Marvy Mania

Rooms with a ballpark view: New luxury apartments next to Minute Maid to have aOne Park Place feel

The downtown plot includes the historic, long-abandoned Ben Milam Hotel.
HoustonArchitecture.com
Some lucky apartment dwellers may have a veiw of the Minute Maid Park field.
Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

It seems that the city can't escape further development from Marvy Finger, president and CEO of The Finger Companies: The real estate impresario recently revealed he's planning another Downtown Houston apartment complex.

A 2025 Master Plan calling for greater development around the George R. Brown Convention Center district, plus flourishing development in EaDo, bolstered Finger's decision to purchase two downtown blocks between Preston and Texas, La Branch and Crawford — just a stone's throw from the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park left field.

The historic Ben Milam Hotel, designed in the 1920s by (apparently unrelated) architect Joseph Finger, would be demolished as part of construction.

This comes after Finger signed on two prominent inner Loop properties earlier this year (the Fiesta shopping center at West Alabama and Dulavy and the former Art Institute of Houston office building), made plans to move ahead with a 431-unit apartment project on West Dallas and met unanticipated success at One Park Place, a luxury apartment high-rise across from Discovery Green that opened just three years ago.

Finger tells the Houston Chronicle's Nancy Sarnoff that the future seven-story, 380-unit Minute Maid Park apartments would have the same high-end finishes as its One Park Place counterpart, but unlike that "luxury residential tower," would offer rents starting at an approachable $1,250 per month to attract a "broader mix of residents."

The historic Ben Milam Hotel, designed in the 1920s by (apparently unrelated) architect Joseph Finger, would be demolished as part of construction. The company is also in discussion with the City of Houston to purchase the length of Prairie Street that runs between La Branch and Crawford.

Finger expects to close on the property next month, with construction anticipated to commence next spring.

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No Cap

Houston ranked No. 3 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Alexander Londoño on Unsplash

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As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles, and now Houston, which had the third-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

H-Town's new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Houston saw an influx of 22,868 Gen Z residents last year to become the generations third most popular city. That's up from ranking as the No. 11 most popular city in 2022. Houston gained fewer than 7,600 new Gen Z residents during that time in comparison to 2023's migration trend.

Houston started gaining traction as an up-and-coming destination for Gen Zers last year, when the "experience-hungry generation" was on the hunt for an affordable place to live with vast opportunities for entertainment, education, or employment.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

While Houston saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus.

"El Paso, Texas, has lost the most residents from this generation, with a drop of 5,607, a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

The report also surprisingly revealed that Houston is also one of the top destinations for millennials and Gen X, whereas both New York City and Los Angeles lost more residents among those two generations in comparison.

Houston ranked as the No. 1 city for Gen Xers and No. 4 for millennials based on their respective migration trends in 2023. Houston gained 6,312 new Gen X residents last year – the most nationwide – and the fourth-highest amount of millennials (5,301 new residents).

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota