Houston-based Hines announced April 4 it broke ground on the towering 46-story apartment high-rise known as The Preston downtown.
The luxury apartments will be where the old Houston Chronicle parking garage was, at the corner of Preston and Milam, and about a block from the newspaper’s old headquarters, where Hines and Ivanhoe Cambridge are developing the 47-story Texas Tower.
The site is located within an Opportunity Zone. The greater Houston area counts 148 zones, with 105 in Harris County alone.
Hines is developing The Preston with the Cresset-Diversified QOZ Fund, a fund started by Cresset Partners and Diversified Real Estate Capital in 2018 to invest in qualified Opportunity Zones around the country.
The Opportunity Zone Act, part of the 2017 tax changes, lets property investors create "Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds" that can be used to reinvest proceeds from the sale of long-held properties back into Opportunity Zones. Landlords are eligible for tax breaks if they reinvest at least 90 percent of the gains from those sales back into the federally approved Opportunity Zones, according to a report by the American City Business Journals, the Houston Business Journal’s parent company. New rules related to Opportunity Zone investments haven't yet been released.
Unlike prior community-investment programs, the new law doesn't require property investors to meet specific job-creation or affordability mandates.
The Preston will be Hines’ most impressive residential community to date, Kevin Batchelor, senior managing director, said in a statement. The 373-unit project will also be the tallest apartment building downtown, the statement read.
Retail and restaurant space will take up about 6,800 square feet of The Preston's ground floor. The project should be complete by the third quarter of 2022.
TRENDING
ENERGY
Houston energy co. files second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in two years
Houston-based Vanguard Natural Resources Inc. (OTC-QX: VNRR) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection again, this time with nearly $1.2 billion in debt.
ENERGY
Update: Shelter-in-place for chemical fire near Houston lifted
Local emergency departments are responding to a fire at the KMCO chemical processing operations facility at 16503 Ramsey Road in Crosby.
HIRING IN LEGAL
Oil & Gas Attorney
Lathrop Gage LLP
The Preston's amenities include:
Event space, catering kitchen and an outdoor patio
24-hour concierge
Valet service
Electric vehicle chargers
Fitness center with on-demand virtual trainer
10th-level amenity deck with a zero-edge pool, shaded cabanas and daybeds, yoga lawn, covered terraces and an outdoor kitchen pavilion with gas grills
Multiple social lounges with complimentary beverage and coffee bars
Guest suites
Wine tasting room
Pet spa
Bike shop and storage facility
Resident coworking and conference spaces
The project team includes Munoz + Albin, design architect; Mayfield and Ragni Studio (MaRS), interior architect; TBG, landscape architect; and Harvey Builders, general contractor. All are either based in or have an office in Houston.