The 4-story apartment complex going up on the northeast corner of Westheimer and Fondren roads (where Prosperity Bank and Landry’s Seafood Restaurant were torn down in a mildly apocalyptic display back in 2014) is now pushing leases and offering would-be tenants a chance to scope the place out. The place has also gotten a name tweak since the project was first announced: the former Crest at Fondren is going by West & Fondren these days.
The complex has sprung up just south of the late-seventies garden-style Victoria Place apartments (which appear to have been bought 2 summers ago by an entity controlled by developer Michael Novelli). The Fondren-side entrance of the 4-story building is clearly labeled as such:
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The south-facing Westheimer facade does not appear to be labeled West, however:
The complex consists of 2 sets of units wrapped around central courtyards on either side of a parking garage. At least one of those courtyards has a pool:Â
- West & Fondren [Lennar Multifamily Communities]
- Previously on Swamplot: This Demolition Marks the End of Prosperity on the Corner of Fondren and Westheimer; Daily Demolition Report: Losing Status
Images: GDA Architects via BuzzBuzzHome
I had a chuckle at the artist’s rendition of people actually walking around – in suits, no less. Houstonians don’t walk anywhere and, if these people were living there, they would be hightailing it into the air-conditioning.
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I will say it is cute to turn the complex’s name into “West & Fondren”: not the most imaginative but clearly functional to those who may forget where they live.
About the only way we’d ever see this pedestrian tableau is if my Westheimer Bus Rapid Transit fantasy came to life first. Also, thankfully Fondren Road and the actual West Road do not intersect, or this name would be confusing.
This place will be just another ghetto enclave in 40 years.
@MajorMarket
Anytime you make a statement like “Houstonians don’t walk anywhere” it automatically discredits/makes anything you write seem empty and not worth reading. The fact is, there are a number of Houstonians who:
A) have no choice but walk/bike everywhere,
B) choose to walk to destinations, or
C) really want to walk to destinations but thanks to narrow minded thinking like yours never get the supportive infrastructure that is conducive to walking
People walk in the evening and morning, and they’re most likely at work during heat of the day. Air condition ain’t always required, especially if it’s not walking too long for commenters that think you have to be only in someplace air conditioned 24/7.
Ah, yes. We all have to critique everything in life, don’t we now…
@Major Market
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Yes, walking around in suits in June…in Houston. No wonder this city is so ugly – designed by people that have never stepped foot here. #keephoustoncorporate
needs more cowbell
@ JJ: Let me try to fix the sentence. “Houstonians that are of the relevant socioeconomic class don’t walk anywhere, but they do talk a lot about walking on the internet.” They sure as hell don’t walk around in front of an apartment complex. Few Houstonians that live in an apartment complex such as this will even bother to use the amenities that they’ve paid for and imagined that they might use.
Building tomorrows slums, today!
Im sure these people in suits will be walking to the check cashing store, smoke shop, or goodwill store right across the street. I used to live right here, this rendition is not a reality. The only thing close to being walkable is the minuti coffee across westheimer, but crossing westheimer is not easy feat.
It still has “Fondren” in the name. It’s doomed.
I’m with Major Market. Houstonians don’t walk. It’s not that we don’t want to, but let’s get real, if it’s not the heat/humidity, it’s the monsoon-like rain. I can’t understand all this talk about “walkability” when one is highly likely to be drenched in either sweat or rainwater 10 months out of the year….we don’t want to walk around like a bunch of smelly Europeans, do we?