Houston bracing for a building boom

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

If you're referring to the photos in the previous post, that's Dallas. Houston has had a 1002 ft supertall, only about 30 feet shorter than Austin's new supertall, for 45 years. Plus a 992ft supertall for 44 years and a 902-footer not-quite-supertall for 43 years. Austin is competing with Houston, not the other way around.

I know that's Dallas but the thread is about Houston, I wasn't necessarily referring to a picture.

I know but Austin is currently building much more, that's what I meant.

[JManc]

Austin is a much bigger market for high rise residential that I don't think Houston can ever really compete with. Austin's tallests are residential and there is more of a pent up demand compared to Houston probably reflecting the type of buyer.

[Notonfoodstamps]

Originally Posted by JManc

Austin is a much bigger market for high rise residential that I don't think Houston can ever really compete with. Austin's tallests are residential and there is more of a pent up demand compared to Houston probably reflecting the type of buyer.

I mean Austin's high-rise residential boom has slowed down hard as well. It hasn't stopped, but the days of it casually throwing 5-6 skyscraper/high-rises every two years are largely behind it.

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by JManc

Austin is a much bigger market for high rise residential that I don't think Houston can ever really compete with. Austin's tallests are residential and there is more of a pent up demand compared to Houston probably reflecting the type of buyer.

Huh?

3 very tall residential towers are under construction in Houston with prices in the tens of millions and there are more coming.

Plus, the high end residential Kirby and the one on Bissonet that just opened

Check the prices of these units

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Bailey

3 very tall residential towers are under construction in Houston

The SSP diagrams must be woefully out of date for Houston then.

They have no very tall towers listed as U/C in Houston.

Only 2 medium-to-small towers:

The Birdsall - 34 floors
The Langley - 20 floors

[JManc]

Two medium sized towers going up in an area roughly 8 million reinforces my point.

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The SSP diagrams must be woefully out of date for Houston then.

They have no very tall towers listed as U/C in Houston.

Only 2 medium-to-small towers:

The Birdsall - 34 floors
The Langley - 20 floors

It is woefully out of date.

Add the 40 story St. Regis on Memorial with expensive unit sales.
And the 2nd tallest building in Uptown, the 50 story Ritz Carlton on Post Oak, which sold the most expensive Condo Unit in Texas history.

You're also missing the 40 story Lilie residential under construction in Upper Kirby.

That is 5 under construction with 4 mid thirty stories or taller.
And the new Allen phase II and new Autry Park Residential Tower are rumored to start in the next 6-12 months along with the projected office tower boom.

Nice try!

[Crawford]

Two or three apartment buildings don't really say much for an overall metro.

It's actually Dallas that builds tons of multifamily (tho almost entirely sprawly multifamily). Houston has a much higher share of SFH than Dallas. For multifamily, Dallas is #2 nationally and Houston is #13 nationally.

Per Census, here are the multifamily counts for Dallas and Houston through June 2026:

Dallas - 11,631
Houston - 3,985

https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/msamonthly.html

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Bailey

Add the 40 story St. Regis on Memorial with expensive unit sales.

And the 2nd tallest building in Uptown, the 50 story Ritz Carlton on Post Oak, which sold the most expensive Condo Unit in Texas history.

You're also missing the 40 story Lilie residential under construction in Upper Kirby.

That is 5 under construction with 4 mid thirty stories or taller.

Google AI says the Ritz Carlton hasn't started construction yet.

And I would not consider any of the rest as "very tall".

It's also interesting that none of the 30-40 floor residential towers currently U/C in Houston are located downtown.

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Google AI says the Ritz Carlton hasn't started construction yet.

And I would not consider any of the rest as "very tall".

It's also interesting that none of the 30-40 floor residential towers currently U/C in Houston are located downtown.

They are all inner city locations, technically "the City" to Houstonians.

Uptown is the high end shopping district so high end towers are natural there.
The Ritz has started utility work and the sales center has been completed for a while now.. also if it's not technically listed, it's a matter of weeks before they start moving dirt.


The Lilie sits on Upper Kirby just as it weaves through River Oaks so in the heart of the City.

The Birdsall is part of a new mixed use development in Greenway Plaza, called the Ro, designed by Pickard Chilton. These are actually two residential buildings UC there right now.

The St. Regis sits on Memorial, half way between Downtown and Uptown.

And the Allen and Autry Park are just outside downtown, up Allen Parkway.

The Langley is in the Museum District and there is also buildings in the works, in Rice Village - a very walkable area adjacent to Rice University. In fact more campus connections to the district are under construction.

These are ALL "deep in the heart of the City" locations....and not in the suburbs.

Downtown added a number of new residential buildings the last decade so they will get their turn again!

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Google AI says the Ritz Carlton hasn't started construction yet.

And I would not consider any of the rest as "very tall".

Not sure if it's U/C or not but AI is not always accurate, it hallucinates and contradicts itself all the time. The nerds of this site are a better source.

I feel like Houston could use lots of high-rises (like 3-600 foot buildings) before it builds bigger to fill in the sprawl and add density.

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Not sure if it's U/C or not but AI is not always accurate, it hallucinates and contradicts itself all the time. The nerds of this site are a better source.

I feel like Houston could use lots of high-rises (like 3-600 foot buildings) before it builds bigger to fill in the sprawl and add density.

As one of those "Houston urban nerds", I completely ignore the sprawl and focus on the developments inside what I consider "THE CITY".

The City, to me, is the Triangle connecting the three major nodes of the city.

Point A is downtown, Point B is the Medical Center and Point C is Uptown.

Many of the secondary urban clusters and city landmarks and urban parks are located in this triangular space.

I drew a sketch of this let me see if I can find a way to share it but we have to remember that Houston's urban design (once built out) is more of a Latin American or Asian city than a central nodal American City or possibly even a hybrid of the two.

The point in this thread is that every single one of the new projects is located "inside " the Triangle and even recently completed projects, like the Ismaili Center are located inside tje Triangle.

And there are many smaller boutique type infill projects on the boards that are adding density.

Again, I don't focus on the sprawl- I focus on what is happening inside that Urban Triangle and how to add inside those areas.