SoDo On Main: Multifamily At 1625 Main St.

[jmitch94]

As someone who is studying the methods used by developers (not claiming to be an expert by any means), these decisions to build or not are very complex decisions with lots of market research and analysis. I guarantee they have a better understanding of what can work after all they have people who's sole job is to preform these analyses. Granted some businesses are going to be more risk averse than others and wont build when others will. 

[Houston19514]

As of 2nd quarter, 2016, downtown has a 56.2% occupancy rate.  207 new units were delivered during the second quarter.  Net absorption was 142 units.  FWIW, downtown has, by far, the lowest occupancy of all the submarkets in the Houston metro.  The metro-wide occupancy rate is 89.7%   I think the downtown submarket has a great future, but there is little doubt there will be a glut of apartments in the short term.

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had a 78.4% occupancy rate.  1,404 new units delivered during the quarter, with 732 units net absorption.

[MarathonMan]

On September 15, 2016 at 11:39 AM, Houston19514 said:

As of 2nd quarter, 2016, downtown has a 56.2% occupancy rate.  207 new units were delivered during the second quarter.  Net absorption was 142 units.  FWIW, downtown has, by far, the lowest occupancy of all the submarkets in the Houston metro.  The metro-wide occupancy rate is 89.7%   I think the downtown submarket has a great future, but there is little doubt there will be a glut of apartments in the short term.

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had a 78.4% occupancy rate.  1,404 new units delivered during the quarter, with 732 units net absorption.

Could it be that the low downtown occupancy rates are misleading?  With so few established units downtown, the initial high vacancy in newly-delivered properties will significantly decrease the occupancy rate for the sub market, as those new units make up a significant chunk of the overall inventory.  In a different sub market, where there are already many more thousands of established units, new deliveries of a few hundred units won't impact overall vacancy rates much.

[DrLan34]

2 hours ago, MarathonMan said:

Could it be that the low downtown occupancy rates are misleading?  With so few established units downtown, the initial high vacancy in newly-delivered properties will significantly decrease the occupancy rate for the sub market, as those new units make up a significant chunk of the overall inventory.  In a different sub market, where there are already many more thousands of established units, new deliveries of a few hundred units won't impact overall vacancy rates much.

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Rents-occupancy-rates-signal-shifts-in-apartment-7968621.php 

 

"At the rental market's August 2014 peak, the occupancy rate for Class A apartments was 84 percent. Now there is an obvious divide. Among Class A apartments that have been in operation for 13 months or more, the occupancy rate is 91 percent, but those open 13 months or less have a 23.2 percent rate. "

 

Edited September 17, 2016 by DrLan34

[UtterlyUrban]

On September 15, 2016 at 9:39 AM, Houston19514 said:

As of 2nd quarter, 2016, downtown has a 56.2% occupancy rate.  207 new units were delivered during the second quarter.  Net absorption was 142 units.  FWIW, downtown has, by far, the lowest occupancy of all the submarkets in the Houston metro.  The metro-wide occupancy rate is 89.7%   I think the downtown submarket has a great future, but there is little doubt there will be a glut of apartments in the short term.

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had a 78.4% occupancy rate.  1,404 new units delivered during the quarter, with 732 units net absorption.

Can you point me to the source for this?  I would enjoy learning about it.

[Houston19514]

CBRE

[HoustonMidtown]

Blue and red lighting at night

[enriquewx91]

I like it, nothing flashy

[DrLan34]

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2016/10/20/new-luxury-apartment-tower-opens-in-downtown.html

 

"Right next door is SkyHouse Houston, a 24-story, 336-unit tower at 1625 Main St., which opened in summer 2014 and leased up faster than expected. The twin project is now fully leased, according to company officials."

 

 

[Houston19514]

On 9/15/2016 at 11:39 AM, Houston19514 said:

As of 2nd quarter, 2016, downtown has a 56.2% occupancy rate.  207 new units were delivered during the second quarter.  Net absorption was 142 units.  FWIW, downtown has, by far, the lowest occupancy of all the submarkets in the Houston metro.  The metro-wide occupancy rate is 89.7%   I think the downtown submarket has a great future, but there is little doubt there will be a glut of apartments in the short term.

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had a 78.4% occupancy rate.  1,404 new units delivered during the quarter, with 732 units net absorption.

 

Downtown had a good third quarter.

Occupancy rate climbed from 56.2% to 58.4%, with 224 unit net absorption, up from 142 units absorbed in the second quarter. 338 new units were delivered in 3rd quarter.

 

The area CBRE calls "Central" Houston had net absorption of 1,170 units in 3rd quarter!  https://researchgateway.cbre.com/Layouts/GKCSearch/DownloadHelper.ashx

[MarathonMan]

My gut tells me downtown will continue to draw new tenants faster than surrounding areas... It's coming to life as residents continue to migrate in; new hotels, restaurants, bars are delivering; the adjacent Buffalo Bayou Park is finished; and the Super Bowl buzz will soon skyrocket. New retail is inevitable.  Downtown is going to be the new "It" place to live. 

[HtownWxBoy]

5 hours ago, MarathonMan said:

My gut tells me downtown will continue to draw new tenants faster than surrounding areas... It's coming to life as residents continue to migrate in; new hotels, restaurants, bars are delivering; the adjacent Buffalo Bayou Park is finished; and the Super Bowl buzz will soon skyrocket. New retail is inevitable.  Downtown is going to be the new "It" place to live. 

 

Agree ... it's amazing all of the residential projects being completed Downtown ... Market Square, near Minute Maid Park, near the new Sky House towers .... Downtown is finally becoming a place to live. 

 

[samagon]

On 10/8/2016 at 8:56 AM, HoustonMidtown said:

Blue and red lighting at night

 

That's pink.

 

Girls and Boys dormitories. How quaint.

 

Srsly though, you'd think they'd both be pink for October.

[HoustonIsHome]

I think they have changed the blue lights to green.

 

Anyway,  you can tell that downtown had more life in areas where these units have been delivered. in interested in seeing how the already active Disco Green area becomes after the other developments get occupied. 

 

Southern Downtown With the sky houses, Houston house,  and the 3 midrises seem less glamorous but I wonder if they will fill up quicker than the more glamorous ones around Disco green.

 

I am hoping for another redesign of the one on the block bounded by Main, St Joseph,  Travis and Jefferson. 

I am a superfan of preservation,  but kinda hoping that the Days Inn and that Church of Science thing across the street goes away. it's a cool building but kinda odd for the area. 

 

Does anyone know what the population of downtown is now? Sans the involuntary residents

[DrLan34]

@HoustonIsHome - The Church of Scientology is being transformed into a club by the owner's of Cle. It will be ready early next year.

Edited December 24, 2016 by DrLan34

[HoustonIsHome]

Dr Lan it world have been awesome if they encases the church of science building in a tower like they did in Philly. 

We would preserve the ambiance of the lil church building but increase the use of the land.

[Texasota]

Eh, there's no need even for that. More than half the block is a surface parking lot; a well thought-out infill building could slot in there nicely without touching either the church or the apartment building.

[HoustonIsHome]

The church just looks odd to me from the outside. 

[Houston19514]

9 hours ago, DrLan34 said:

@HoustonIsHome - The Church of Scientology is being transformed into a club by the owner's of Cle. It will be ready early next year.

 

It is (was) the Church of Christ, Scientist, NOT the Church of Scientology.  Two VERY different things.

[HoustonIsHome]

My, auto complete typed the rest of the word. But whatever that building was used for was besides the point. Just hoping that area was developed more

[Houston19514]

As of 4th quarter, 2016, downtown has a 60.3% occupancy rate.  611 new units were delivered during the fourth quarter.  Net absorption was 216 units.  The metro-wide occupancy rate is 88.5%  

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had a 79.1% occupancy rate.  2,222 new units delivered during the quarter, with 269 units net absorption.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Houston19514

[cspwal]

I took a tour of Skyhouse Main last month, and they said they currently were 26% leased.  The area is filling pretty filled in with people - even before the Superbowl arrived, there was almost always at least one person walking on Leeland during the day and evening

[Houston19514]

As of 1st quarter, 2017, downtown residential has a 58.5% occupancy rate.  286 new units were delivered during the first quarter.  Net absorption was 279 units.  The metro-wide occupancy rate is 88.3%  Downtown seems to be maintaining a pretty decent pace of absorption.

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had a 78.3% occupancy rate.  2,120 new units delivered during the quarter, with 1,247 units net absorption.

[enriquewx91]

I will take these as good news I'm guessing for further developments?

[samagon]

I assume it's the same as everything (except airlines) where you want about 80% occupancy?

 

In which case, all of Houston needs more apartments, and "Central Houston" will be needing more soon? wow. 

[Houston19514]

34 minutes ago, samagon said:

I assume it's the same as everything (except airlines) where you want about 80% occupancy?

 

In which case, all of Houston needs more apartments, and "Central Houston" will be needing more soon? wow. 

 

I think in apartments, you would want more like 95% occupancy.  (Other than hotels, I'm not sure what industry or market would want only 80% occupancy.)

[UtterlyUrban]

4 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

 

I think in apartments, you would want more like 95% occupancy.  (Other than hotels, I'm not sure what industry or market would want only 80% occupancy.)

I was told that a 90% apartment occupancy was "well above normal expectations" once.   But, my source may not be credible.  

[Houston19514]

24 minutes ago, UtterlyUrban said:

I was told that a 90% apartment occupancy was "well above normal expectations" once.   But, my source may not be credible.  

 

"Demand for rental apartments fell short of new supply by about 100,000 units nationwide, according to RealPage, a real estate analytics firm. Apartment occupancy is still high, but it is softening a bit, dropping to 94.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared to 95.1 percent at the end of 2016. Occupancy has been falling for the past six months."

[Houston19514]

As of 2nd quarter, 2017, downtown residential has a 63.2% occupancy rate (up from 58.5% in the 1st quarter).  Net absorption was 267 units were absorbed, while 242 new units were delivered.  Net absorption for the year to date was 546 units.  Downtown is maintaining a good steady pace of absorption.  (Assuming 1.4 people per occupied apartment, downtown is adding a little more than 125 people per month.)

 

The metro-wide occupancy rate is 88.9% 

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had an 81% occupancy rate (up from 78.3% in the first quarter.  1,563 new units delivered during the quarter, with 1,676 units net absorption.  Net absorption year to date:  2,923.  Using the same apartment residency assumption as above, Central Houston is adding about 682 people per month, just in rental residential.

Edited October 24, 2017 by Houston19514

[urbanize713]

I've heard a pharmacy will open in one of the retail spots here. If finalized it is great to see we are starting to get this type of development.

Edited July 31, 2017 by urbanize713

[cloud713]

Any word on the CVS planned for market square tower? It was announced last year and I'm not sure i've seen or heard more about it besides the signs in the windows of the parking garage?

There is another CVS on Main Street near Main Street Square.. maybe we'll get a Walgreens in downtown?

[kbates2]

1 hour ago, cloud713 said:

Any word on the CVS planned for market square tower? It was announced last year and I'm not sure i've seen or heard more about it besides the signs in the windows of the parking garage?

There is another CVS on Main Street near Main Street Square.. maybe we'll get a Walgreens in downtown?

 

Been wondering the same.  There has been essentially no activity in the space that CVS is supposed to occupy in MST.  The only thing that I have noticed (which could have been there the whole time) is that the West side of the parking garage (the entrance) now has a permanent sign that says MST Resident and CVS customer parking only.  I hadn't seen that until last week but it could have been up there for months.

[Houston19514]

As of 3rd quarter, 2017, downtown residential has a 62.3% occupancy rate.  A net 266 units were absorbed, while 274 new units were delivered.  Net absorption for the year to date was 812 units.  Downtown is maintaining a good steady pace of absorption.  (Assuming 1.4 people per occupied apartment, downtown is adding a little more than 125 people per month.)

 

The metro-wide occupancy rate is 88.3% 

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had an 82.6% occupancy rate (up from 78.3% in the first quarter).  555  new units delivered during the quarter, with 1,318 units net absorption.  Net absorption year to date: 4,241.  Using the same apartment residency assumption as above, Central Houston is adding about 660 people per month, just in rental residential.

