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    The yard-free life

    Living it up: Trading the house for the high rise in Houston (updated withvideo)

    Peter Barnes
    Jun 13, 2010 | 10:07 am
    • One Park Place is changing the way some prominent Houstonians look a verticalliving.
      Photo by Ralph Bivins
    • Mosaic and Montage luxury apartments near Hermann Park
      Photo by Peter Barnes
    • Regency House
      Photo by Peter Barnes
    • An apartment at Regency House
      Photo by Peter Barnes
    • 2727 Kirby
      Photo by Peter Barnes

    Texans treasure their wide open spaces. In a state where flat, subdivision-friendly land seems to stretch from Galveston Bay to Oklahoma, it’s hardly a surprise that the word “home” has become synonymous with single-family houses set atop big yards.

    Lately, though, sleek new towers rising around Houston have challenged the prevailing attitude that apartments are fit only for those too old, too young or too broke to buy a house.
     
    Hyped at the height of the housing boom as bold experiments in urban living, high-end high rises like the Cosmopolitan, 2727 Kirby, One Park Place and a klatch of others have since evolved into vertical neighborhoods filled with families, empty nesters and a growing number of suburbanites who no longer spend their weekends thinking about lawn care.
     
    “There’s certainly a lot more choices now,” says Dr. Fabian Worthing III.
     
    The plastic surgeon traded his house for an apartment in One Park Place eight months ago. He’d lived a couple blocks away at the Four Seasons condos 15 years ago, but a lot has changed downtown since then. His new, 1,900-square-foot perch 22 floors up overlooks Discovery Green, features extensive soundproofing and comes with a community pool modeled after the waters of the Ritz-Carlton in Maui.
     
    “It faces east, so I watch the sun rise,” Worthing says. Afterward he makes a relatively fast 30-minute commute in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic to his office outside the Beltway.
     
    “I just decided that at this point in my life, I’m 60 now, I kind of wanted to simplify my life,” Worthing says.

     Walking on up to the River Oaks side
     
    These days, magnolia trees bloom right outside the "home" of Shannon Hall at Regency House, where he simplified his life in similar fashion 10 years ago. The co-owner of Sloan/Hall walks to his shop every day and lives within a quick stroll of Chuy’s, Whole Foods, the Red Room and any number of other River Oaks enclaves.
     
    Built in 1962, his building long-ago established the sort of community and lifestyle that’s recently drawn greater numbers of Houston families into high rises.
     
    “It really is a neighborhood, and I’ve enjoyed that component of it,” Hall says, “having kids in the building, but also older people and young people that are remodeling the apartments and kind of re-inventing the building.”
     
    Even downtown, where the nightlife might make one expect new buildings to fill with childless hipsters, residents have been surprised by the variety of people moving in.
     
    Kathleen Hayes says her neighbors include expectant mothers, downtown workers with houses elsewhere, empty nesters and young professionals alike. She sold her house in Tanglewood to rent at One Park Place — a move she says actually saves money after she factors in taxes and maintenance — and she hasn’t looked back.
     
    “Being able to walk to work and walk home for lunch is just priceless for me,” says Hayes, a longtime financial advisor at a downtown firm.
     
    Beyond work, she and her husband never have to hunt for parking when they frequent the theater, Rockets games or nearby restaurants. She often bumps into neighbors on the street, and she feels much safer wandering around downtown than she would have a few years ago. Plus, she says, walking everywhere even caused her to lose weight.
     
    While pleased with her new digs, Hayes notes that it is a different lifestyle and won’t suit everybody. Most families still prefer a yard to a balcony.

    Also, living in closer quarters makes it crucial to have a good sense of the community living in a building and wherever a homeowners’ association is functional, should you decide to go condo. For a growing contingent of Houstonians, though, living the high life has never made more sense.
     
    “I would imagine five years from now people won’t even wonder why we did what we did,” Hayes says.

     

     Watch the high-rise life:

     

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    This Week's Hot Headlines

    Shaq surprises Houston restaurant with $1,000 tip and more top stories

    CultureMap Staff
    Jul 12, 2025 | 11:00 am
    Shaquille O'Neal Ninfa's Uptown
    Courtesy of Ninfa's
    Shaquille O'Neal had lunch at Ninfa's Uptown.

    Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top Houston news of the week, starting with a surprise visit — and big tip — from Shaq. Plus, Houston ranks among America's most overpriced cities, and rents rise in Sugar Land. Get the details on our most popular stories below, then find the best things to do this weekend here.

    1. Shaquille O'Neal leaves $1,000 tip at Houston Tex-Mex institution. NBA Hall of Famer and media personality Shaquille O’Neal surprised the crowd at The Original Ninfa’s Uptown when he stopped by for lunch, posing for pics and leaving a very big tip.

    2. Veteran Houston bartender shakes up the Heights with new tropical bar. The woman behind your favorite bartender’s favorite bar has quietly opened a new cocktail spot in the Heights. Called Berwick’s Birds of Paradise, it’s the latest project from Double Trouble owner Robin Berwick.

     Berwick's Birds of Paradise bar Robin Berwick Owner Robin Berwick took inspiration from hotel bars for BBOP.  Photo by Vivian Leba  

    3. Houston is one of America's most overpriced cities, study finds. In what may come as a surprise to some local residents, a new study ranks Houston among the 10 most overpriced cities in America.

    4. This Houston suburb had the highest apartment rent prices in June. Apartment rent prices in June were more expensive in Sugar Land than anywhere else in Houston, according to the latest monthly rent report from Zumper.

    5. Houston influencer opens an antiques-filled boutique hotel in Montrose. 109 Stratford Street in Historic East Avondale has recently opened as a nine-room boutique hotel, The Marlene Inn, from owner and Instagram influencer Lily Barfield.

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