Moody National Will Build $35M, 200-Unit Tower

The developer picked up the site at the intersection of Woodbury and Cambridge streets in an off-market transaction with a local private seller. Brett Moody, chairman and CEO of the locally based development company, says he'd had his eye on the land to build a residential product targeting a built-in tenant base from the entire spectrum of the medical community, from full-fledged physicians and nurses to residents.

The fact the parcel is situated within 100 feet of the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine's proposed 2.7 million sf is underwriting the project's potential as are the proposed rents. "We've projected rents at around $1.65 per sf, with an average unit measuring somewhere around 950 sf," Moody tells GlobeSt.com. "We want to offer a lot of variety from smaller studio units to larger luxury units." He adds that Moody will manage and lease the tower.

Cambridge Tower marks one of many projects that Moody is developing. It's also under way with the renovation of the 297-room Residence Inn-Medical Center/Reliant Park at 7710 Main St.

Moody says there are more projects in the Texas Medical Center on his drawing boards for this year. "We currently control 32 million sf of space in the Medical Center, with eight million sf under development or in the planning stages," he says. "By early 2008, that will be slightly under 40 million sf we have."

Alex Sims, acquisitions associate with Moody National, represented his company in the land acquisition. Robert Frank, agent with Karpas Properties in Houston, represented the seller. An architect and general contractor have not been chosen for Cambridge Tower.