HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – With what may be Houston’s highest residential rents ever, a new apartment tower called The Langley, is nearing completion near the Museum District on a controversial site of a proposed project that was attacked as the “Ashby High-Rise.”
Rising 20 stories over an old oak-studded neighborhood, The Langley, located at 1717 Bissonnet, will have 134 apartment homes. The initial residents are expected to arrive next month.
Average Monthly Rent: $13,000
Leasing has started. And the rental rates may be the highest rents in the history of Houston multifamily.
Monthly rents start at $9,100 at The Langley.
By comparison, the average monthly rent for all Houston-area apartments is $1,272, according to a Colliers multifamily study.
The Langley’s developer, StreetLights Residential, has not released the rental rates for the building’s finest apartments. But for the penthouses near the top of The Langley, rents may be close to $20,000 per month.
A large unit on the 18th floor of the tower is offered for $19,035 per month, according to a listing on the HAR.com website operated by Houston Association of Realtors. The 3,396-SF unit has three bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and a 23’ by 14’ outdoor terrace with a grill.
“Tailored for refined living, each residence features wide plank wood floors, bespoke island kitchen with Wolf gas cooking, wine fridge, service kitchen with secondary refrigerator and dishwasher and separate icemaker,” says the HAR listing for the unit.
Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty has the exclusive listing on The Langley, which is just north of Rice University, near the upscale Boulevard Oaks and Southampton neighborhoods.
The Langley has only eight units per floor. It’s two- and three-bedroom homes range from 2,165 to 3,401 SF.
“The Langley was conceived to deliver something Houston hasn’t seen before—a boutique high-rise that lives like a private estate,” said M. Stephen Meek, Senior Vice President of Development at StreetLights Residential. “From the limited number of residences per floor to the detail, comfort, and craftsmanship often found in custom homes, every decision was intentional.”
The original plans for the residential building called for a larger tower on the 1.6-acre tract at the southeast corner of Bissonnet and Ashby Street.
For decades, Maryland Manor, a 67-unit, two-story apartment building was situated on the site in peaceful co-existence with the neighbors. But then, about nine years ago, a development group called Buckhead Investments announced plans to build a high-rise on the Maryland Manor site.
The neighborhood exploded with angry feedback as residents objected to the thought of a tower looming over their homes. Although Houston is known for having no typical zoning regulations, the neighbors fought back in a protracted battle that resulted in a lawsuit.
Yellow and black protest signs covered the area and condemned the proposed building as a “Tower of Traffic.” Some signs carried an image of a skyscraper that was transformed into a threatening monster.
The disagreement was complicated by the fact that the property faces Bissonnet Street, which is primarily a commercial thoroughfare as it stretches for miles and miles into the southwestern suburbs. A few blocks west on Bissonnet, several of homes, some built in the 1930s, have been converted to commercial use. About three years ago, the Platform Group developed a three-story building with a ground floor restaurant at 2132 Bissonnet at Shepherd Drive.
Buckhead Investments’ initial plan from years ago called for a 21-story tower with 228 residential units and 10,000-SF of retail.
The old Maryland Manor apartments on the site were demolished in 2013. For years a chain-link fence surrounded the empty field of grass waiting on stand-by under a cloud of uncertainty.
StreetLights Residential, a Dallas-based firm with a long track record finally took over the development, and was eventually able to hammer out an agreement.
The Langley will be 20 stories, not 21 stories as originally planned. It will have only 134 units, not 228 units. The new tower will have no retail component. The Langley’s driveway will empty only on to Bissonnet, not onto the Ashby side street.
StreetLights broke ground in 2023. Residents will trickle in in the coming months. All of The Langley’s units and amenity spaces should be completely finished before the end of the summer.
Will all of the Ashby high-rise opponents be satisfied with The Langley’s presence in the neighborhood? Probably not. But neighborhood’s opposition will hold lessons for future generations.
Boilerplate: StreetLights Creative Studio served as architect and interior designer for The Langley. SLR Construction, LLC is the general contractor. The project is developed in partnership with Hunt Companies. StreetLights’ local developments include The James, The Ivy, and The Carter.
Jan. 19, 2026 Realty News Report Copyright 2026
Image courtesy StreetLights.
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