Job Growth Spurs Multifamily Construction Wave
Caydon is expanding its first Midtown project with a 2.5 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Houston’s Innovation Corridor, between two key employment centers and Texas Medical Center.
HOUSTON—Strong market fundamentals and consistent job growth have helped spur a construction wave. As an example, Caydon recently announced a plan to expand its first Midtown project with a 2.5 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Houston’s Innovation Corridor called Laneways. Caydon will break ground on the project in early 2020.
It will span three city blocks bounded by Main, Fannin, Tuam and McGowen streets. The development will include multifamily residences, Midtown’s first high-rise condo tower, a 200-key boutique hotel, 13,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, art and outdoor spaces.
Drewery Place, Caydon’s $200 million residential tower in phase one of Laneways, is located on the METRO Rail between Houston’s two key employment centers near downtown and the world’s largest medical complex–Texas Medical Center. Its neighbors also include Midtown Park and a new Whole Foods.
Designed by Houston-based Ziegler Cooper Architects and built by HOAR Construction, Drewery Place will have 357 apartment units with an average size of 1,003 square feet, ranging from micro-sized, studio and junior to one- and two-bedroom apartments. Caydon will begin condo pre-leasing next month and doors will open in July 2019.
As a novel part of the project, a partnership has been forged with Houston Art Alliance–Caydon’s first real estate collaboration. As Houston continues to be recognized as an art capital, Houston Art Alliance and Caydon will be peppering the private development with original artwork. The organizations ran a Houston-wide competition and selected 29 local artists to showcase their masterpieces in Drewery Place’s hallway spaces, a garage mural and an atrium. A few selected artists include Adela Andea, Patricia A. Barrera, Anat Ronen, Jessica Rice and Nicky M. Davis.
The developer will gift an Alexa to all incoming tenants. IT consultants will be on hand to set up new tenants with several smart features including programmable lighting, Honeywell thermostats, Latch Bluetooth-enabled door hardware, license plate recognition and a resident portal.
The custom-designed resident portal, Caydon HQ, allows tenants to book move ins, receive delivery notifications, advertise services to other tenants and get discounts from local businesses. Caydon has also teamed up with Apartment Butler to offer housekeeping, dog walking and dry cleaning services to residents.
Paying homage to the developer’s hometown, Drewery Place is a well-known laneway in Melbourne, Australia. This was only fitting as the project resides on Drew Street in Midtown. Caydon plans to bring the Melbourne lifestyle to Houston through the 27-story tower’s design concepts, interiors, amenities, programming and retail offerings.
Drewery Place will be equipped with Melbourne-styled interiors and amenities, including a pool with swim-up bar, private cabanas, yoga studio and outdoor yoga lawn, private dog park, package lockers and dry-cleaning lockers, concierge service, valet and sky lounge with downtown views.
“Caydon’s vision for Drewery Place is to bring the Melbourne lifestyle to Houston through new concepts, such as European modern-interiors, smart home automation, ground-floor retail and high-end amenities,” Joe Russo, principal of Caydon, tells GlobeSt.com. “We are also looking to embrace Houston’s creativity and culture by working together with our tenants and neighbors to host community events, including yappy hours, yoga events, pool parties and more.”
Black Swan Yoga’s instructors will lead community events on Saturdays with Earthcraft Juicery’s drinks to follow. Caydon will also host outdoor theater nights to take place on the lawn, as well as seasonal pool parties and yappy hours for four-legged friends.
Houston multifamily recorded a strong first quarter after absorbing 3,984 units, with more than 2,000 units absorbed in March, according to a report by JLL. Occupancy saw an uptick in the first quarter, up 20 basis points from the end of last quarter.
Moreover, the construction pipeline is growing with more than 18,000 units under construction so far in the year. Some 4,600 multifamily units were delivered to the market in first quarter, including four projects in southeast Houston. The heaviest construction concentration is taking place in Katy and within Houston’s inner loop, says JLL.