HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Is Montrose Boulevard ready for a high-rise tower with upscale brand hotel rooms with condos for sale?
Two veterans of Houston’s Inner Loop real markets say yes. Montrose area real estate investor Claude Wynn and Greg Marchbanks, part of the Bunkhouse Hotel organization believe they have a prime location for a condo/hotel tower.
So they’ve put their prime parcel on land on Montrose Boulevard in play. It’s for sale at an undisclosed price.
The Montrose parcel, 68,924 SF near the southeast corner of Montrose Boulevard and West Alabama, is considered to be sizable for this part of the Inner Loop of Houston where acreage has been divided and carved up over many decades and institutions gobbled up any stray properties whenever they could. The L-shaped Marchbanks/Wynn tract measures 1.58 acres.
“Claude Wynn and I think it’s a high-rise capable site,” says Marchbanks who worked with Kenneth Schnitzer’s Century Development early in his career.
“It’s a large site so it can actually be two parcels. One can be a high-rise and one can be a mid-rise,” says Marchbanks, adding that downtown views from a Montrose tower would be A-plus
The ideal scheme is for the taller tower to have a hotel dominate the lower floors of the building with upscale residences above. Branding a dual-use tower of condos and a hotel with a hospitality flag such as Ritz-Carlton is common around the nation but somewhat of a rarity in Houston. “We think there is demand for hospitality, a hotel with branded residences above it,” Marchbanks says.
Marchbanks just completed development of the 71-room Hotel Saint Augustine in conjunction with the Menil Collection museum organization. The Saint Augustine boutique hotel is located about three blocks west of Montrose. In the past, Marchbanks has partnered with Austin hotelier Liz Lambert to form the Bunkhouse group, which has several Austin boutique hostelries including Hotel San Jose.
Marchbanks said he and Claude Wynn aren’t going to develop the two new towers on their Montrose site themselves, although Marchbanks says he might participate in the development in the ownership of the a new development there going forward.
Houston broker Rudy Hubbard of RH Interests has been retained to sell the 68,924 SF site, which includes a 30,000-SF office building at 3815 Montrose. Claude Wynn Interests has its offices in the at 3815 Montrose building
Even though Marchbanks and Wynn are selling their prime Montrose site, there’s a possibility that Marchbanks may participate in the ownership of a new development going forward, Marchbanks says.
As 2025 begins, the Marchbanks/Wynn site is fully in-play and there’s no doubt that the future is looking up on Montrose Boulevard, Marchbanks says.
Montrose Boulevard – a north-south artery running through a heavily-treed, century-old neighborhood to Houston’s museums and the Mecom Fountain. In the 1960s Houston’s first hippies emerged in Montrose in the ‘60s and over the years the art scene, nightlife and culinary innovators followed in droves.
In recent years substantial new development has sprouted up around the intersection of Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer Road.
Hanover Company, the multifamily firm, discovered the upside of the Montrose market when it developed a 30-story apartment tower on Montrose Boulevard, just south of Westheimer in 2016.
Then Hines chimed in next door to Hanover with the Residences at La Colombe d’Or, a 34-story tower with 285 upscale rental units that opened in 2020 to elevate the stakes on Montrose Boulevard properties.
Radom Capital recently developed the Montrose Collective, a mixed-use mid-rise at 888 Westheimer. Radom, led by Steve Radom, is also redeveloping the nearby Tower Theater
In 2020, Skanska paid $27 million to buy about 2.8 acres at the southeast corner of Montrose and Westheimer. No vertical construction has occurred, but Skanska has discussed a mixed-use development for the site
New development has been teed up for a former Montrose property that was formerly used a grocery store. The ownership of Kroger property is controlled by the Southeastern Real Estate Group, which is based in Augusta, Ga. The Kroger site covers about 2 acres, is bordered by Lovett, Yoakum, Hawthorne and Montrose Boulevard.
The Georgia developer demolished the old Kroger, a key retail outlet in the heart of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. The store operated 24 hours a day at one time and the community nicknamed it the “Disco Kroger.”
Feb. 28, 2025 Realty News Report Copyright 2025
Image: Courtesy Rudy Hubbard, RH Interests Copyright 2025
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