Edited October 24, 2017 by Houston19514

[bobruss]

Does Harvey play into these totals. I don't have a clue but just curious.

[Houston19514]

Didn't seem to have much affect, so far.  The downtown absorption numbers have been very steady for the past year.

[kbates2]

I always wait for these updates, thanks 19514.  Any info on a per project basis downtown?

[Houston19514]

As of 4th quarter, 2017, downtown residential has a 67.1% occupancy rate.  A net 281 units were absorbed (up from 266 absorbed in the 3rd Q), while 886 new units were delivered.  Net absorption for the year to date was 1,093 units.  Downtown is maintaining a good steady pace of absorption.  (Assuming 1.4 people per occupied apartment, downtown continues to add more than 125 people per month.)

 

The metro-wide occupancy rate is 88.6% 

 

The "Central Houston" market (downtown, Montrose/Museum/Midtown, Heights/Wash Ave., HIghland Village/Upper Kirby/West U, and Med Center/Braes Bayou) had an 85.4% occupancy rate (up from 78.3% in the first quarter 2017).  1,355 new units delivered during the quarter, with 1,788 units net absorption.  Net absorption year to date: 6,029.  Using the same apartment residency assumption as above, during the 4th quarter, Central Houston added more than 830 people per month, just in rental residential. Averaged over the year as a whole, we added more than 700 people per month in Central Houston.

[thatguysly]

Is part of that absorption because of Harvey and apartments being filled as homes are being rebuilt? 

[Houston19514]

1 minute ago, thatguysly said:

Is part of that absorption because of Harvey and apartments being filled as homes are being rebuilt? 

 

Metro-wide, I think yes.  But it doesn't seem to have affected the downtown numbers much.  Absorption has remained pretty steady pre- and post-Harvey.

[nate4l1f3]

Now know as SoDo on Main https://twitter.com/houstonchron/status/1468241206098509834?s=21

[freundb]

Greystar ruins everything

[Texasota]

As someone familiar with the Rice:

 

Yes they do.

[KinkaidAlum]

SoDo? More like SoDumb. 

[JBTX]

13 hours ago, nate4l1f3 said:

Now know as SoDo on Main

All I can think of when I see that name...

[Specwriter]

How about "SoMa" (South Main)? Merriam-Webster defines soma as an intoxicating juice from a plant of disputed identity that was used in ancient India as an offering to the gods and as a drink of immortality by worshippers in Vedic ritual. Works for me. These days I like Ho ho ho. 🙂

[dbigtex56]

10 hours ago, Specwriter said:

How about "SoMa" (South Main)? Merriam-Webster defines soma as an intoxicating juice from a plant of disputed identity that was used in ancient India as an offering to the gods and as a drink of immortality by worshippers in Vedic ritual. Works for me. These days I like Ho ho ho. 🙂

Soma was also the drug of choice in Huxley's "Brave New World". When the stresses of everyday life became too much, people would take a Soma vacation. 
 

[editor]

11 hours ago, Specwriter said:

How about "SoMa" (South Main)? Merriam-Webster defines soma as an intoxicating juice from a plant of disputed identity that was used in ancient India as an offering to the gods and as a drink of immortality by worshippers in Vedic ritual. Works for me. These days I like Ho ho ho. 🙂

My junk mail defines "Soma" as a bra company for ladies who have a balcony you could do Shakespeare from.

Also, from the Chronicle article:

SoDo on Main is close to Toyota Center (no it's not), GreenStreet (OK), the George R. Brown Convention Center (nope) and Discovery Green park (not really)

[Houston19514]

On 12/9/2021 at 3:44 AM, editor said:

Also, from the Chronicle article:

SoDo on Main is close to Toyota Center (no it's not), GreenStreet (OK), the George R. Brown Convention Center (nope) and Discovery Green park (not really)

It’s not often I say this, but in this case the Chronicle got it more right than wrong.  I know I would consider anything within a 15-20 minute walk to be “close”.