Rick Craig, Simmons Vedder's director of multifamily development, tells GlobeSt.com that the minute he saw the tract with its central, prestigious location between downtown and the Galleria, he knew he wanted it. Dirt already is being moved on the project, located on the site of the Gulf Publishing Building.

Craig says Simmons Vedder, which has developed mostly garden apartments in the past, considered many different design ideas for the property. A high-rise design won after considering the tract's size tract and the views that could be preserved. Units will range from 900 sf to 4,000 sf penthouses. Craig says the average apartment size is 1,650 sf to 2,000 sf. Rent will range from $1,500 to $3,000 per month, with penthouses commanding about $7,000 monthly. The units include amenities such as marble entries, 10-foot ceilings with crown moulding in living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms and some units with hard wood floors in the living and dining rooms.

The contemporary-style building's floors and walls will be constructed with a tunnel technique to enhance structural strength and fire resistance. Some architectural friezes from the original Gulf Publishing Building will be incorporated into the porte cochere. Steinberg Collaborative of Houston and Ambrose, McEnany and House Architects, also of Houston, designed the building. Dallas-based Mesa Design is the landscape architect. Houston's D.E. Harvey is the general contractor.

The equity partners on the project are the Peabody Group, an investment fund cosponsored by the O'Connor Group and J.P. Morgan of New York City. CORUS Bank of Chicago is the lender. Tom Fish and Holly Minter of L.J. Melody's Houston office arranged the financing.