blink at an even taller office building, but you’re going to insinuate this new tower would add tons of traffic to the intersection?
Houstonians such as this would not make it in any other city, ever. Construction and progress are part of any city. . .
Geeeeeezuzzzz.
I really hope they don’t double the footprint and take up additional space for just a garage.. And if they do, I hope they at least make the garage taller for additional capacity when they build whatever high rise they are planning for the southern half of the 3 apt complexes on the west side of Westcreek.
The streetcar idea along San Felipe from BLVD Place, down Westcreek, Bettis, and then south along the train tracks to Highland Village would be awesome for interlinking all of these new developments through that area (blvd, Westcreek, river oaks district, mid lane, and of course highland village).
I believe the old westcreek apts were just sold, (though the new company plans on continuing to lease them for the time being).. Hopefully it’s just a matter of time before westcreek becomes one large singular mixed use development.
It seems like a significant portion of Swamplot comments can be summarized as “OMG something new! More traffic! Get off my lawn and stop playing that crazy music!” You live in one of the largest cities in the United States, with a strong economy (from which you benefit), and that means new things will be built so that more people can live in desirable parts of town. This is how cities work. Yes, we will have more traffic, until we figure out that there are other ways to move people around. If you want to live in a dull little pretend city, move to Austin.
I agree with Teodoro. This is actually a good site for a high rise. It’s adjacent to a freeway and served by a 4 lane road. The buildings around it are big-boxes and mid-rises that won’t be overwhelmed by a building that size. I can’t envision any of the neighbors making a stink over it, and as I’ve said before, they’re the ones who really matter in land-use planning.
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I would go so far as to say that we need to channel high-rise development to sites like this. Give incentives in the form of easing Planning requirements for this kind of site.
the tower is appopriate for the area. the traffic in the area is already quite intense but it would work for me if I worked in uptown.
Development that places dense residential within the urban core (rather than elsewhere in the region) may generate traffic locally and at particular intersections, but it decreases traffic regionally and probably has a nearly net-neutral affect on congestion in the urban core.