NEXT ALEXAN COMPLEX GOING UP ON LAKE-LOOKING SITE IN SPRING 
Most of the Alexan-brand apartment complexes that Trammell Crow is building haven’t strayed too far from I-10 — with ones planned for the Heights, Energy Corridor, and Wilchester — but a new one is being built much farther north on I-45 in Spring. Partnering with Prime Property Investors out of Illinois, Trammell Crow has started construction this week on the 346-unit Alexan at Auburn Lakes at W. Rayford and Gosling. And what comes with this new territory? Residents, reports Nancy Sarnoff, will have access to a “private lake” among otherĂ‚Â attractive amenities — a dog park, business center, shared kitchen, billiards room — and shell out an average rent for the 1- and 2-bedroom units of $1,199 a month. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Prime Property Investors
Sign up for the Newsletter
Uhmmm, there has been Alexan Spring on Pruitt road since 2004, I know we used to have corporate apartments in there.
Who is living in all these hundreds of massive and overpriced eye sores? It seems they can’t be built fast enough. I bet they will fall into disrepair in short order and will have a short shelf life. On the way, they’ll bring down the neighborhoods they are leeching onto. Gaa. Hideous.
@Mary, obviously people live in them and there’s more demand. Price is subjective, if you can’t afford it, does not make it overpriced. These complexes are owned by large operators and REITs who have money to maintain them well. Leeching from a neighborhood? Hardly. They bring new development, new supporting businesses, improved infrastructure etc.
Mary – I share your concerns. In desirable areas Inside the Loop I can understand apartment development, for several reasons. First, normal people can’t afford to buy a house in those areas; the apartments give them an option they can afford. Second, there are enough jobs and other things Inside the Loop, that it would be hard for them to overbuild. (At least, that’s what I keep telling myself). Third, there’s already transportation and infrastructure (like schools) to support apartments Inside the Loop.
.
Suburbs like Spring are a different story. There are far fewer jobs in the area. Houses are for sale at reasonable prices. And infrastructure? Well let’s hope they build it….
.
Bottom line, It’s not that there shouldn’t be any apartments in the suburbs – but there is a very real chance of overbuilding out there, and the consequences are very dire. We all need to watch that very carefully.
Another reason why you couldn’t pay me to live in Spring!!
I agree with ZAW; apartments in the suburbs are a tricky proposition. If they can’t fill all of those units, then rent prices go down, managers don’t screen tenants as vigorously, and the neighborhood slowly goes to shit. We’ve seen that play out numerous times; Greenspoint is still recovering from apartment overbuilding in the 1980s.
As for overbuilding inside the Loop, UH’s Barton Smith recently professed to be a bit nervous about the number of units being proposed and/or built in the Chron’s latest quarterly economic outlook. We’ll have to see how that plays out in coming months.
I do think we may eventually be headed for a rent bubble, especially as thousands of new units come on line. I know some elderly ladies who have lived in the same Heights area apt. building for years and had to move because their rent suddenly increased 25%. When rent gets really expensive, it leaves very few decent options for renters.
There’s no real mystery about why they are being where they are. Energy Corridor? Only about 10+ new office buildings under construction. Spring? Just that little ExxonMobil campus and new Southwestern Energy headquarters nearby. They see the upcoming need for housing in those areas and they’re building. Seems pretty logical and smart to me.
Steve, the net number of Southwestern Energy employees in the area may increase a little bit with the new office, but not much. All of us are already working in the area–the new office just consolidates employees into one building, instead of the five we currently inhabit.
The last time Houston experienced a long energy-related boom period, we built a ton of apartments in Southwest Houston. We know what became of them. I don’t know if the same thing will happen with these or other apartments–for one thing, the new apartments aren’t being financed by flimsy (and in many cases out-right crooked) S&Ls, as they were last time around.
And the 10,000+ employees that will be consolidating to the new ExxonMobil campus? You don’t think a few of those, particularly the ones moving from out of state, might be interested in living a little closer to the office? They’re not building these apartments because they think they’re going to sit empty.
Steve, I wasn’t disagreeing with you about the need to new housing in that area, just about whether it would be needed to house SWN employees. (And I only mentioned SWN because I have some inside knowledge that most folks don’t.) There is little doubt in my mind that these apartments will be full of young office workers for a while. But that was true of all the apartments SW Houston. The question I have is what happens to them when Houston enters a “bust” cycle. I doubt we’ll have quite a 1985-level bust and maybe we’ll have no bust at all (I hope), but who knows?