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.
